Najib Boulif: Moroccans are Very Aware of Tahar Ben Jelloun

Rabat – Minister-delegate in charge of Transport and one of the Justice and Development Party’s (PJD) members, Mohamed Najib Boulif, has countered Moroccan poet and author Tahar Ben Jelloun, saying “Moroccans are very aware of Tahar Ben Jelloun and people alike him.”

Following Ben Jelloun’s statement, saying, “The PJD is a ‘homophobic and ‘retrograde party,” and that the majority of Moroccans are illiterate and do not know the meaning of real democracy,” because they voted for the Islamist PJD during the legislative elections held last October 7^th, Boulif took to his Facebook page on Sunday in response. Making his feelings plain in his Facebook post, Boulif had this to say; “Tahar Benjelloun, who is a symbol of the francophone school, lied when he said that Moroccans are ranked among the most illiterate people in the world. Morocco is ranked between positions 130 and 140 worldwide.”

“I pity you, pseudo-democrats and I thank God for Moroccans citizens [for casting their votes] to show up people like you,” Boulif said, “Tahar Benjelloun, the intellectual, surely knows that true democracy is to accept the results of the ballots, even if its results displease. To speak of a democratic aberration is nonsense.”

During a seminar held at a French academy, Ben Jelloun had lashed out the PJD, describing it as a party a “racist party.” He also said, “I think that the Islamists in Morocco break every development and every progress in the country.”

In an attempt to draw a comparison between the election results during the era of King Hassan II and the current King Mohammed VI era, Ben Jelloun said, “the quality of Moroccan elections had greatly improved since the reign of King Hassan II – when the results were known even before the elections were held.”

This is not the first time Ben Jelloun comments on the Moroccan political landscape. Only a few days after the PJD won the October 7th election, winning 125 seats out of the 395 making the house of representatives, Ben Jelloun criticized the election’s results, saying that “the PJD’s victory is a slap [in the face] to the traditional parties due to their failure to address the people.”

Edited by Constance Guindon