By Mumtaz Alam, Muslim Mirror,
New Delhi/Guwahati, August 20: Thanks to his steep rise in political hierarchy in Assam and his limitless philanthropic activities in the state and other parts of the country, perfume baron and chief of All-India United Democratic Front, Maulana Badruddin Ajmal Qasmi has emerged as one of the Most Influential persons in the country. A latest poll (participated by over six lakh people) conducted by India’s esteemed English weekly Outlook has chosen Badruddin Ajmal in the league of 14 Most Influential persons each one in 14 states.
An Outlook brief on Ajmal
It’s difficult to put Badruddin Ajmal in any particular box. He wears different hats—perhaps one should say caps—as the situation demands. He is an affluent businessman, a popular religious leader, a controversial politician, though not strictly in that order. For that can change as his priorities change. Yet all three roles merge seamlessly to create the persona that is Ajmal. He was born in Assam, three years after Independence. His initial success came through the perfume trade, not in his state but in Mumbai. Dubbed “perfume baron”, he has a multi-million dollar business spread across the country, with forays abroad. Ajmal studied at the Dar-ul-Uloom Deoband seminary and earned the equivalent of a master’s degree in Arabic and theology. Many call him Maulana Ajmal. His soaring popularity, especially among the Bengali-speaking Muslims of Assam, has also been attributed to his philanthrophy. He is credited with opening a number of schools, madrassas, orphanages and hospitals in various parts of Assam, particularly those with a substantial Muslim population. But Ajmal’s detractors see his hand in every communal riot in Assam and at times even outside the state. Some even attribute the exodus of Northeasterners from Bangalore to his machinations: the riots he allegedly engineered in Assam saw reprisals in Bangalore, leading to the exodus, they say. A late entrant to politics—he began only as recently as 2006—he’s today one of the most influential politicians of Assam. He is an MP from Dhubri and his All-India United Democratic Front is the main opposition party in the state with 19 seats. He now dreams of taking his political footprint beyond Assam. Though an ally of the Congress-led UPA coalition in Delhi, Ajmal has threatened to put up candidates in all 14 seats from Assam in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. He may not end up winning too many seats, but his ability to spoil the Congress’s chances make him a man to watch.
Besides Ajmal, the league of 14 Most Influential persons includes Amit Shah, General Secretary, BJP (Gujarat), Amitabh Bachchan, Actor (Maharashtra), Arvind Kejriwal, Anti-Corruption Crusader (Delhi), Chiranjeevi, Superstar-Turned-Neta (Andhra Pradesh), Mayawati, Bahujan Samaj Party Chief (Uttar Pradesh), N.R. Narayana Murthy, Executive Chairman, Infosys (Karnataka), Rajnikanth, Actor (Tamil Nadu), Sachin Pilot, Union Minister Of Corporate Affairs, Congress MP (Rajasthan), Sourav Ganguly, Former Team India Skipper, TV Star, Cricket Expert (West Bengal), Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister (Punjab), Uma Bharati, BJP Vice-President (Madhya Pradesh).
Why this poll
“Though the words are sometimes taken in the same breath, in many ways, influence is unlike the elixir of all the ages: power. Power has a clear, unidirectional trajectory. We know where it flows from and from whom. We know who is on top and who is down below. It is clear; it shouts. Influence, on the other hand, is soft power. It isn’t top-down, it isn’t homogeneous, and it isn’t one-way. Power is like big media, influence is social. Power shouts; influence shouts silently. Which is what sparked this interactive effort to track India’s Most Influential: to put a number, a name, a rank to this somewhat indescribable idea. As perceived by the people,” says the English weekly Outlook.
Process of Poll
From a master-list Outlook reporters, opinion-makers and observers came up with, five people from each of the 14 large states were selected by the editorial team. “There was a conscious effort to select the contenders from as many varied fields as possible. The chief ministers of the states were deliberately kept out of the shortlist to avoid skewing the ranking,” says the weekly.
Using the shortlist, a two-way voting process began. The names of the top five contenders were advertised in select newspapers in each of these states to decide who were seen as the most influential people in those states. Simultaneously, readers could cast their vote online at our website or by placing a ‘missed call’ (where a caller makes a missed call to a specific number assigned to a person to vote for him or her). The polling was open for three weeks. In all, 6,05,660 votes came in to decide India’s Most Influential.