Focusing on AIMIM party president Asaduddin Owaisi’s statement from earlier this year – “Muslims have realized that these so-called secular parties won’t allow any independent Muslim leadership to emerge and their issue be addressed. That is why we want to contest elections on our own and raise our issues”, one might be prompt to believe that the leader has an enormous sense of care for Islam and the Muslims of the country. But what if I say that these statements have a much greater motive rather than just pitying on the so called ‘misery’ of the Muslim community in India? The answer lies in the statements of Mr. Owaisi itself.
Throughout the years since before and after the independence, there have been a few evident political leaders in India who have constantly tried to monger fear to the minorities of the country by “otherizing” them and making inflammatory statements about them being in a state of open threat and lack of protection.
The point that must be highlighted on from here is that despite of the restrictions placed by the Apex Court, that no political or religious leader is “allowed to indulge in any activity that aggravates existing differences or cause tension between different caste or communities, religious or linguistic” and the fact that party candidates can’t seek votes in the name of religion for their election propaganda, many of the political leaders in our country view religion as assets for their campaign, and be that as it may a very powerful one.
With the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections coming nearer and AIMIM to contest 100 seats in the polls with ‘Bhagidari Sankalpa Morcha’, an alliance of smaller parties floated by SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar, a lot of seats are to be influenced by Muslim votes. Now this is where the ‘faith’ politics will come into play. Although assuming that the party manages to win all the 100 seats for which they are contesting, it won’t be helping them attain majority and form the state government.
However, the possibilities of the unexpected to happen is always present in politics, but with BSP’s chief Mayawati categorically denying any possibility of forging an alliance with AIMIM, the AAP declaring any alliance with AIMIM as ‘unacceptable to us’, and specially the statements of Mr. Owaisi comparing the Congress as a ‘sinking ship’ and Mr. Rahul Gandhi as the captain who left it, an alliance with any of the major opposition parties except the SP is highly unlikely.
And the limpid fact being that the only votes which Mr. Owaisi’s party will be cutting off during the polls in all probability is going to be those of the opposition’s. For the AIMIM, to even stand a chance of anticipating power in Uttar Pradesh, they must indulge in a coalition with the Samajwadi Party for 2022, otherwise the votes casted in favor for the party are going nowhere, but absolutely wasted.