The electorate is not as communal as parties: Imtiyaz Jaleel

The parliamentarian, who is banking on work undertaken as an MLA and MP over the past 10 years, says people do not vote based on caste or religion

The Aurangabad Lok Sabha constituency is witnessing three-cornered fight between the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena’s Sandipan Bhumare, Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Chandrakant Khaire and AIMIM’s sitting MP Imtiyaz Jaleel. The parliamentarian, who is banking on work undertaken as an MLA and MP over the past 10 years, says people do not vote based on caste or religion. The Congress perceives AIMIM as BJP’s ‘B’ team, he says, in order to cover up its own failures.

Imtiyaz Jaleel (HT PHOTO)

Excerpts from an interview with HT’s Surendra P Gangan.

Q. What are your achievements as an MP for the past five years and as an MLA for five years prior to that?

A: My biggest achievement was exposing the Adarsh credit society scam, wherein I helped 62,000 small-time investors who had lost ₹200 crore of their hard-earned money. Although political heaveweights were involved in the scam, I was able to ensure the arrest of the chairman and directors of the society. My PIL opposing the allotment of a 7-acre government plot for Gopinath Munde’s memorial resulted in the construction of a 400-bedded hospital at the site, which will be commissioned in November 2025. The very BJP workers cursed me for opposing the land allotment are now thanking me, after I proposed that the hospital be named after (Gopinath) Munde-saheb. This apart, my PIL on poor services in government hospitals resulted in some improvements, while another PIL on contract workers in government departments resulted in better pay.

Q. It is a three-corner contest in Aurangabad, with consolidation of votes in the name of caste and religion. What chances do you see of your winning?

A: My calculation is simple – people have seen my work; contrary to their perception five years ago, they have seen me as a leader who talks development. There are very few who vote on the basis of caste and religion. Youngsters from other communities and religions have voted for me though their parents vote for traditional parties. I could bring the transformation through my work.

There are elderly people and roadside vendors too who have been campaigning for me as they benefited when the Adarsh credit society scam was exposed. People have also hired cars for my campaign.

Q: Who do you see as your main opponent – Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Chandrakant Khaire or Shiv Sena’s Sandipan Bhumare?

A: Bhumare has been spending lot of ill-gotten money on his campaign but does not have the support of his own workers, while Khaire has been tried and tested; it is his sixth Lok Sabha election and voters are not keen on him. I have an edge over the two contenders.

Q. You won the 2019 Lok Sabha poll because of the division of Maratha votes as well as due to AIMIM’s alliance with Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), which helped you get Dalit votes. This time, the VBA is not with you.

A: VBA’s candidate is a shady character who used to sell movie tickets in black outside theatres. Had VBA chief Prakash Ambedkar been serious about a fight, he would have given a good, educated Dalit candidate. His only motive was to defeat Imtiyaz Jaleel in this election.

Q. What went wrong with AIMIM’s alliance with VBA after the two successfully contested the 2019 assembly elections together?

A: Prakash Ambedkar was not ready to concede more than eight seats to us in the 2019 assembly polls although we had one sitting MP and had won two assembly segments in 2014. He started undermining us, which led to our parting ways. I do not want to speak about Ambedkar-saheb and VBA at this point of time, we will speak once the Lok Sabha results are announced.

Q. You are perceived as the ‘B’ team of BJP, including by Muslim voters. They prefer Congress and other parties over AIMIM.

A: It is the result of false propaganda by the Congress and some other parties, who want to defame us and use us as a punching bag. How can anybody say that we are the ‘B’ team of BJP when we fielded a limited number of candidates in 2019? Even now, we have put up candidates in just six seats and tried to avoid the division of secular votes. We contested three seats across the country in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and won two of them. This time too, in Maharashtra, we are contesting seats where we have good prospects.

Q. You are the only Muslim candidate fielded by a prominent party in this election in Maharashtra. Congress too has not fielded any Muslims. Is it because of the fear of BJP’s Hindutva agenda?

A: There are ten states where no Muslim candidates have been fielded by any prominent party, while seven states neighboring Maharashtra do not have a single Muslim MP. Congress leader Arif Naseem Khan pretended to be protesting against his party’s decision, but it was just a hogwash. He should have resigned from the party instead of resigning just as campaign committee member.

I do not see any reason for the fear of BJP playing the Hindu-Muslim card in case a Muslim candidate is fielded. If Hindus are voting for me even though Khaire, a hardcore Hindu, is contesting opposite me, why should there be a fear of Hindus not voting for the party which fields a Muslim candidate? I think the electorate is not as communal as the parties are. It is surprising that parties do not consider Muslims for areas like Dhule, Bhiwandi and Malegaon, where the community is dominant.

Q. Why do you think the BJP and prime minister Narendra Modi are targetting Muslims?

A: If Modi has done good work, why should the ruling party play the Hindu-Muslim card and rake up issues like mangalsutra, infiltrations by Muslims and inheritance tax. They have been targetting Muslims as they have realised that they are not even close to their target of attaining more than 400 seats.

Q. Voters here are upset with you for opposing the renaming of Aurangabad after Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj.

A: Renaming the city is dirty politics – it was proposed by the (undivided) Shiv Sena as they had no work to show. I opposed the move because we cannot wipe out names and history just by changing names. Why don’t ruling parties change the name of Aurangabad in Bihar and Ahemedabad in Gujarat if they think they are the Muslim names.

Q. You also courted controversy by paying tributes at the tomb of Aurangzeb two years ago.

A: It is a non-issue as many people visit the tomb, but when Akbaruddin Owaisi and I visit it, we are termed anti-nationals.