WHY NATIONAL PEOPLE’S POWER PARTY OFFERS MUSLIMS THE BEST DEAL

Much has been said of the National People’s Power Party and their growing popularity with the Sri Lankan masses. They offer the nation a very sound economic policy, long term development plan and a pledge to root out the rot of fraud and corruption that has for so long plagued our nation.

However as a minority community, we Muslims need to weigh in another consideration alongside love of our country, and that is our community interest and the need to safeguard our faith, which to many of us is an overriding concern.

So now to the question: “How Muslim-friendly is the NPP?”.

Generally we know Socialist parties tend to be very Muslim-friendly. There are historical reasons for this including shared values of social welfare, opposition to oppressive ideologies such as colonialism and Zionism and a larger global vision for a better world order free of oppression and injustice to name a few.

In fact, in almost every country, socialist parties have been the most passionate in speaking out for their Muslim citizens, winning their rights and fighting against all forms of injustices. This is true not only of Asian countries like India, but also in the West. Left parties and persons devoted to Socialist causes are always in the forefront to speak out for oppressed Muslims including those far removed from their sphere of influence such as Palestine.

Even Socialist countries, especially in South America, tend to be the most friendly to the Palestinian cause and opposed to Zionism. This is because they share a larger global vision of justice and equality which capitalist parties and individuals simply cannot tolerate. Here in Sri Lanka too, we find the NPP taking part in rallies for winning the rights of the Palestinian people, certainly more so than could be said of other political parties.

So how far can NPP be trusted with respecting our rights and liberties as free citizens? An important consideration is of course representation. The NPP in the form of its main party, the JVP, were the first national party to successfully nominate a Muslim woman to parliament, Anjan Umma and presently have a couple of Muslim representatives in their National Committee, including a much respected Islamic scholar and a medical doctor.

True, one could say Muslim representation in the party is underrepresented, but that is because the majority of local Muslims shied away from joining them due to their traditional affiliation to the main national parties, which needless to say have failed both the country and the community.

Will NPP respect our religious rights? They should, given the respect Socialists in general have for Islam and Muslims. Although there were some rumours circulating that if the party were to come to power, they may remove our personal laws and place restrictions on our religious freedoms such as circumcision, the party itself has assured there will be no such restrictions.

In fact, a post on their official website very clearly stated in response to an inquiry about female circumcision that “It is a matter for the respective community to decide. The government will facilitate what the community requires”.

As we all know the vast majority of Muslims want to keep their personal laws and religious practices and the answer is of course obvious.

This is also a very strong statement since the other parties have to this day never made such a statement about respecting our religious rights, focusing more on a Zionist agenda that tends to degrade our Islamic duties and values.

The NPP has also stated that they want to establish a state that is secular. In fact all top NPP leaders and members have spoken against Buddhism being a state religion with a special place, arguing that religion is something personal and something that the state need not be involved in.

So we can decide at this critical juncture whether we want a party like the SJB that continues to use and abuse Sinhala Buddhist Supremacy for political ends, which has been an all too common malady since 1956, or we vote for a party like the NPP that aims at a secular state in principle and in the least would set the course and trajectory for such a secular state where we followers of all faiths enjoy equal rights.

Let’s remember a secular state which does not favour any particular religion serves our best interest. It will not tolerate oppression of minorities under the pretext of protecting Buddhism or mob rule by rogues in robes who have created a culture of impunity in oppressing people of other faiths and getting away with it.

The NPP vision is one that aligns best with our interests.

Your vote will mean a lot for our future generations of Muslims living in our motherland.

After all, its a now or never situation we are faced with.

Let’s vote and vote wisely thinking long term and of the generations to come.

Anonymous well-wisher