The issue of “vote jihad” surfaced as a major issue in the recently concluded Maharashtra assembly election which saw the BJP-led Mahayuti came to power with unprecedented numbers. The issue gained further prominence during the campaign after Khalil-ur-Rahman Sajjad Nomani popularly known as Maulana Sajjad Nomani video asking the members of the Muslim community to vote for the Maha Vikas Aghadi headed by the Congress party became viral on social media. Nomani who is the spokesperson of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, even threatened to boycott any Muslim if they didn’t comply and vote for the saffron party.
Now, since his clarion call yielded no results and the Mahayuti swept the state, he has issued an official statement to defend himself and apologize for inciting communal sentiments during the election. The statement read, “My statement of boycotting Muslims who support the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is currently in discussion, was given in response to the inquiries of many people in a particular context. These people were prevented from exercising their fundamental right to vote in the Lok Sabha election. My reaction was for those preventing the common citizen of India from exercising the constitutional right to vote. Therefore, it would be inappropriate to look at my statement out of that specific context.”
He added, “My statement above is from September 2024, before the Maharashtra assembly polls. It was not against any community nor it was my intention. It wasn’t a fatwa of any kind either. However, I will take back my comments and offer an unconditional apology if my statement offended anyone. Whether they are Muslims or not, I have always stood up to those who have wronged the common people and fought for justice and the truth.”
Nomani had expressed that a BJP loss in Maharashtra could destabilise the central government. He had called for the severing of social and religious ties with Muslims who were affiliated with the saffron party. He claimed that such individuals have abandoned Islam and demanded that their “hookah-paani should be stopped” (complete boycott). The Muslim followers of the BJP should change their name to ‘Ghanshyam,’ he had declared mocking them and indicating their expulsion from the community.
He is also infamous for asking Muslims not to send their girls to schools and colleges as it is haram (forbidden) in Islam. Additionally, he warned that parents who send their daughters to school will be sent to Hell (Jahannam). Despite wearing a hijab, he stressed that Muslim females should never be left alone even if she is going to college. Notably, all-time feminist and small-time actress Swara Bhasker and her husband Fahad Ahmed, a candidate of Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) who lost his Anushakti Nagar assembly seat to Mahayuti’s Sana Malik also met Nomani after which she was slammed by netizens for her hypocrisy following which she brazenly defended herself only after the voting was over.
