AIMIM to campaign for Maharashtra municipal polls; rally on Dec 11

While parties like the Trinamool Congress are aggressively poaching the support bases of the Congress, the party will also have to contend with the presence of the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) in Maharashtra. AIMIM will soft-launch its campaign for the Maharashtra municipal polls with a rally at the BKC on December 11

While parties like the Trinamool Congress are aggressively poaching the support bases of the Congress, the party will also have to contend with the presence of the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) in Maharashtra. Next month, the AIMIM will soft-launch its campaign for the Maharashtra municipal polls with a rally at the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) in Mumbai on December 11, which will be addressed by party chief and Lok Sabha member of Parliament (MP) Asaduddin Owaisi and touch upon issues confronting the Muslim community.

Next month, the AIMIM will soft-launch its campaign for the Maharashtra municipal polls with a rally at the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) in Mumbai on December 11, which will be addressed by party chief and Lok Sabha member of Parliament (MP) Asaduddin Owaisi and touch upon issues confronting the Muslim community. (PTI)

The AIMIM is attacking the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for allying with the pro-Hindutva Shiv Sena and for seeking the votes of the Muslims, yet dragging its feet on providing quotas for them. It is also demanding the revival of the waqf board and using its resources for the community’s welfare.

Led by the firebrand Owaisi brothers from Hyderabad—Asaduddin and member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Akbaruddin Owaisi, the AIMIM appeals to a section of Muslims like the youth, who are of the opinion that the “secular” parties use them as a vote bank, while the community continued to be institutionally neglected and socially, politically and educationally backward. The AIMIM, which contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections with Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), notched up its first victory outside Hyderabad, with its Imtiaz Jaleel breaching the saffron stronghold of Aurangabad.

Congress-NCP leaders grumble that the VBA ate into the “secular” votes, causing their defeat in eight constituencies. Though the alliance fell apart later, the AIMIM won two seats in the Maharashtra Assembly.

“Between 2014 and 2019, the Congress and NCP were seeking that the erstwhile Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government must introduce quotas for the Muslims. But, why are they dragging their feet now that they are in power?” questioned Jaleel, AIMIM MP from Aurangabad, and the party’s Maharashtra chief. The Bombay high court (HC) had stayed the Maratha quota and reservations in jobs for Muslims that was introduced by the erstwhile Congress-NCP regime in 2014, but did not stay the decision to reserve 5% seats for Muslims in education. The BJP-Shiv Sena government later approved a bill for Maratha reservations, but did not cover Muslims.

Muslims form 11.54% of Maharashtra’s population, the fourth-largest after Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Bihar, with substantial numbers in Mumbai, Marathwada, Vidarbha and North Maharashtra.

The AIMIM is demanding a revival package for the Maharashtra State Board of Waqf (MSBW), which controls 93,000 acre of prime Muslim endowment lands across Maharashtra, but has few resources to protect it. “The board must get a one-time (revival) package. These vacant lands must be used for starting schools, commercial complexes to generate employment, and hostels for girls.” sought Jaleel, noting that most waqf lands are encumbered.

Jaleel said they had originally planned to hold the rally as part of this campaign on November 27, but were denied permissions by the police citing Covid-19 restrictions. He stated that the Shiv Sena, Congress, NCP and the BJP, were conducting public meetings, even without the consent of the police. The AIMIM has, hence, threatened to hold the meeting at the BKC grounds, even if the permissions do not come through and its workers will come to Mumbai in vehicles flying the tricolour, instead of the party standard, to mark the 75th year of India’s independence.

Jaleel said that while political motives could be attributed to this campaign being launched before the municipal elections, they were “raising genuine questions at the right time.”

Critics of the Muslim quota move oppose religion-based reservations, and note how weaker sections in the community have already been covered in categories like Other Backward Class (OBC). The economically-weaker groups can seek quota benefits under the 10% economically weaker sections (EWS) reservations.