08-29-2006, 09:34 PM
<b>Muslim discontent worries PM, Sonia </b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->"The party leadership is concerned about the increasing unhappiness among the Muslims," said a senior Congress leader.
<b>"We cannot afford to hurt the Muslim community,"</b> the leader said, referring to upcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. "The Congress is secular and cannot afford an anti-Muslim image,"Â <!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo--> he added.
The Muslim leaders pointed out that the Congress-led government in Maharashtra and the state police had "communalised" the July 11 Mumbai bombings that killed nearly 200 people and given a religious colour to the terrorist act.
<b>The attempts by a section of central and Maharashtra state government functionaries to isolate the community could have grave "social and political consequences",</b> they said.
"They sought to blame the entire Muslim community as supporters and collaborators of anti-national elements and tried to portray the areas inhabited by Muslims as havens of Islamic terrorists," one of the MPs said.
He said the Mumbai Police had arrested several "innocent, poor Muslims" and treated them "inhumanly" in custody during the hunt for those who masterminded the string of bombings in Mumbai trains and railway stations.
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<b>"We cannot afford to hurt the Muslim community,"</b> the leader said, referring to upcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. "The Congress is secular and cannot afford an anti-Muslim image,"Â <!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo--> he added.
The Muslim leaders pointed out that the Congress-led government in Maharashtra and the state police had "communalised" the July 11 Mumbai bombings that killed nearly 200 people and given a religious colour to the terrorist act.
<b>The attempts by a section of central and Maharashtra state government functionaries to isolate the community could have grave "social and political consequences",</b> they said.
"They sought to blame the entire Muslim community as supporters and collaborators of anti-national elements and tried to portray the areas inhabited by Muslims as havens of Islamic terrorists," one of the MPs said.
He said the Mumbai Police had arrested several "innocent, poor Muslims" and treated them "inhumanly" in custody during the hunt for those who masterminded the string of bombings in Mumbai trains and railway stations.
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