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Mumbai:
Ex-MP and IFS (Retd.) Syed Shahabuddin on Monday tendered
unconditional apology to Joint Committee of Muslim Organizations
for Empowerment (JCMOE) - an umbrella body of Indian Muslim
organizations, saying that his letter addressed to Gujarat Chief
Minister Narendra Modi was personal and by mistake issued on the
organisation's letter-pad.
"I wish to clarify that this was a
personal letter with a strategic purpose and had nothing to do
with the Joint Committee of Muslim Organisation for Empowerment (
JCMOE). However by mistake the office issued it on the pad of the
JECMOE. Your objection is therefore legitimate and I beg your
apology", Syed Shahabuddin wrote in his letter to JCMOE sent
today.
"Nowhere in this letter have I asked
the Muslims to forgive Modi or to vote for him. However it is a
fact that through various devises over the years Modi has been
able to soften some Muslims of the upper classes", he added.
"The strategy behind this letter was
to caution them and to rethink about Modi on the eve of the
election, so that they could be weaned away by taking note that
Modi has not fulfilled any real Muslim demands", he said.
Syed Shahabuddin had written a
letter on November 16 ahead of the crucial assembly elections to
Narendra Modi acknowledging what the media reported is "some signs
of change'' in Gujarat state chief minister Narendra Modi's
attitude towards Muslims.
He also suggested in his letter that
the community could support Modi "in rebuilding Gujarat'' if he
apologized and expressed sorrow over the 2002 Gujarat riots.
He also asked Modi to offer at least
20 assembly tickets to Muslims acceptable to the community, where
they constitute more than 20% of the electorate instead of
repeatedly announcing his faith in secularism.
The letter received widespread
attention with media portraying the views expressed in the letter
as that of the JCMOE and entire community. JCMOE comprises 10
outfits: Jamiat-ul-Ulema Hind, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind; All India
Majlis-e-Mushawarat, All India Milli Council, Movement for
Empowerment of Muslim Indians, All India Momin Conference, All
India Shia Conference, Markazi Jamiat-e-Ahle Hadith,
Imarat-e-Sharia, and All India Muslim Educational Society. Syed
Shahabuddin is its Convenor.
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