Patna,(BiharTimes): The appeal made by the Imam of Jama Masjid of Delhi, Ahmed Bukhari, to support the Congress party and by about a dozen Muslim socio-religious organizations of Bihar to vote for a strong secular candidate who can defeat the fascist forces, have not gone down well with many members of the community in Bihar.

Some of them even went to the extent of saying that such thoughtless utterances only polarize votes and favour those whom they are opposing.

“These so-called Muslim leaders have their own agenda to forward. They must understand that the community thinks better than them. While the leaders are saleable the common men and women are not,” said Rashid Naiyer, a social activist.

Naiyer Fatmi, an Urdu journalist formerly associated with Quami Awaz, cautions that by giving such calls these leaders are unnecessarily polarizing the atmosphere. The voters are generally much more matured than what these leaders think. “Most of these leaders and organizations have already lost their credibility. By giving such statements they have further tarnished their image. They wrongly think that they have their following when that is not the truth,” he told BiharTimes.

Individuals like Bukhari has changed their stand so many times that even Muslims living in the vicinity of Delhi’s Jama Masjid rarely lend their ears to such call.

Many common Muslims feel that the problem is that the media give too much importance to such election-eve statements. The media wrongly highlights it as fatwa when such calls are not at all fatwa.