By Shakeel Akhtar / NEW DELHI
Today on the eve of Independence Day, good news has come for Congress as senior party leader Salman Khurshid has been elected as President of prestigious India Islamic Culture Center IICC
The remarkable thing about this election was that after 20 years, progressive forces have returned to power here. A rich beef exporter Siraj Qureshi was holding the post of president here for the last two decades.
This time he fielded one of his supporters Dr. Majeed Talikoti, who was associated with Rashtriya Muslim Manch, an active organization among Muslims of RSS. But he lost badly. A total of seven candidates were in the fray for the post of president.
Salman got 721 votes, which is almost half of the total votes cast. Total 1662 votes were cast. Out of these, 940 came and voted. 390 voted through e-voting and 332 through postal ballot.
Today the counting of postal ballots which was left was completed. It is worth mentioning that before this Salman Khurshid had lost to Qureshi and not only that, BJP’s Arif Mohammad Khan, Governor of Kerala, had also lost to Qureshi.
Therefore, this time the defeat of Qureshi’s panel is being considered very big achievement.
This center was established by Indira Gandhi to develop Indian Islamic culture.
She inaugurated it in 1984. It has members from all religions and castes. There are around 240 Hindu voters. The center was established as a very good symbol of India’s diversity.
