---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: ratheesh <[email protected]> Date: 2009/4/2
Subject: [FEC] Interview with Madani To: [email protected] http://specials.rediff.com/news/2009/apr/01slid1-interview-with-abdul-nasser-madani-pdp-kerala-leader.htm 'But for me, Kerala would have become a Kashmir' April 1, 2009 Abdul Nasser Madani, the chief of the People's Democratic Party, is in the eye of a storm in Kerala after the ruling Left Democratic Front entered into an electoral arrangement with the PDP. Imprisoned for nine years for his alleged role in the Coimbatore blasts, Madani was later acquitted and freed. Only to get a 'royal welcome' back home in Kerala. On his arrival, he publicly declared he became a 'moderate' ever since he came out of the jail. Is he one? Yes, says the Communist Party of India-Marxist. He is not, say almost all other parties. It was the disputed Ponnani seat that made Madani the most-sought-after man again in Kerala. Though some of the constituents of the Left Front were against having a tie-up with the PDP in Ponnani, CPI-M state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan had the final say. In New Delhi, CPI national general secretary A B Bardhan went to the extent of saying that Madani is a terrorist. But the Big Brother CPI-M did not agree with the view and the Madani is having the last laugh. Since then, it is Madani who gets the biggest political space in the media. The firebrand leader spoke to Arun Lakshman in an exclusive interview at his Kochi residence. The Kerala election scene is now revolving around the "unholy" alliance made by the Left Parties, more specifically the CPI-M made with you. What do you say? The campaign on the PDP having an unholy alliance with the Left is intended to divert major serious issues in the state, including the United Progressive Alliance government's failures. I feel there is a concerted effort on the part of certain groups from the (Congress-led) United Democratic Front side to unleash such a malicious campaign. The PDP is considered as a communal party and there are allegations that you created a communal atmosphere in the state? The PDP has never been a communal political party. In fact the PDP is always a political party for the people and is actively involved in grassroot activities, not bothering about vote banks. The party and its cadres have been doing tremendous social activities, which helped all communities and the PDP cadres are drawn from all the communities including Hindus, Muslims and Christians. PDP vice-chairman Varkala Raj is a Brahmin and is in the party for the last 15 years. He has climbed the ladder of the party hierarchy starting off as the Varkala block president. The charges against me are as baseless. Can you mention some of the social activities your organisation? The PDP was actively involved in bringing solace to the people of Pathanamthitta when the deadly chickungunya epidemic broke out in the area. Our 200 full-time workers of the party were actively working in the area to help the people reeling from the epidemic and the Pathanamthitta district committee of the party bought an ambulance which was put into service. Since then the PDP has been concentrating more on the deprived and oppressed classes and now has 40 ambulances. These are brought not from the contributions from the public, but from the contributions of the party cadres and workers. We have not collected a single paisa from the Gulf countries or other places but have always been supported by the party workers. You have alleged that the Indian Union Muslim League was targeting you and your party. Is there any truth or is it just a political allegation? The Indian Union Muslim League is a political party which has direct involvement in the partition of the country. The present Muslim League has not transformed much from the party of 1946 which was directly demanding for the partition of the country. Even the flag of the IUML and that of Pakistan are similar. The League is a political party which does not have any non-Muslim in its ranks, even at the lower-most party office-bearers in Malappuram. Then how can the party claim that it is a secular one. The Muslim League is attacking me because it feels that the oppressed and the suppressed including the Muslim community would flock to the PDP. Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan said the government would conduct investigations into your activities after you came out of the jail. The state chief minister is a respected political leader and he has all the rights to comment on conducting an investigation into my activities. I welcome any investigation from any agency of the country, be it state or Central. I also want to clear all the misconceptions which are in the air for the past some days just because I have given my unconditional support to the Left. The PDP leaders will meet the chief minister after the elections and clear all misconceptions, if at all he has any. You alleged that several senior UDF leaders visited you and requested you to support the Front. Why did you say no to them? The UDF leaders visiting me and requesting my support for the elections is not a new story. Several senior UDF and Congress leaders visited me and requested me to support them. But I have given my unconditional support to the Left parties and I am a person who does not go back on my words. Madani has become communal and untouchable to the UDF leaders only after I gave support to the Left. There are several panchayats in the state where the UDF is ruling with the support of the PDP. In the 2006 assembly elections, the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Ramesh Chennithala even conducted discussions with PDP leaders. However, I gave a statement from jail to support the LDF. Muslims and other social groups of the state voted according to my call and the LDF dethroned the UDF and came back to power. In the 2001 assembly elections, the PDP supported the UDF and that front came to power This shows that the PDP has a major say in the election scene and also that the PDP is not untouchable to the UDF. What do you think is the major factor in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections? The major factor according to me is not to allow the BJP, which is following a rule of hatred and communalism, come back to power and also to oppose the imperialistic agenda of the Congress party which fields candidates like Shashi Tharoor who is a known US supporter. Besides, Tharoor backs Israel, which is the biggest human rights violator. Only the Third Front is keen on solving the day-to-day issues of the people and that is why the PDP has decided to support the Third Front, led by the Left. There are allegations that you and your wife are involved in harbouring several terrorists in your home. These are lies which are being repeated and repeated to show that that I am a communal person. But I am not. The charges that my wife was harbouring the daughter of Sainuddin who has alleged Lashkar-e-Tayiba connections is baseless. There is no proof of this and we have not harboured any such person or individual who has any remotest contact with terror groups. 'I never converted anyone' April 1, 2009 There are allegations that you converted several persons into Islam during your jail term. Is it true? I repeat, these are baseless allegations levelled by my opponents to finish me politically. Several groups, including some Muslim organisations, were behind this campaign. There was a boy called Mani who had converted to Islam while in Coimbatore central jail. It should be noted that he had converted to Islam even before I was lodged in the prison. He completed his seven year jail term and wanted to work with me at my place as he had no other place to go. He went to my house and was employed as a domestic help there. I have never been involved in any conversion activities. So, what do you think the results will be in Kerala? As a political activist, I have my opinion and have done proper research and studied all constituencies and the under-currents. However, I don't feel that there is any wave in UDF favour. But there can be surprise results in the elections. What according to you is the major achievement for the PDP as a political party? The PDP was instrumental in democratising a large number of youths from the Muslim community and from the depressed classes who were against the mainstream. After the Babri Masjid was demolished, several youths lost their faith in the democratic institutions and even in the honourable courts. This would mean that these youths would resort to terrorism and other violent means to air their feelings. The PDP as a political party was instrumental in conducting classes for these youths and to help them enter into the mainstream political life of the state. I strongly feel that but for the PDP, Kerala would have turned into another Kashmir. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
