The state assembly elections in Maharashtra are right around the corner. The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA )alliance led by the Congress, and the Mahayuti alliance led by the BJP are engaged in a tough fight with each other. While MVA is allegedly making efforts to garner the support of the minority community, while the Mahayuti, and its supporters are exposing the MVA candidates for extending support to terrorists.
One such letter of an MVA candidate went viral over the internet on 5th November, exposing Congress candidate from Mira Bhayandar seat of Mumbai, Syed Muzaffar Hussain. The letter was a mercy petition for terrorist Yakub Memon, dated 28th July 2015, and was signed by Muzaffar Hussain along with ex-Minister Arif Naseem Khan, Amin Patel, Aslam Sheikh, Sheik Asif Sheikh Rashid, Husnabano Khulife, Yusuf Abrahani, and Javed Juneja.
He is not a local Congress leader, he is working president of Maharashtra Congress, Muzaffar Hussain.
— Facts (@BefittingFacts) November 4, 2024
He had signed Mercy Petition request of Terrorist Yakub Memon.
He is contesting from Mira-Bhayandar seat of Thane district. https://t.co/h42kClU2FM pic.twitter.com/cwRspUtSCw
“We wish to appeal to Your Excellency for clemency towards the conviction of Yakub Memon”, the letter said. Several eminent personalities like filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, Actor Naseeruddin Shah, Activist Tushar Gandhi, CPI’s Sitaram Yechury, BJP’s Shatrughan Sinha, Lawyer Vrinda Grover, and 290 others had signed the mercy petition for Memon.
“We request Your Excellency to grant clemency under article 72 of the Indian Constitution and commute his death sentence into life imprisonment,” the letter read. Notably, Memon played a crucial role in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts.
The letter made rounds on social media last week with a host of social media accounts alleging Hussain’s backing to the terrorist. Notably, a defamation complaint against all such social media handles has been filed at Mira Road police station claiming that the letter was ‘fake’ and that it was being deliberately spread on social media to influence votes against Hussain ahead of the elections, scheduled on 20th November.
OpIndia has obtained the FIR copy that has been filed against individuals identified as Befitting Facts (X Page), Aamchi Mumbai (Instagram), Kunal Shukla, Jerome Dsouza, and Ganesh Murugan. In the complaint, the complainant identified as Rahul Dinesh Roy claimed that these individuals posted ‘fake messages and fabricated documents’ linking Hussain to terror outfits.
“The messages are apparently aimed at instigating the sentiments of people belonging to a particular religion, through distorted and negative campaigning. ‘Voting for Congress means voting for love jihad, aiming for a Muslim -supporting CM’, these kinds of messages with Hussian’s photo and the claimed letter were being spread on social media. This is an attempt to create communal disharmony,” the complaint added.
Notably, the complaint terms the mercy petition for terrorist Yakub Menon, signed by Muzaffar Hussain as ‘fake’. However, several media reports from the year 2015 mention the fact that the mercy petition was furthered by 6 Congress legislators, a former MLA, and a corporator appealing for clemency for the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blast convict.
Yakub Memon was convicted for the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts and was sentenced to death. In 2015, the death sentence was carried out after his mercy petition was rejected. In a media report by Indian Express dated 29th July, 2015, it is clearly mentioned that Hussain (then MLC) was the signatory to the letter that urged the then President to look into Article 72 of the Indian Constitution and commute Memon’s death sentence.
The Congress leaders apparently signed the petition after AIMIM chief Owaisi claimed that Memon was being convicted for belonging to the specific community. Apart from Indian Express, Umid media channel also reported that Hussain had signed the letter seeking clemency of terrorist Yakub Memon.
Further, local media reports like the Maharashtranama and Loksatta also reported in the year 2015 that the letter was signed by Congress leaders including Muzzafar Hussain. Not only this, but the letter was also embedded by these media houses clearly showing Hussain as a signatory.
The FIR filed by Roy at present blatantly claims that the letter released with the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha emblem on it, seeking clemency of terrorist Yakub Memon is fake, and that it is deliberately being spread amid the ongoing state assembly elections to create communal disharmony. However, the letter was actually issued by the Congress leaders in the year 2015 as reported by several media houses.
Several prominent social media users are meanwhile slamming MVA leader Muzaffar Hussain for denying the fact that he had signed the letter in support of the terrorist through this FIR, which has been filed by Adv Roy. “The working president of Maharashtra Congress wasn’t ashamed to sign a mercy petition but offended to see people exposing him?” said one of the users.
The working president of Maharashtra Congress wasn't ashamed to sign a mercy petition but offended to see people exposing him? https://t.co/Om2GjiMyRe
— Mr Sinha (@MrSinha_) November 8, 2024
Another user stated that several media reports, 9 years ago, had posted about the incident and that now the same will be proved in the courts. “So many news media reporting him as a signed petitioner & he is denying it..! Better he takes back those complaints, once proved in courts it will be breaking news all over the SM & news media,” the user said.
Persons ‘falsely’ accused by Roy say a reply will be given post-election
Meanwhile, Befitting Facts, one of the persons accused of posting the letter on X on 5th November commented on the FIR against him and said, “Hussain has suddenly become secular and visiting temples for votes. So he is trying to suppress his past and trying to intimidate social media users. But he forgot that he is getting into a trap by filing a complaint. Now the court will say that YES MUZAFFAR HAD SIGNED MERCY PETITION OF YAKUB MEMON.”
The other persons accused in the FIR are Amchi Mumbai’s Instagram channel and individuals Kunal Shukla, Jerome Dsouza, and Ganesh Murugan who as per the complaint, used WhatsApp to spread the letter.
OpIndia exclusively talked to Jerome D’souza to learn that “around 5 persons have been falsely accused in a case that has been filed by Advocate Roy who works for Muzaffar Hussain.”
“We had just shared the letter showing Hussain as a signatory on one of our WhatsApp groups. The letter is already in the public domain and it is strange that Hussain and Roy are terming the said petition as fake. We all have been falsely accused in the case. However, a reply to this notice will be issued by us post-elections,” D’souza said.
He also added that he is in contact with the other two accused persons named Kunal Shukla and Ganesh Murugan he has no idea who runs Befitting Facts (X channel) and Amchi Mumbai (Instagram profile). He further expressed surprise at the Mira Road police claiming how did they not see that the letter was already in the public domain before filing an FIR against the 5.
The complaint in the given case has been filed under sections 299 (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 302 (intentionally hurting someone’s religious feelings) of the Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita and section 125 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 for promoting enmity between classes in connection with the elections.
Muzzafar Hussain declared INC candidate from Mira Bhayandar
On 24th October, the former legislator Muzaffar Hussain was declared as the candidate from Mira Bhayandar by the Congress party. Hussain’s name appeared in the first list of 48 candidates announced by the Congress party, alongside prominent senior leaders like Nana Patole, Prithviraj Chavan, Vijay Wadettiwar, and Balasaheb Thorat.
Muzaffar Hussain began his political journey as a Youth Congress worker. He was first elected to the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation in 1991 and later served as the State Youth Congress president for an extended period. He is also a builder by profession. In 2004, he was elected to the Legislative Council, where he served until 2009, and has since sought re-nomination to the council. Hussain faced a significant political setback in 2009 when his stronghold, the Mira Bhayandar Assembly constituency, was allocated to the NCP as part of a seat-sharing arrangement, preventing him from contesting the assembly election. Later that year, he ran in a by-election for the Bhiwandi seat vacated by SP leader Abu Azmi but was defeated by a Shiv Sena (then united) candidate.
A dedicated Congress loyalist, Hussain, during the election campaign, visited a temple in the Mira Bhayandar region during Diwali, and said that he wanted to break the barriers between the different communities. During Ramadan this year, he was also the managing trustee of the Jama Masjid Al Shams Mosque, and had extended an invitation to visit the mosque to worshippers of all faiths and castes.
In the 2019 assembly elections, Hussain contested unsuccessfully, losing to independent candidate Geeta Jain, who garnered 79,575 votes and defeated her BJP opponent Narendra Mehta by a margin of 15,526 votes. Hussain received 55,939 votes, capturing nearly 27% of the total vote share.
However, sources on the ground indicate that while Hussain holds a ‘secularist’ image, he has assiduously cultivated his vote bank, 90% of which is composed of the Muslim population.
The 288 legislative assembly seats in Maharashtra will go to the polls in a single phase on November 20 while the counting of votes will take place on November 23.
