Date:17/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/17/stories/2008091760680900.htm

Tamil Nadu

TMMK’s political outfit to be launched in December

B. Kolappan

It will work against the Congress in State: Jawahirullah

M.H. Jawahirullah

CHENNAI: Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (MMK), the political party of the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK), will be launched in December.

The new party will work against the Congress in Tamil Nadu if the UPA government at the Centre fails to implement the recommendations of the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities headed by Justice Ranganath Mishra, TMMK president M.H. Jawahirullah told The Hindu.

“We will be with the DMK in the Lok Sabha polls. But, we will see to it that the Congress is defeated,” he averred.

“No effort”

Prof. Jawahirullah said though the Commission submitted its report on May 22, 2007, no effort had been taken to table it in Parliament. According to reports, the Commission had recommended 15 per cent reservation for the religious minorities in education and employment opportunities and Muslims were likely to get 10 per cent.

“We supported the DMK in the 2006 Assembly elections because Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi agreed to implement separate reservation for Muslims. He kept his word. The Congress promised reservation for the minorities at the national level in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls. Subsequently, it was included in the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of the UPA. While Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is ready to sacrifice his government for the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal, he has not bothered to implement the Ranganath Mishra commission’s recommendations,” he alleged.

Asked about the need for a political party, he said it was an attempt to fill the vacuum created by the weakening of parties representing the Muslims. “Over the years these parties are not in a position to make a hard bargain for seats during the elections. There was a time when the Muslim parties had 14 MLAs in the Assembly. Today their number is just two. We want to change the trend.”

Prof Jawahirullah said members of the TMMK could also be members of the MMK, but office-bearers of one organisation could not hold posts in the other. Asked about plans to contest the Lok Sabha polls, he said: “Personal opinion does not matter. It will be decided by the party.”