New Muslim Leadership

New Delhi: The existing Muslim leadership may well become irrelevant and a new “joint leadership” — of Sunnis and Shias — capable of swaying the community is emerging. If this comes about — as quite a sizable section of the Muslim community apparently unhappy with the present setoff leaders is hopeful — this may upset the calculations of the major political parties — the Congress (1) and the Janata Dal in particular — which have been pinning their hopes on Muslim leaders of various sects and groups. Thinking on these lines has emerged in the community and several informal meetings have been held by various Muslim religious leaders. A significant feature of these efforts is that they have apparently brought to the negotiating table leaders of even such Muslim sects which are supposed to be traditional antagonists. The fact that the Muslim leaders are interested in continuing the talks shows that they find the idea of a “joint leadership” worthy enough to pursue particularly at a time when they are themselves under pressure from the disgruntled elements within their own ranks. Vacuum felt: But why then this feeling of “a vacuum in Muslim leadership”? The reason is not difficult for find. The Muslim community feels that for the first time since Independence it is powerful enough to influence the course of the elections in a significant way. For have not many political parties been courting them of late? According to Maulana Syed Mohammed Musavi, leader of the Shia sect and president of the Supreme Council of Ulema and Khutaba, the country has more than 20 crore Muslims. Though most of them are Sunnis, Shias are “certainly not less than four crores, if not more.” (The Hindu April 22).