Our Correspondent
JAIPUR – With an eye on the State Assembly election due in December 2023, Hyderabad-based All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has made a foray into Rajasthan, riding on the high emotions over the recent incident of abduction and killing of two Muslim youths by cow vigilantes. AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi visited Bharatpur and Tonk districts in eastern Rajasthan on February 18 and 19 and sent across several political messages with his bold remarks.
The AIMIM is set to contest this year’s Assembly election with a possible alliance with the regional parties, as the party intends to focus on Muslims and Dalits in an attempt to evolve an independent and credible leadership for them. Owaisi gave hints during his two-day visit that he will field candidates at about 30 seats, including 16 where the ruling Congress had fielded its Muslim candidates in 2018.
The Rajasthan unit of AIMIM was launched in Jaipur in May last year with the appointment of a six-member Core Committee before the formation of a full-fledged state body. The party’s State Convener is Jameel Khan, owner of a chain of private schools, who hails from Jeoli village in Sikar district’s Laxmangarh tehsil. Khan belongs to an influential family of the region and his grandfather, the late Col. (Retd.) Jabodi Khan, had contested the Assembly election against former Home Minister Mathura Das Mathur from Nagaur district’s Didwana constituency in 1977.
Intellectuals and political analysts in Rajasthan’s Muslim community feel that the AIMIM can fill the political void in the state and emerge as a powerful voice for Muslims and other marginalised sections. It is often pointed out that the Congress has treated Muslims as its permanent vote bank in Rajasthan because of the absence of a strong alternative before them.
Owaisi, the four-time Hyderabad MP, affirmed during his interactions that the people seemed to be fed up with both the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party, which had alternately formed the government in Rajasthan during the last two decades. While promising to give political voice and platform to the minorities, Owaisi is considering making alliances with other parties after making the AIMIM’s organisation strong at the grassroots.
The AIMIM may reach an electoral understanding with the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) before the Assembly polls, as Owaisi met BTP leader Chhotubhai Vasava during one of his earlier visits, besides holding talks with the leaders representing Dalits and Scheduled Tribes. The BTP’s influence in the tribal-dominated Dungarpur, Banswara, Pratapgarh and Udaipur districts in southern Rajasthan has been increasing since two of its leaders won the 2018 Assembly election.
The AIMIM has contested polls at some seats in various State Assembly elections in the recent years. Among them are Bihar, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. The Hyderabad-based party has five MLAs in Bihar and two in Maharashtra, while it has seven MLAs in Telangana and is in an alliance with the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS).
In Bharatpur district, Owaisi went to Ghatmika village to meet the families of Nasir and Junaid, who were allegedly killed by cow vigilantes in Haryana’s Bhiwani district. Owaisi held both the Rajasthan and Haryana governments responsible for the murder of the two youths from the Meo Muslim-dominated area. He said it was clear that the BJP was all out to protect the accused from the police action and justice to the families of victims was impossible.
An AIMIM office was also inaugurated in the nearby Tapukra town in the presence of hundreds of party supporters. Owaisi taunted that both the Haryana and Rajasthan governments should shut down the courts and take away the uniform of the police. “Let the hooligans take the law into their own hands. They should be allowed to kill, kidnap and murder anyone on the charges of cow slaughter. Will the country be run by the rule of law, or these hooligans will run the country?” Owaisi asked.
He also pointed out that the Congress government in the state, headed by veteran leader Ashok Gehlot, had only granted a financial assistance of Rs. 20 lakh each to the families of the deceased, while in similar hate crimes (for example, in the Udaipur beheading incident) the amount was Rs. 50 lakh and a government job. He affirmed that it was clearly an evidence of the fact that the Congress was only interested in the votes of Muslims.
In a huge public meeting organised at Gandhi Sports Ground in Tonk on the second day of his visit, Owaisi launched a scathing attack on Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot, who represents the Tonk constituency in the Assembly. The two Congress leaders are already locked in a bitter battle over holding the reins of the state. Pilot’s rebellion along with the MLAs supporting him in 2020 had led to his dismissal both as the Deputy CM and the Pradesh Congress Committee president.
Owaisi accused Gehlot and Pilot of strategically keeping silent on the issues related to minorities for fear of losing the votes of Hindus. “If Owaisi can go to Bharatpur to meet the families of Nasir and Junaid burnt alive by Bajrang Dal, why can’t Gehlot and Pilot from Jaipur and Tonk, respectively, visit their families? They are scared that if they are seen with Muslims then the Hindu brothers will not vote for them. They want your vote, but they don’t want to visit your brothers’ graveyard,” he said.
Owaisi asked Pilot, belonging to the Gujjar community, to look for a Gujjar-dominated seat to contest the Assembly election, as the AIMIM is going to contest the polls from Tonk. He asked why Pilot was not willing to fight the polls from districts such as Dausa, Sawai Madhopur and Karauli, which were Gujjar-dominated. This was a clear message conveyed to the Muslim-majority Tonk constituency that it should elect its MLA prudently to ensure that the interests of the region as well as the community were taken care of.
Owiasi urged thousands of people, who came to attend the rally, to support the AIMIM in order to counter both the Congress and BJP. “Congress creates fear among you to get your votes during the polls. When they come in power, they treat you like untouchables. The BJP is clear that they don’t need your vote. In such a situation, you must support AIMIM which has stood by the weak and the marginalised people in every situation and ensured that they get their due share in the democracy,” he said in a politically significant remark.
Owaisi later told mediapersons at a press conference in Tonk that the AIMIM leaders were visiting every Assembly constituency in the state to strengthen the organisation. Though he said it was too early to announce the number of seats to be contested in this year’s election, he indicated that the party’s Core Committee was examining the matter and would soon announce the decision after considering the winning potential of the prospective candidates.
Owaisi has clearly thrown a major challenge to the ruling Congress by announcing that the AIMIM will work for growth of political leadership and raise the demand for justice not just for Muslims, but for all marginalised sections of society facing discrimination, prejudice and intolerance. It remains to be seen whether Muslims, Dalits and other marginalised communities, looking for options, will be willing to give the AIMIM the space as a third front in the state’s political landscape dominated by the two mainstream parties.
