Ahmadinejad 'pitches in' for E Ahamed

MALAPPURAM: You could be forgiven for momentarily mistaking this place as the venue for an OIC summit. Democracy is a mirage in the Middle East but Muslim world leaders are holding centre stage in Malappuram this election.
Billboards of Saudi monarch King Abdullah, Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah and Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum stare down at you, urging you to vote for Union minister of state for external affairs E Ahamed, the IUML candidate from the Muslim-dominated constituency.
Former Iran president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is another familiar face. Even Pakistan's former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf, who had been barred from contesting elections and voting in his home country, puts in an appearance to garner votes for Ahamed.
The strong Middle East tilt in hundreds of billboards featuring photographs of various heads of state is not surprising as the district has around three lakh people employed in Gulf countries.
Ahamed, 76, had won the ticket against stiff opposition from the party and is banking on his elder statesman status to sail through. The billboards say 'Let us be proud of this world citizen' and describe Ahamed as one of the few Malayalis known around the globe. Strangely, none of the posters display any of his hand-shakes with leaders from Europe or North America.
IUML Malappuram district secretary P Abdul Hameed said the party has used photographs of Gulf rulers to drive home the foreign policy interventions made by Ahamed. "Many from Malappuram have benefited from Ahamed's close ties with the Gulf rulers, including during Nitaqat crisis in Saudi Arabia," he said.
Asked about the absence of Western leaders, Hameed said: "We are mentioning Ahamed's contributions as foreign affairs minister in our campaign speeches."