Mufeed Rizvi on a handshake with newly re-elected Iranian President Mahmoud Admadinejad
Mufeed Rizvi on a handshake with newly re-elected Iranian President Mahmoud Admadinejad
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I have never seen any politician from close range. The only one I came close to is Iran's fiery President Mahmoudu00a0 Ahmadinejad. I managed to sneak into the crowd after he had delivered a speech before a full house foreign guests at the Presidential office in Tehran.
A brief handshake is all I managed. The moment lasted a few seconds, but the memory will be cherished for a life time. Unfortunately, no cameras or mobiles phones were allowed, so no pictures.
This was my first visit to Iran on a pilgrimage. And I couldn't have asked for more.
There is a lot to learn from Ahmadinejad. Being the first citizen of this Persian nation, he doesn't stay in the official residence of the president. Even after being elected president in 2005, he continued to stay in his ancestral home in narrow, dusty bylanes of Tehran.
He doesn't take the president's purse, instead still earns money by delivering lecture at the Tehran University. A PhD in traffic management, Ahmadinejad drives the Peugeot model of the 60s.
Diminutive in structure but gigantic in stature. He became the first president of Iran to visit deep rural areas of Iran, where no president had been there before. It is these qualities that earned him the second term in office.
According to locals, Ahmadinejad stood little or no chance in the run up to the elections. His main rival, reformist Mir Husain Musavi, was already being perceived as the 10th President of Iran.
But it was the presidential debates that changed his course and brought him back in office. During the debates he openly criticised the corruption in the country and even named the politicians involved in it.
"One cannot take him as lightly just because he is simple. He knows when and who to talk tough with," said Farhad Shahidi, a 40-year-old resident of Qom.
People in Iran are more politically active than one would think. In the last few days of campaigning, people especially young lads were out in the streets with flags and slogans. Unusually, election campaigns are held most in the night. It even runs beyond midnight.
Campaign CDs are played on the streets all over the town. Discussions are held at every nook and corner.
Mosques are used to keep people about updated about election news. When I attended the Friday prayers in the holy town of Mashad, the cleric urged the people to go out and vote in large numbers. The result of this sermon was heard on Iranian television when it said that the country had set a record as far as voter turnout was concerned.
To me, Iran will always flash the moment of handshake with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
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