Maharashtra polls: Did minorities desert MVA? Muslim analysts debunk notion

Mumbai: Following the declaration of assembly poll results on Saturday, many political observers and analysts attributed the defeat of the opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance to the lack of support from Muslims and other minority communities in the state. Minorities had rallied behind the MVA during the Lok Sabha polls held in June but did not do so this time leading to the MVA’s drubbing, said experts.
But political analysts, observers and scholars from the Muslim community debunked the notion. Muslims followed their traditional voting pattern of backing parties with secular credentials, they said, referring to the Shiv Sena (UBT) winning ten seats in Mumbai alone, including constituencies where Muslims comprised a significant portion of the electorate. The community was so determined to steer clear of non-secular parties that they chose not to vote for Muslim candidates fielded by the Mahayuti, they said, citing the poll results in the Mankhurd-Shivajinagar, Vandre East and Byculla constituencies.
In the Muslim dominated Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar seat, there was massive anti-incumbency against Abu Asim Azmi, the three-term sitting MLA from Samajwadi Party, an ally of the MVA. NCP leader and former minister Nawab Malik, also a Muslim, was considered his closest rival. While Azmi won the contest, Malik finished in the fourth position, behind All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) candidate Ateeque Khan. This was because Muslims did not want to back NCP, an ally of the BJP, and chose the AIMIM nominee over Malik, said an MVA leader requesting anonymity.
Senior journalist and editor of the Urdu daily Inquilab, Shahid Latif, referred to the poll outcome in Vandre East and Byculla to dispel the notion that minorities did not back the MVA this time.
In Vandre East, Muslims were so committed to backing secular parties that they did not vote for the sitting NCP MLA and Muslim candidate Zeeshan Siddique despite having sympathy for him over his father Baba Siddique’s assassination, said Latif. “Instead, the community voted for Varun Sardesai from Shiv Sena (UBT) since the party is in alliance with the Congress,” he said.
In Byculla, another Muslim dominated constituency, the community chose to vote for Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Manoj Jamsutkar over AIMIM’s Faiyaz Ahmed for the same reasons, the Inquilab editor said.
He attributed the steep rise in Mahayuti’s seats tally to the consolidation of OBC votes behind the alliance as well as schemes like the Ladki Bahin Yojana.
An NCP leader who spoke to Hindustan Times on condition of anonymity agreed with Latif and other Muslim observers and cited the example of the Mumbra-Kalwa constituency to drive the point home. He said Jitendra Awhad, the NCP (SP) candidate in the constituency, would not have won if Muslims did not come out in his support in large numbers.
“Our candidate Najeeb Mulla was leading as long as votes from Kalwa were being counted. But once electronic voting machines from Mumbra (a Muslim dominated locality) were opened, Awhad secured a lead of 80,000 votes which later increased to 96,228 votes,” said the NCP leader.
Iqbal Chunalwala, a member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) said there was no apathy among Muslims over voting for secular parties. “The enthusiasm across Maharashtra was the same as it was during the general elections. If you look at Muslim dominated areas in all parts of the state, you will see that the turnout has increased,” he asserted.
Shakir Shaikh, secretary of the Maharashtra Democratic Forum (MDF), which works on voter awareness and registration in Muslim dominated areas, said, “We were active on the ground much more than others and found out that the community wholeheartedly voted for secular parties.”