JEDDAH, 25 April 2004
P.K. Abdul Ghafour, Arab News
The first non-resident Indian (NRI) parliamentarian has extended
his full support to the proposed budget airline project for
low-paid Indian workers in the Gulf. I have been an advocate
of budget airlines and I will try my best to mobilize support
for the project, P.V. Abdul Wahab, a prominent businessman
and industrialist based in Dubai, told Arab News.
NRI organizations in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries have
called for a budget carrier after airlines allegedly imposed exorbitant
charges on passengers. There must be special fares for poor
Indian workers who earn less than $150 a month. There must be
special flights to cater to their needs but without causing any
security risk as a result of using old aircraft, he insisted.
Abdul Wahab was on his first visit to Saudi Arabia after being
sworn in as a member of Rajya Saba, the upper house of Parliament.
He was elected from the southern Kerala state as a candidate of
the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).
Abdul Wahab said he would work for the welfare of NRIs in the
Gulf and other countries, and effectively intervene in labor disputes
without creating any controversy.
I know the problems of Indian expatriate workers, especially
in the Gulf, and I will exert every possible effort to solve them,
said Abdul Wahab, who came to the Gulf for work some 30 years
ago. He defended the soft and balanced attitude of
Indian missions in handling NRI job problems.
Abdul Wahab, who has declared family assets of more than 1.28
billion rupees and stakes in 144 companies, has not forgotten
the poor and downtrodden. My wish is to become the voice
of the voiceless, he said.
In the Kingdom to perform Umrah and thank God for helping him
to get elected to the worlds largest democratic institution,
he said, I was immensely proud when I stood in Parliament
for the swearing-in ceremony. I am thankful to God as well as
to my party and its president, Shihab Thangal.
Abdul Wahab said he wanted to strengthen the existing relations
between India and the Gulf countries. He thanked Saudi Arabia
and the Gulf states for opening their doors to Indian investors.
Asked about the uproar over his election, Abdul Wahab said the
allegations against him were baseless. I invested the money
I earned in the Gulf in India. Was it a mistake? he said,
thanking his opponents for providing him free publicity.
Wahab will now be the League's star spokesman in place
of the fiery-tongued G M Banatwala of Mumbai whom the League recently
dumped unceremoniously.