10-04-2005, 03:29 AM
Minorities float party in Assam
Sushanta Talukdar
To contest next Assembly polls
GUWAHATI: Twenty organisations of religious and linguistic minorities in Assam on Monday formed a political party â the United Democratic Front.
Maulana Badaruddin Ajmal, president, Assam Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, was elected president.
The party was formed after the six-month deadline set by the All-Indian Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind president Maulana Asad Madani for the Tarun Gogoi Government to solve the long-pending grievances of the minorities expired on Monday.
Mr. Ajmal told presspersons that the party would contest in the next Assembly elections, due in May next year, and hoped to give a tough fight to the ruling Congress. The minorities played a decisive role in at least 40 of the 126 seats, he claimed.
A resolution for the formation of the party adopted at a meeting of the organisations said the successive Governments, including the present Congress regime, had failed to solve the problems of the religious and linguistic minorities. Mr. Ajmal said the Congress had always treated the minorities as a vote bank; it had honoured none of the poll promises even after four and half years.
Demands
On April 3, Mr. Madani warned that Muslims would pull down the Tarun Gogoi Government if the demands raised by the State unit of the Jamiat Ulema were not met within six months.
The demands included issue of citizenship cards and land patta (permanent settlement) for the Indian citizens living in the Char areas of Assam. He issued the warning in the presence of the Chief Minister at a rally organised by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind to press for its 18-point charter of demands.
Sushanta Talukdar
To contest next Assembly polls
GUWAHATI: Twenty organisations of religious and linguistic minorities in Assam on Monday formed a political party â the United Democratic Front.
Maulana Badaruddin Ajmal, president, Assam Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, was elected president.
The party was formed after the six-month deadline set by the All-Indian Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind president Maulana Asad Madani for the Tarun Gogoi Government to solve the long-pending grievances of the minorities expired on Monday.
Mr. Ajmal told presspersons that the party would contest in the next Assembly elections, due in May next year, and hoped to give a tough fight to the ruling Congress. The minorities played a decisive role in at least 40 of the 126 seats, he claimed.
A resolution for the formation of the party adopted at a meeting of the organisations said the successive Governments, including the present Congress regime, had failed to solve the problems of the religious and linguistic minorities. Mr. Ajmal said the Congress had always treated the minorities as a vote bank; it had honoured none of the poll promises even after four and half years.
Demands
On April 3, Mr. Madani warned that Muslims would pull down the Tarun Gogoi Government if the demands raised by the State unit of the Jamiat Ulema were not met within six months.
The demands included issue of citizenship cards and land patta (permanent settlement) for the Indian citizens living in the Char areas of Assam. He issued the warning in the presence of the Chief Minister at a rally organised by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind to press for its 18-point charter of demands.