Taking a cue from other political parties, the All India United Muslim Morcha will take out a 'Rath Yatra' across Uttar Pradesh from Monday to educate Muslims about their rights.
"The Muslim community has been held for ransom by various political parties for long. It is high time when they are educated about their rights and told that their vote should go to only that party, which pledges to work for their welfare and progress," Morcha vice-president Gulam Sarwar Azad told PTI in Lucknow.
For the past 10 years, the Morcha had been carrying out a lonely battle for inclusion of Dalit Muslims in the scheduled castes list. "When we failed to get any concrete help from any quarter we decided to reassert ourselves on election eve to build pressure on political parties who consider us as a mere vote bank.
"About 85 per cent of the Muslims has been deprived of the benefits of reservation and remained economically and educationally backward while the affluent classes ruled through their votes and enjoyed power," he claimed.
Through this yatra, Muslims would be told to vote the party that would work for reservation in jobs for minorities on the lines of scheduled castes under Article 341 of the Constitution.
The yatra would cover the entire length and breadth of Uttar Pradesh and also some other states with the message: Hamare vote ka vahi haqdaar, jo dilaye samvidhani adhikar (our vote will go to only those parties who would ensure us our constitutional rights).
Azad asked political parties to come in the open and announce their programmes and policies for Muslim emancipation. By the time the Lok Sabha elections are held, he hoped the Muslims would be in a position to cross-question the various candidates and check their antecedents before casting votes.
Azad was critical of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, accusing it of working under the influence of a handful of influential people of the community.