Lok Sabha polls 2014: Varanasi's top cleric Mufti Naomani in demand as parties vie for Muslim votes

VARANASI: Seated in his booklined office in the basement of a mosque in the Muslim dominated Peeli Kothi neighbourhood, 50-year-old cleric Noamani can pass off as any other impoverished Mufti whom orthodox Muslims consult for fatwas, mainly on marital and inheritance issues. But this poll season, he is one of the most sought after leaders, for those who want to know which way the Muslim vote will go. Ministers ( Ghulam Nabi Azad and Azam Khan, to name just two), media persons, activists and researchers currently camping in the temple town have all made a beeline for Noamani's office. "They ask me which way Muslim votes are going. I tell them I'm as clueless as they are," says Noamani, who has been widely quoted in national and international media ever since BJP's PM pick Narendra Modi decided to contest from here. Mufti-e-Shahar (the city's chief Mufti) and Imam-e-juma (imam for Friday prayers) at the Gyanvapi mosque, Noamani commands such respect that many think he holds the key to a huge chunk of Muslim votes. But he dismisses such talk. "I'm not a politician. My job is to lead prayers and guide people on religious matters, but I cannot stop politicians if they want to see me. I pray for them," he says. In the multi-cornered fight, both Congress and AAP are eyeing the city's 3.5 lakh Muslim votes. Belonging to the third generation of Varanasi's chief Muftis (the post was created in 1929 with his grandfather holding the title), Noamani says Muslims will vote against Modi but have not yet decided if their votes will go to Congress's Ajay Rai or AAP's Arvind Kejriwal.

"The community will vote for the stronger of the two chief Modi rivals. Till now it is not clear who will give a tougher fight to Modi, who has galvanized a substantial number of Hindu voters," admits Noamani, whose stock soared after he gave a fatwa against terrorism after the terror attacks on the city's Sankatmochan temple in 2006. The fatwa denounced terrorism as un-Islamic and called the killings of innocents a heinous crime. He, along with Sankatmochan's then chief priest Mahant Veer Bhadra Mishra, appealed for peace and worked to help defuse tensions. He also visited hospitals and victims' families. Today, he's among the few Muslim clerics Hindu traders invite for the opening of shops, weddings and other ceremonies.

Will the city's Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb (composite culture), as many fear, be threatened if Modi wins? "This is a city of weavers, where Hindus and Muslims have lived in harmony for ages. But I'm worried outsiders might rupture its social fabric," he says. Many BJP leaders have maintained a distance from Muslims here as the community doesn't vote for the party. Why don't Muslims open a channel of dialogue with Modi? "Modi doesn't give a clear indication that he has left his hardcore Hindutva agenda. No other party has done much for the community either, but at least they don't treat us as enemies. This is the difference between BJP and other parties," he says.