Times of India
June 1st 2006
LEADER ARTICLE: Minority Report
Impact of Assam polls on Muslim politics.
Sanjib Baruah
It is a myth that Muslims vote for the Congress because of its secular credentials. 'Minority prudence' has always been a factor. Muslims have often voted strategically for the most likely winner.
The phenomenon hides a dark side of our democracy. Security of life and property should be a universal public good. It has become a private good that political parties provide selectively in exchange for political support.
Voting to ensure one's physical security erodes the meaning of citizenship. Security is a major reason why Muslims of East Bengali descent have traditionally voted for the Congress in Assam.
The emergence of the Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF) signals the desire to reject that dependency. Liberal democrats should welcome the assertion of a confident political voice by a minority.
It is not surprising that such a party should come up in Assam. Nearly 31 per cent of Assam's population of 26.6 million is Muslim, according to the 2001 census.
This is second only to Jammu and Kashmir's and is about the same as the proportion of Muslims in undivided India. The AUDF, however, is not conceived as Muslim party.
It put up a number of non-Muslim candidates. But central to the success of all AUDF candidates was Badruddin Ajmal's resources and support among Muslims.
For instance, Dimasa candidate Aditya Langthasa is a doctor at Hojai's impressive Ajmal Majid Memorial Charitable Hospital funded by Ajmal. It used to be said that all politics is local.
In these times, all politics may also be global. Ajmal is a small-town boy with a global business empire. He is extremely well connected to Islamic circles in India and abroad.
This explains why the imam of Jama Masjid campaigned so actively in this election. While dissatisfaction with the Congress following the court's invalidation of the IMDT law may have precipitated Ajmal's decision to launch AUDF, his political optic and track record have never been local.
The foundation of Ajmal's global business empire is the aromatic bark that the Assamese call agaru or agar. For much longer than oil and tea, demand for agar has shaped Assam's economic and political fortunes.
Agarbatti is made from it and oil extracted from agar is the base for many attars and perfumes. It is said that Mughals invaded Assam for the lure of agar.
The Rs 30 crore of his reported wealth that made Ajmal the richest candidate in Assam is only a small part of his global worth. The oil boom in the Middle East raised the demand for agar enormously.
Ajmal's once sleepy little hometown Hojai the agar capital of the world shows the impact of that boom. His Dubai-based Ajmal Group of Companies boasts of a network of shops and distribution outlets in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Ajmal Perfumes produces attars and fragrances that sell not only in India and Middle Eastern countries, it has different lines of perfumes for African and East European markets as well.
The House of Ajmal has showrooms and production units in Mumbai. Businessman-politician Ajmal is also Maulana Badruddin Ajmal Al-Qasmi. He is a member of the Majlis-e-Shura of his alma mater Darul Uloom, Deoband, and a major benefactor of the institution.
He has been on the frontline of the defence of the embattled Deobandi madrassas in the post-9/11 environment. Deoband has now opened a department of English language and literature on Ajmal's initiative.
Ajmal is founder-chairman of the Markazul Ma'arif (centre for knowledge). It has introduced a highly competitive two-year training programme in English language and computers for top madrassa graduates.
According to a report by a sympathetic observer, "With flowing beards and traditional madrassa dress of kurta and pyjama not lower than ankles, these young people flaunt fluent English and etiquette believed to be prerogative of only people with a public school background".
Countering the 'turbaned and bearded hordes' image of the madrassa-educated men is clearly a goal of this ambitious programme. Markazul Ma'arif is also a publishing house.
Among its publications is a short history of Deoband. In Ajmal's introduction he talks about Islam being "the most misunderstood religion" and rejects the fashionable distinction between fundamentalist and Sufi Islam, one being bad and the other good.
To readers of Barbara Metcalf's classic study Islamic Revival in British India: Deoband, 1860-1900 this would be a familiar theme. The original Deobandis, according to Metcalf, offered a composite form of religious leadership and were simultaneously ulama and Sufis.
Ajmal heads the Assam unit of the Jamait-Ulema-e-Hind hardly surprising considering his ties with Deoband. The organisation played a key role in protests against the Bush visit to India in March.
Can one separate Ajmal's political moves in Assam from everything else he does? His disenchantment with the Congress may be deeper than what divides him and Tarun Gogoi.
Organisations in which he is a key player are unhappy with the UPA government's embrace of the US at a time when anti-Americanism is widespread among Muslims worldwide.
Even if Gogoi eventually gives in to pressures from New Delhi and accepts Ajmal as an ally, it will not bridge the deepening gulf between Congress and Indian Muslims.
The writer is at Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, and Bard College, New York
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