All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi, an interview with The Hindu in Hyderabad.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
The resolution of Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen to contest merely 9 seats within the house state of Telangana has set off a disagreement with AIMIM and the Congress accusing one another of getting quiet understanding with the RSS. The Telangana Assembly, which has 130 seats, goes to polls on November 30 with Mr. Owaisi’s social gathering contesting lower than 7 per cent seats.
The state Congress president Revanth Reddy, alluding to a tacit understanding between AIMIM and the BJP, accused Mr. Owaisi of carrying “khaki knickers under his sherwani”.
The allegation gained forex on social media with fellow social gathering chief Srinivas writing on X (previously Twitter), “When he can put 95 candidates in UP, why in his home state of Telangana, MIM has only 9 candidates with 7 of them in Hyderabad? Why doesn’t Owaisi declare an MIM candidate from the seat where his party HQ is? Because it has Raja Singh as MLA? Why doesn’t Owaisi declare a MIM candidate from the seat where his house is? Even a child in Telangana knows that BRS, BJP and MIM are in alliance with their only goal being to defeat a rejuvenated Congress.”
Even because the BJP maintained silence, Mr. Owaisi retorted by drawing a parallel with the comment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who in an election assembly in Jharkhand again in 2019 had alleged that the protesters (anti-CAA) may very well be recognised by their garments. “When you have nothing to say then you start talking about our clothes… This is called dog whistle politics, which is being done by the (Telangana) Congress President…I told you earlier that you (Revanth Reddy) have come from RSS, your connection with RSS is still there, Mohan Bhagwat is controlling you,” Mr. Owaisi mentioned at an election rally in Hyderabad.
The allegations in opposition to AIMIM stem from Mr. Owaisi’s much-vaunted plans to go nationwide by placing up candidates in states like Gujarat, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal. In Gujarat elections final yr, AIMIM contested 13 seats, principally in Muslim-dominated areas. In Uttar Pradesh, the social gathering, together with its junior allies, had put up 100 candidates in 2022 Vidhan Sabha elections; 99 of them had misplaced their deposit. In Bihar, AIMIM had contested 20 seats, once more largely in Seemanchal which has a big
Muslim inhabitants. All this led to frequent allegations that Mr. Owaisi was making an attempt to divide the anti-BJP vote or the so-called secular vote, thereby serving to the BJP romp house. However, Mr. Owaisi had rubbished the claims mentioning that the victory margin of the BJP candidates in Bihar was often greater than the variety of votes polled by his social gathering. Of the 20 seats the place the AIMIM was within the fray, the National Democratic Alliance received six, the then Mahgathbandhan (Rashtriya Janata Dal-Indian National Congress-Left) received 9 seats and the AIMIM 5. Mr. Owaisi had then remarked, “Where is the question of the AIMIM eating into the so-called secular vote and enabling the NDA to win? It is all humbug. It is a myth circulated to hide their failures.”
However, in UP, the primary Opposition social gathering, the Samajwadi Party, did lose seats with wafer skinny margin within the 2022 elections. For occasion, in Kursi, the BJP candidate received by slightly over 200 votes. Here, the AIMIM candidate received over 8000 votes. In Nakur, the BJP received by merely 155 votes; the AIMIM consultant received round 3,500 votes. The defeat was attributed to some hundred votes garnered by AIMIM’s candidate.
About a yr in the past, after the Congress had been routed in Gujarat elections, social gathering common secretary Jairam Ramesh had alleged of Mr. Owaisi’s function in our politics has develop into amply clear. Both the AAP and AIMIM have been getting the energetic help of the BJP they usually have minimize into the Congress vote financial institution.”
Even because the allegations in opposition to Mr. Owaisi proceed to assemble steam, his social gathering is testing waters in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh too by placing up three and two candidates, respectively.