Zee Media Bureau/Ritesh K Srivastava
New Delhi: With Congress president Sonia Gandhi`s meeting with Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari of Jama Masjid creating a flutter across the political spectrum, the latter`s brother on Thursday said that the meeting between the two holds no significance as the members of the Muslim community no longer admire him and take his appeals seriously.
Speaking to a TV news channel, Imam Bukhari`s brother Yahya Bukhari was quoted as saying, “Today`s Muslims don`t take such appeals and meetings seriously.”
Criticising his brother for meeting the Congress president, Yahya went on to say, “I am totally against this meeting.”
“Gone are the days when Muslims blindly followed what the Imam of Jama Masjid said,” Yahya Bukhari said on his brother`s meeting with the Congress chief at her 10, Janpath residence.
In a blistering attack on the Grand Old Party, Yahya said that no political party has worked more against the interests of Muslims in India than Congress.
Criticising Congress for always looking at his community as a vote bank for political gains, Yahya also termed its senior leader Kapil Sibal as an Israeli agent, who is working against the interest of Muslims.
Similarly, a senior Muslim cleric, Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahali has also condemned the Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid over his meeting with Sonia Gandhi.
Sonia Gandhi had met the Shahi Imam at her 10 Janpath residence yesterday. The meeting had lasted 45 minutes. As per reports, a decision to support the Congress was finalised by Bukhari and an official announcement may happen today.
When asked by reporters whether the Congress party was trying to polarise the polls, Sonia had categorically rejected it, saying that they were not in the game or business of polarisation (of votes).
She also defended meeting with clerics, saying that it had been a tradition which was followed by Feroze Gandhi and Indira Gandhi.
Meanwhile, the BJP has approached the Election Commission to take cognisance of Sonia`s reported appeal to Muslims saying that they should not let their votes split in the upcoming General elections.
BJP`s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi also came down heavily on the Congress party for trying to give a communal colour to the upcoming polls.
