The history so far is such that the fight in the Legislative Assembly elections in Gujarat has always been between the two main parties BJP and Congress. This is the first time that a third party as the Aam Aadmi Party is participating in such a significant manner. Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM party is also fielding candidates on several seats this time.
The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), headed by MP Asaduddin Owaisi, has fielded candidates across 14 seats in the assembly elections. Of these, 12 candidates are Muslims. Since two seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes, the party has fielded a Hindu Scheduled Caste candidate there.
All India Majlis-e- Ittehadul Muslimeen party will contest with 14 candidates in gujarat assembly election 2022.
— AIMIM KASBA-58 (PURNEA) (@aimim_kasba_58) November 18, 2022
Inshaallah they will win with a good margin.@asadowaisi pic.twitter.com/VUyu2KfocJ
AIMIM and MP Asaduddin Owaisi are notorious across the country for their communal politics and controversial statements. We tried to find out the impact of his communal politics on the minds of Muslims in Gujarat by talking to local Muslims in some of the above-mentioned seats.
Owaisi’s meeting has been canceled as the crowd did not gather in Danilimda.
The AIMIM has fielded a woman named Kaushika Parmar for the Danilimda seat, which is considered to be a Muslim majority in Ahmedabad but reserved for scheduled castes (SC). Shailesh Parmar of the Congress has been elected as an MLA for the last four terms. This time too, the Congress has fielded its sitting MLA. AIMIM has fielded Kaushika Parmar as a Hindu Scheduled Caste candidate from the seat.
It is worth mentioning that Shailesh Parmar has got the backing of a Muslim strongman family living inside the Shahalam Darwaza in Danilimda. Therefore, he has been continuously elected by getting Muslim votes. This is the same area where Muslims had fatally attacked security personnel and police in the name of anti-CAA protests and on the charge of which many people were detained including local corporator Shahzad.
Congress has been winning this Muslim-dominated seat for the last 20 years with the support of the Muslim community. This is the first time in the form of AIMIM that a Muslim party is challenging them from here. In this regard, OpIndia went to Danilimda and tried to know the opinion of local Muslims.
On Friday, November 18, our team reached a tea shop called Fakira near Pir Kamal Mosque in Danilimda. There are always 100-150 people sitting here and a large number of them are Muslims.
Speaking to OpIndia, a local man named Sohail, who works as an electrician, gave his opinion. He said, “In Danilimda, things happen the way that Shahzad Baba says. Owaisi will not work here.”
Speaking further, Sohail said, “A few days ago, Owaisi had a meeting in Danilimda, but he had to cancel the meeting and leave as there were no people gathered for the meeting. Who will vote for those whose meetings are not attended by people?”
Another person named Farid Mohammad Atari said, “There is talk among Muslims that Owaisi is not the leader of Muslims. He is a BJP-RSS agent. So no Muslim will vote for him.”
Apart from this, our team spoke to many people whose responses were mostly similar to the above-mentioned ones. Also, one thing was prominently noticed. Since this seat was reserved for scheduled castes, here the AIMIM had fielded a Hindu woman. If this seat were non-reserved and there was a Muslim male candidate from AIMIM, perhaps there would have been a difference in the response of the people and the outcome of the election.
A battle of Chhipa vs Chhipa in Jamalpur
Ahmedabad’s Jamalpur seat is also a Muslim-dominated assembly constituency where Imran Khedawala of the Congress is currently an MLA and this time he is also the Congress candidate. Here too, AIMIM has fielded its own candidates. Gujarat AIMIM state president Sabir Kabliwala has been made the candidate of Owaisi’s party here.
Ahmedabad’s Jamalpur seat is dominated by Chhipa Muslims, which is a caste of Muslims. The history so far is such that Chhipa Muslims have given direction to the politics here with their votes. In 2012, Congress fielded another Muslim, Samir Khan Sipai, who was a Pathan, instead of the Chhipa Muslim here. Sabir Kabliwala, who belongs to the Chhipa community, had filed his nomination as an independent candidate here. And the entire Chhipa community came together and gave him over 30,000 votes and as a result the Congress candidate lost to BJP candidate Bhushan Bhatt by just 6000 votes.
The Team of OpIndia reached the famous Lucky Tea Stall in Jamalpur. Here we tried to find out for the local Muslims. In a conversation with OpIndia, Ajaz Akhtar Sheikh, who does a private job, said, “This time there is a battle of Chhipa versus Chhipa in Jamalpur. Imran Khedawala of the Congress and Sabir Kabliwala of the AIMIM both come from the Chhipa community.”
He further said, “These two leaders have a good influence over their community and it is not possible to know from now on whom the society will vote for them. But one thing is certain whatever votes Kabliwala gets will be in his own name and not in the name of AIMIM. Because in the past, he has got more than 30,000 votes even by contesting independently.”
Another person, who did not wish to be named, said that on the day before polling in every election, fatwas are issued by the Chhipa community as to whom they will vote for. And the candidate named in the fatwa is almost certain to get the votes of the entire community. Now it remains to be seen whom the community supports in this fight between two Chhipas.
A man named Anas Patni told OpIndia, “AIMIM will not do well anywhere in Gujarat. It will only work to break a few votes of Congress. This will only benefit the BJP.” We tried to talk to many other Muslim citizens but most of them were avoiding talking to us and expressing their opinions.
What is the Owaisi effect in Surat?
Apart from Ahmedabad, AIMIM has also fielded candidates for two seats in Surat. These two seats are Surat East and Limbayat. Both these seats have a sizeable Muslim population.
OpIndia had recently reported that Owaisi had faced opposition from Muslims during a public meeting at Surat East seat. When Owaisi came to speak on stage, some Muslim youths protested against Owaisi with slogans of ‘Modi-Modi’ and ‘Wapas Jao, Wapas Jao’.
Owaisi greeted with ‘Modi, Modi, Modi’ & ‘Go Back’ slogans in Surat. pic.twitter.com/BTHl2hDrco
— News Arena India (@NewsArenaIndia) November 14, 2022
This is not the first time that Owaisi has been opposed by the Muslim community in Gujarat. Earlier in May, members of the Muslim community had gathered in Limbayat in Surat to protest against the AIMIM leader, who was on an election tour.
In the Limbayat Mithikhadi area of Surat city, the youth of the Muslim community staged a black flag protest against BJP, RSS agents, AIMIM national president, and MP Asaduddin Owaisi.#bjp #rss #aimim #party #muslimcommunity #surat #news #newsupdate #gujarat pic.twitter.com/qhKz12TBE1
— Our Surat (@oursuratcity) May 23, 2022
During the protest, people called Owaisi an agent of the BJP-RSS. And not only surat but a large section of Muslims across Gujarat believe that Owaisi is working as an agent of the BJP. This was also coming to light in the ground research by Opindia.
AIMIM removes Bapunagar candidate to help Congress
There is talk in the Muslim community that Owaisi is an agent of the BJP and the RSS and his party is the B-team of the BJP. It is also prevalent among Muslims that AIMIM has come to help the BJP by breaking the Congress vote in Gujarat.
On the other hand, the AIMIM candidate from the Bapunagar seat in Ahmedabad, Shahnawaz Pathan, has withdrawn his candidature to help the Congress candidate. Now it will be more difficult for the Muslim community to decide whose B-team Owaisi and AIMIM really are.
Apart from this, the locals do not believe that Owaisi will be able to make any big impact even in the seats where AIMIM has fielded candidates. So now it remains to be seen whether the Muslim community of Gujarat will actually reject Owaisi’s communal politics or follow the ‘Aapna Wala Hai’ rule at the last moment.
