Bukhari addresses a rally at Bamunjari, Jagiroad. Picture by UB Photos

Simultola (South Salmara Assembly constituency), April 9: As the bespectacled bearded man in a white kurta pyjama and skull-cap alighted from a Chevrolet and walked toward the makeshift podium, the drone turned into a loud roar with the crowd breaking into a chorus, ?Imam sahib zindabad.?

Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari of Jama Masjid, Delhi, is not here, in Assam?s Dhubri district, to deliver any sermon. He is on an election campaign asking the ?faithful? to vote for the nascent Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF).

Bukhari was not the lone clergyman to use his religious influence to deliver a political message. With two main contenders for minority votes ? the AUDF and the Congress ? not very sure of how the community would behave at the post-IM(DT) Act hustings, Muslim clerics were in great demand during the campaign.

The Congress had roped in no less than 80 leaders from various Islamic socio-religious organisations to brighten its poll prospects in Muslim-dominated areas. Besides clergymen from outside the state, influential imams of local masjids, too, had plunged into the election campaign.

Chairman of Anjuman Minhaj-E-Rasool, Maulana Syed Athar Hussain Dehlavi, who was in the state to canvass for the Congress, said his organisation had engaged imams of various local mosques to deliver its message.

There were approximately 350 clergymen, both from Assam and outside, campaigning for the Congress or AUDF-backed candidates.

?Our main job is to spread the message of the Prophet. But it is also our responsibility to guide the flock in the right direction,? explained Imam Badruddin Shah of a Fakiragram (in Kokrajhar district).

Shah had campaigned in Kokrajhar East constituency for the AUDF-backed Rabiram Narzary faction of the Bodo People?s Progressive Front.

Imam Shah Alam of a local mosque in Barpeta, who is backing the Congress, agreed with Shah. ?One should not expect us to be a mute spectator when our rights are threatened,? he said.

They may share common views on matters regarding religion and while justifying their political role. But their political messages, for obvious reasons, are divergent and confusing. If for one the Congress is the only saviour of the community, for others it is the greatest traitor.

For Bukhari, the Congress, which has ruled the country for over 50 years, has deceived the minorities and it was time for the community to retaliate. Dehlavi is quick to disagree and termed the Imam as an agent of the Sangh Parivar and a land-grabber to boot.

Caught in between, the voters are as confused as ever.

Tajuddin Ahmed, a voter under Baghbar constituency in Barpeta district, said, ?I don?t know whom to believe or whether they need to be believed at all. Religious leaders should stick to their job of imparting religious lessons and avoid meddling in politics.?