November 28: A few yards away from Matoshree, the home of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, a very unusual event is taking place. Huge tents are coming up to house 10 lakh Muslims from all over the world who are converging on Mumbai for a tabligi jamaat.Spread over 7,000 square metres in the marshy gulf between Bandra and Mahim, the land owned by the Greater Mumbai collectorate has been leased out to the tabligi by the Maharashtra government at the minimal rental. Neither is the meeting being publicised nor are members of the community or even the government willing to tom-tom their role in the affair.The event is remarkable in that this meeting is taking place in an area, close to Behrampada and the Bharatnagar slums, that witnessed the fiercest riots in the city's history. Moreover, those aware of the event are astonished that the Sena-led government in Maharashtra, generally perceived to be anti-Muslim, should be pulling out all the stops to ensure that this religious gathering should pass off without event.For example, on Thursday night a police constable from the Vakola Police station nearby arrived on the site, the environs of which have been provided with heavy police bandobast and traffic diversions, drunk. He attempted to obstruct the ongoing work but senior police officials in the zoneimmediately had him hauled up and suspended. The message is clear: The Sena-BJP will pull out all stops for smooth governance.Rather like a retreat practised among Catholics, a tabligi is meant to make members of the Islamic community conversant with their religion: how to be a good Muslim and a good human being as well as the salient points of the religion. According to Maharashtra Minorities Front chairman Mohammad Farooq Azam, members of the Muslim community are contributing their own wealth and resources to make the event a success. In return for the nominal rent charged by the government, participants at the tabligi, about one and a half lakh of whom have already descended on the campsite, have ``filled up'' much of the land that was lying barren around the environs.``Under normal circumstances, such a levelling would have cost days and crores of rupees. But it has now been nearly completed as effortlessly as possible and with the minimum amount of fuss,'' says Azam.Leading members of the community, including film stars, intellectuals and others from all walks of life are working round the clock, at times even getting down to physical labour to have the campsite ready on time.According to political observers, Thackeray is unfazed by this gathering of lakhs of Muslims in what is virtually his backyard because he sees this event as the ideal opportunity to tout his ``secularism''.
