Zafarul Islam Khan, editor of the New Delhi-based
fortnightly 'Milli Gazette', was recently elected
President of the All-India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat,
a conglomeration of various Indian Muslim
organizations. In this interview with Yoginder Sikand
he talks about his plans for the Majlis.
YS: Briefly, what are the aims of the Majlis?
ZIK: The Majlis was established in the early 1960s as
an advocacy group on behalf of several Indian Muslim
organisations with basically two aims. Firstly, to
liaison with the government and civil society
organizations to put across Indian Muslim points of
view. And secondly, to interact with the Muslim
community to promote internal reforms and development
and to advise the community on how to react to issues
and new developments.
YS: Critics argue that the Majlis does not seem to
have much of a presence today. Do you agree?
ZIK: The Majlis has been active since the 1960s. True,
it has gone through several phases, and in some phases
it has not been as active as it should have been. Let
me say that the Majlis has been as active or otherwise
as the Muslim community itself. There have been
certain periods where the Majlis has faced internal
problems. For instance, the Majlis spilt in 2000, when
some 20 per cent of its members set up their own
faction. But still, despite the split, the then
President of the Majlis, Syed Shahabuddin, worked hard
to put the organization back on its feet, seeking to
highlight Muslim views and opinions before the
government and the general public. Moreover, we have
been trying to reach out to the other faction to bring
them back with us.
YS: How exactly is membership in the Majlis
structured?
ZIK: New members of the Majlis are co-opted by
existing members. The latter suggest the names of
prospective members and these are discussed in our
meetings and, if approved of provided they meet
certain criteria, they are given membership.
Presently, the Majlis has 92 members but I hope to
expand this to between 150 and 200 in the next two
years or so.
YS: Many Muslim organizations give little
representation, if at all, to women. Further, many
such organizations that are based in Delhi tend to
consist overwhelmingly of people from Delhi, Uttar
Pradesh and Bihar, leaving out Muslims from other
parts of the country. Is this true for the Majlis as
well? Also, does it have representation from all the
Muslim sects?
ZIK: As of now, the Majlis has just one woman member.
However, I would like to increase this to at least ten
or twenty soon. It is true that the majority of our
members are from Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Bihar, but
we do have representatives from some other parts of
the country also. As for sect, we are open to all
Muslims, so we have a number of people who are
Deobandis, Ahl-e Hadith or from the Jamaat-e Islami.
Our Vice-President, Maulana Aqeel ul-Gharavi, is a
leading Shia scholar and community activist, and we
have several other Shia members. We do not, however,
as yet have any noted Barelvis with us, but we will
try to include them as well.
One problem that we face is that we have very few
youth members. We hope to co-opt some talented and
promising young people into the Majlis in the near
future.
YS: What are your plans for the Majlis for your tenure
as President?
ZIK: One of my plans is to reactivate the Majlis'
Supreme Guidance Council, which the Majlis'
Constitution allows for, but which has so far existed
only on paper. This Council would consist of eminent
people from different walks of life who would keep a
watch on the activities of the Majlis and guide it on
policy matters. This will also help promote the
acceptability and credibility of the Majlis within the
community.
I also intend to constitute a number of committees to
deal with various issues, such as economics,
education, social reforms, liaisoning with government,
political parties and members of Parliament. I would
also like to see the Majlis expand its work across the
country. Presently, it is mainly active in Uttar
Pradesh and Bihar, and to a lesser extent in Madhya
Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal etc.. Further, it
has so far been limited only to the national and state
levels, but I think we need to have a three-tier
membership, including at the district level too.
Another thing that I plan to do is to revive the
annual Community or Milli Convention, which the Majlis
should organize annually, but which has not been held
for some time now. I want to make this a regular
feature, where leaders of various parties, eminent
people, social activists and others can discuss Muslim
issues.
Yet another thing that we could consider is a
community-wide network. Work on this has already
started, and although this is right now not a Majlis
initiative, I think the Majlis might be interested in
making this one of its activities. This initiative
would involve opening at least one information centre
in every district, which would have certain basic
facilities, such as a reading room with a computer,
internet facilities and literature on such issues as
career counseling and guidance, information about
various government schemes for the poor and for
minorities, local NGOs offering various services etc..
We could have counselors who could regularly be
available at these centres and provide relevant
guidance. These centres would, besides providing
concrete help to people, also serve to provide us with
news about local developments affecting the community
in their respective areas.
YS: What political role, if at all, do you see for the
Majlis?
ZIK: The Majlis is a non-political umbrella group of
several Muslim organizations. However, individual
members and organisations are free to participate in
political activities and to vote for any party they
want, or to stand for elections themselves or to join
political parties of their choice. At the same time,
the Majlis can advise Muslim voters to vote for the
best secular candidates at the time of elections.
Sukhia Sab Sansar Khaye Aur Soye
Dukhia Das Kabir Jagey Aur Roye
The world is 'happy', eating and sleeping
The forlorn Kabir Das is awake and weeping
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