Muslim clerics decry Bukhari's appeal

Delhi Jama Masjid Shahi Imam Ahmed Bukhari's appeal to Muslims to support the Congress in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls has incurred the wrath of Muslim clerics.

Shia and sunni clerics here have reacted sharply to Bukhari's appeal and said that the Muslim community did not need to be counseled over voting for any particular party and the members of the community were free to vote as per their free will.

“They have the ability to understand who they should vote for...the Muslim voter today is well aware and will not be misled by such appeals...Bukhari had in the past supported so many political parties, including the BJP,” said senior Sunni cleric and All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) member Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangimahali.

Shia cleric and AIMPLB vice-president Maulana Kalbe Saadiq also decried Bukhari for issuing appeal in favour of the Congress. “Such an appeal carries no meaning at the time of the polls'', he added. All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board chairperson Shaista Amber said that the Muslims knew to differentiate between the right and the wrong. “Bukhari should now stop acting as a contractor of Muslim votes,” Amber said here.
The clerics said that religious leaders should stay away from politics and let the people decide whom they want to support.

Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and UP minister Azam Khan said that Bukhari's appeal would ‘cause confusion’. “Muslim votes will be divided benefiting the BJP,” Khan said here. DH News Service