Interestingly, Owaisi is batting for such characters at a time when even their former patrons, SP and BSP, are not willing to touch them with a barge pole.
As the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls draw near, campaigning in the state is showing a predictable trend.
While it was expected that the ruling BJP would highlight its pro-Hindutva credentials and present itself as a champion of the majority community, there were apprehensions that the entry of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen led by its president Asaduddin Owaisi, could polarise the voters.
Owaisi is presenting himself as the new saviour of the state’s 19 per cent Muslims and is accusing the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress of paying only lip service to the community in the past.
While that kind of pitch is understandable when someone is overtly wooing the minority community and is desperate for a share of its votes, the Hyderabad Lok Sabha MP seems to be raising the political temperature by invoking the Taliban, now ruling Afghanistan, and considering giving tickets to underworld dons-turned politicians Atiq Ahmad and Mukhtar Ansari, both of whom are serving their respective jail terms.
Interestingly, Owaisi is batting for such characters at a time when even their former patrons, SP and BSP, are not willing to touch them with a barge pole.
BSP president Mayawati made a specific mention that she will not field Ansari as her party candidate to support her claim that only candidates with a clean image will be considered.
The AIMIM, which plans to contest round 100 of the total 403 assembly seats, is also facing a problem in finding suitable candidates as the party has little base in the state when compared to the SP, BSP or the Congress.
Despite all his good intentions, Owaisi is being noticed primarily because of his rhetoric and he seems to be playing his part well.
The more aggression the Hyderabad MP shows while urging the minority votes to unite and support him in the state, the more he contributes to a reverse mobilisation of majority votes, which indirectly helps the BJP.
Owaisi dared the Centre to declare the Taliban a terrorist organisation knowing well that the government is informally in touch with them and that foreign affairs should not find mention in a state election.
Owaisi has also picked up an issue with chief minister Yogi Adityanath and slammed the BJP leader’s recent “abba Jaan” jibe aimed at SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav.
The Taliban, who have declared Afghanistan as an Islamic Emirate and the fact that Mulayam Singh gained power in the post-1992 phase mainly due to his Muslim-Yadav support base, are two entirely different issues.
Interestingly, the Taliban was added to the poll narrative after SP MP Shafiqur-Rehman Barq termed them as “freedom fighters” even as AIMIM is getting the flak.
In a clever way, Owaisi is also trying to break the SP’s M-Y support base and emerge as a popular Muslim face in the state.
BJP’s B Team
Though the opposition parties attacked Owaisi saying he was playing the BJP’s game, farmer leader Rakesh Tikait was more direct.
Taking the recent “abba Jaan” controversy forward, Tikait charged that Owaisi was the “chacha Jaan” of the saffron party and had its blessings.
The SP and the Congress are trying hard to counter this narrative by pointing out that the real issues affecting the people like the law and order situation, unemployment and lack of healthcare facilities, were, unfortunately, getting drowned in the din of divisive agenda.
Owaisi is aware of the charge he faces from his rivals and has tried to dilute it by saying that he had joined the poll fight to protect the rights of not only the Muslims but the Dalits, backwards and upper castes as well.
The meetings of the oppressed sections of society being conducted by the AIMIM is a way to counter the tag of being only pro-Muslim.
According to Owaisi, his prime objective is to defeat the BJP but to achieve that goal his party must first win. His campaign in Faizabad, Sultanpur and Barabanki districts during September focused on how the SP and BSP provided only petty jobs like security guards to the Muslims.
While the BJP is set to play on the fact that the Lord Ram temple got approval during its rule, Owaisi has slammed the opposition parties in the state for not even mentioning the December 6, 1992 demolition of the mosque in Ayodhya.
The attempt clearly is to scratch the old wounds of the Muslims and play on their emotions but there is no clarity who would apply a soothing balm.
Earlier, Owaisi had questioned RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s remarks that all Indians shared a common DNA and those responsible for the lynching of Muslims were not Hindus.
The Hyderabad MP had also challenged the chief minister saying he will not let Yogi return. The BJP gleefully accepted the provocation.
Recently, PM Modi and Yogi, along with a battery of top BJP leaders, paid tributes to former chief minister Kalyan Singh who passed away recently. Singh was the chief minister in 1992 and later became a prominent face of the temple movement.
Of late, the first visuals of the under-construction temple have been released in public and the target is to complete the project before the 2024 national polls.
Track record
In 2015, AIMIM won 5 out of the 20 seats it contested in the Bihar assembly polls. The results encouraged the party to jump in the 2021 West Bengal fray where it drew a blank.
In UP, the AIMIM is part of an alliance of smaller parties called the Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha which includes Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party led by Om Prakash Rajbhar, Jan Adhikar Party led by Babu Singh Kushwaha, Rashtriya Uday Party led by Babu Rampal, Rashtriya Upekshit Samaj Party led by Premchand Prajapati and Janata Kranti Party led by Anil Singh Chauhan.
AIMIM had fielded 38 candidates in the 2017 UP polls but could not win a single seat and got just a 2.46 per cent vote share. Owaisi is betting big on the 2022 gamble but in the end, the Muslims of the state will determine where he stands by the middle of next year.
By Amit Agnihotri
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