The Hyderabad-based All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has set its sights on Uttar Pradesh. Buoyed by the success in the recently concluded Bihar assembly elections, the AIMIM is bracing up for two crucial electoral battles — West Bengal assembly elections in April 2012 and UP assembly elections in 2022..
AIMIM has won five assembly seats in Bihar.
In the 2017 UP assembly elections, AIMIM fielded candidates in 38 out of 403 constituencies of UP assembly. Out of the 38 candidates it had fielded, four stood in the second position while others fared badly.
In spite of the party’s performance, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi had said that they would strengthen their position in the state with time.
AIMIM national spokesperson Asim Waqar said the party was actively working in the state. “The AIMIM is keen to capitalise on the confidence boost after Bihar assembly elections. All state elections have different strategies. In UP, our main goal will be to stop the Bharatiya Janata Party from coming to power again,” Waqar said.
“AIMIM is often accused of contesting from safe Muslim seats,” Waqar said, adding that this would not be possible in UP.
He said, “UP’s geography is such that there are Muslims in all 403 Vidhan Sabha constituencies. There is no ‘Muslim pocket’ as such and hence our strategy is to show that. People complain that we have been raising our voice for only the Muslim community. But that is far from the truth. We are with any community that is under-represented or oppressed in India, including Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.”
He also said that while Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav or Congress’ Sonia Gandhi may be called secular for raising Muslim issues, the AIMIM got a communal tag for doing the same thing.
He added, “The process of seat selection is going on internally and we plan to establish ourselves on those seats. Alliance possibilities are being explored right now.”
Talking about their earlier performances, Waqar said, “Even in Bihar, we had contested in 2005 and lost. We kept working in the state and now we have finally arrived. This victory did not come out of the blue. In the same way, we have been active in UP for several years now and expect to put up a good fight this time.”
He said that in at least 40 out of 75 districts in UP, AIMIM had a strong presence on ground.
The AIMIM leader said that the party had been actively working to expand its base in many ways, especially in Uttar Pradesh.
“Before contesting elections again, we wanted to have some more presence on the ground, which we now do have. We have already set up units in 60 districts across UP,” he said.
He added that the party was also planning to field Dalit candidates in UP. “The party aims to form a democratic secular front, and at the same time, offer leadership to Muslims in this increasingly Hindutva-leaning country. But we are actively reaching out to different communities of the country too. We have been working with the Dalits and OBCs in UP for many years,” he said.
He added that while fielding Muslim candidates should not raise concerns as Muslims were an essential part of the country, the party does not want to contest only those seats having a Muslim majority population.
“Our goal is to fight the BJP’s ideology of Hindutva and to give Muslims leadership. If this means that other so-called secular parties get hurt by our entry into the electoral arena, so be it.”
Political analysts in the state feel that the entry of AIMIM in the 2022 UP elections can indeed benefit the BJP by further splitting the significant Muslim vote.
Muslims in Uttar Pradesh make up 19.3 percent of the population and are thus a decisive factor in over a hundred assembly seats in west UP and certain pockets in east UP. However, their votes are currently split between Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress. The entry of AIMIM is likely to further split the Muslim votes.
The AIMIM has been actively working in Uttar Pradesh since 2015 and had contested the previous assembly elections of 2017 in the state. The SP, during the elections, had cautioned Muslims against Owaisi’s party.
