Even as the upcoming Gujarat local body polls have become a veritable multi-cornered contest, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday scoffed at accusations of his party being the B-team of the BJP, asserting that the Congress was playing this part since he had only recently entered the state.
Addressing an election rally in Bharuch district, Owaisi wondered why his party was being accused of being the B-team of the BJP “whereas it is because of the Congress that the BJP has been winning Gujarat for three decades.”
He also asserted that the two were like “mama-bhanja (uncle and nephew),” to buttress his argument that his party had entered Gujarat only now.
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Contesting as an alliance partner of Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) of regional tribal satrap Chhotubhai Vasava, the AIMIM has fielded its candidates on 21 seats in the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation election and some seats in the Modasa municipality. In Bharuch taluka (tehsil) and district panchayats, candidates will stand for election, according to the domination of tribals or Muslims in the area.
Speaking of the AIMIM’s larger alliance of the backward classes and the Muslims, Owaisi said his party aspired to represent the “Muslims, backwards and tribals” who had long been neglected by the Congress party. Conceding that “the AIMIM may not win but will emerge as a strong and credible voice” of these classes.
{{/usCountry}}Speaking of the AIMIM’s larger alliance of the backward classes and the Muslims, Owaisi said his party aspired to represent the “Muslims, backwards and tribals” who had long been neglected by the Congress party. Conceding that “the AIMIM may not win but will emerge as a strong and credible voice” of these classes.
{{/usCountry}}The AIMIM leader pointed to the tribal regions around the Statue of Unity in the Narmada and Bharuch districts and wondered at the silence of the Congress for the alleged exploitation of the tribals there whose lands had been “surreptitiously acquired” by the state government.
When contacted, AIMIM Gujarat chief and former 2007 Congress MLA Sabir Kabuliwala told Hindustan Times, “The Muslims have always voted for the Congress but they got nothing.”
Asked what the Muslims would get now since the AIMIM might never get to rule in Gujarat, he said, “We will take up the issues of the minorities, tribals and backwards.”
When asked how they would become the voice when they were contesting on only a handful seats, Kabuliwala shot back, “Why? This is just the beginning. We will be there in the State Assembly (in 2022) too.”
Asked if he was not aware that any communal polarisation in Gujarat straightaway helped the BJP, he asserted, “There is no polarisation. If a certain party could engineer communal riots and speak only for one community, what is wrong if we raise the issues of the Muslims as well as other backward classes and tribals?”