Has AIMIM’s Owaisi, the dark horse in Maharashtra elections, played a winning move?
Not dividing the Muslim-Dalit vote bank in the state has the potential of helping the opposition consolidate its vote.
Asaduddin Owaisi, the lone Muslim voice in a politics dominated by Hindutva of many shades, has played an unusual card in the forthcoming Maharashtra assembly polls: he has decided not to split the Muslim vote.
His party, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), regarded as an important voice of minorities, has chosen to put up only 16 candidates for the elections of 288 Assembly seats scheduled for November 20. This should be considered irregular, given that in the 2019 Assembly elections, AIMIM contested 44 seats, though it could win only two. In the process, it recorded a rise in the percentage of voter share.
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Confirmations have now streamed in with the AIMIM’s final list: sitting MLAs Mufti Ismail Qasmi from Malegaon Central and Faruk Shah Anwar from Dhule, are in, as is incumbent MP Syed Imtiaz Jaleel, who will contest from Aurangabad East, a constituency which he represented in the 2019 Lok Sabha. Mumbai, with its sizable Muslim population, and Maharashtra itself offers hope to Muslim candidates and the AIMIM has put up several.
Importantly, it has taken the bold step of fielding three non-Muslim candidates; Kirti Deepak Dongre from Nagpur poses a challenge in the 'saffron city while Samrat Surwade from Murtizapur and Mahesh Kamble (Miraj), complete the ensemble.
Adding more fuel to the electoral fire in social media is the news that the AIMIM party floor leader and Hyderabad MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi is the star campaigner. The junior Owaisi began the Maharashtra tour on Tuesday, addressing huge crowds at Aam Khas Maidan in Aurangabad. In typical Singham-style, the AIMIM posters roared: "Hum aa rahe hain, Maharashtra." We are coming, Maharashtra.
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Said Asaduddin Owaisi, AIMIM's sole MP and leader who commands a national presence, "Now we cannot be accused of being BJP's 'B-Team'." Clearly hinting that his party could have contested many more assembly seats in Maharashtra, Owaisi has focussed on fewer seats, optimum utilisation of party resources, and ensuring that his star-presence in key rallies benefits the 16 contestants equally.
The 'BJP's B-Team’ charge, which AIMIM has weathered consistently in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and its home-state of Telangana, has Owaisi's standing his ground: "The so-called secular parties have neither developed nor mentored Muslim leadership in the states where there is sizeable population of Muslims. How can they call me the 'B Team' when they themselves keep making and breaking alliances with the BJP?"
The AIMIM tactic is aimed at avoiding splitting the Muslim-Dalit vote. "Among major parties, the Congress followed by the NCP (Ajit Pawar) have allocated more seats this time to Muslim representatives though even their numbers are low," points out senior columnist Mohammed Wajihuddin in Mumbai.
In early October, even before the election dates were notified, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was quick off the mark, announcing that his party, NCP, would allocate 10 per cent of the seats to minorities. In the Lok Sabha elections, the party had not given any tickets to minority candidates. Not to be left behind in the race to make a national statement for minorities, the Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) announced its second list of 10 candidates featuring all Muslim candidates.