I thought it was better to contact Muslims through their leadership. After meeting about 50 Muslim leaders I was astonished to witness their Brahmanism.

Islam teaches us to establish equality and struggle against injustice but the leadership of Muslims is dominated by so-called high castes like Syeds, Sheikhs, Mughals, and Pathans. The latter do not want the Ansaris, Dhuniyas, Qureshis to rise to their levels.

In the Allahabad by-election (1988) this became very clear. Hindu fundamentalists like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, RSS, Bajrang Dal, BJP and Ram Janambhumi Mukti Samiti and Muslim fundamentalists like the Muslim League, Muslim Majlis, Jamaat-e-Islami, Maulana Bukhari, and Syed Shahabuddin were marching together to ensure the victory of V. P. Singh and the defeat of Kanshiram. Here both shared the same interests. Both the savarna Hindus and savarna Muslims were anxious that with the victory of Kanshiram their positions could be threatened.

After this election, I decided to groom only those Muslims who had converted from Hindu SC communities [Pasmanda Muslims] for leadership.

Translated by Khalid Anis Ansari

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