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Written Agreement, in Exchange of Votes

Muslims in Aurangabad set an example

Wednesday, April 22, 2009, Aleem Faizee ummid.com

Aurangabad: Aurangabad had recently created a political storm when few of the Cong-NCP Municipal Corporators and office bearers had resigned enmass protesting the continued communal riots in Maharashtra and indiscriminate arrests of the Muslim youths in the name of fighting the rising terrorism in the country. The decision had shocked the Cong-NCP leadership in the state and had forced it to come to the negotiating table.  The city once used as the capital by the Great Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb has come with a shocker yet again. This time however it is the turn of the Shiv Sena-BJP combine to feel the heat.

In a decision that can hamper the chances of the Saffron Alliance candidate Chandrakant Khaire in the parliamentary election scheduled for April 23, the leading Muslim organizations in Aurangabad have decided to support the Cong-NCP candidate Uttam Singh Pawar after receiving an assurance in writing to work on their demands from him.

Congress candidate Uttam Singh Pawar is pitted against the sitting Shiv Sena MP Chandrakant Khaire in Aurangabad. Benefiting from the division of the Muslim votes, a decisive and strong 35% in the constituency, Khaire is winning the parliamentary election since last two attempts. This time however due to the announcement made by the leading Muslim organizations that include Jamat-e-Islami, Majlis-e-Shura, Jamiate Ulema and Milli Jamiat all having a strong support base in the city, to support the Congress candidate Uttam Singh Pawar, Chandrakant Khaire is facing the tough time in the election scheduled for tomorrow.

“To support the Congress candidate in Aurangabad is a well thought and calculated decision by us. In return the Congress candidate Uttam Singh Pawar in a meeting that held on April 21 has given us a written commitment to work on our demands after winning the election”, said Dr. Javed Mukarram, President of Jamat-e-Islami’s Aurangabad unit. He was speaking to ummid.com after negotiating with the Congress candidate.

Elaborating further about the demands made to the Congress candidate, Dr. Javed said, “Though we have given priority to the issues pertaining to the Muslims in our demands, they are not solely focused on them. We have included the interests of every section of the society that is being neglected today in the country.”

Presenting their demands that include convincing the government to stop the indiscriminate arrests of the Muslim youths, unnecessary dragging of the community members in acts of terrorism, job quota and Islamic Banking system for Muslims, the meeting urged the aspiring MP to work for clearing the myth rampant in the country about the Indian Muslims that portrays them as a useless chunk of people not loyal to the country.

Along with these demands the Muslim leaders have also expressed their interesting desire in front of Uttam Singh. “We told him to be active in the Parliament so that he becomes an MP who would be asking maximum number of questions in the next Parliament”, Dr. Javed informed ummid.com.

Few other local leaders led by Majlis-e-Shura President Wahiduddin Kaka and belonging to Jamiate Ulema and Milli Council, after meeting the Congress candidate Uttam Singh Pawar on April 21 late in the evening, announced extending their supports to him.

The announcements have made the alarm bells ringing in the saffron circle that was already in trouble due to the delimitation of the Aurangabad constituency. After the delimitation, Paithan and Kolambri, the two Talukas with strong Saffron support base and six wards in the city having corporators from the Saffron brigade were included in the neighboring Jalna constituency. Their only hope now lies with Salim Sayyad, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate supported by the Muslim Ettihad Front, the party floated by the rebel Cong-NCP corporators who had resigned protesting against the riots and the indiscriminate arrest of the Muslim youths in November last. If Sayyad takes away the major share of the Muslim and Dalit votes that otherwise would go to Congress, Shiv Sena candidate Khaire will surely smile once again.

Although it is yet to be seen if the announcements supporting the Congress candidate by so many Muslim organisations save the day for him, the written assurance they have managed to receive from a candidate, a move due since independence, has indeed set an example for the Muslims elsewhere in the country.

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