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From: Sukla Sen <suklasen@yahoo.com> Date: Mon Oct 18, 2004 3:36pm Subject: Assembly Election in Maharashtra http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/888836.cms LEADER ARTICLE The Lesser Evil: Lack of Secular Options Led to Democratic Front Win JYOTI PUNWANI [ MONDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2004 12:00:00 AM ] Even before noon on Saturday, the relief was palpable. Those who had threatened to launch an agitation against the Congress, or had decided not to endorse the ruling combine in the Maharashtra elections, were filled with an overriding thought: The BJP ogre had been kept out; no chance here of another Gujarat. After a long time, the old Congress ruse worked, this time, without them even having used it. For 20 years, the Congress used the BJP to frighten the Muslims ??” and others repelled by Hindutva ??” into voting for it. This strategy failed after the Babri masjid demolition. After December 6, 1992, it seemed that the Congress had moved to the fringes of Muslim, if not secular, consciousness. But Gujarat 2002 changed all that. And the BJP's defence of Narendra Modi was the final straw. Yet, last week, Muslims in Maharashtra didn't come out in droves as they had in 1999 to vote out the Sena-BJP. Some Muslim areas of Mumbai saw poor turnout. Yet, even here, Muslim candidates backed by the ruling combine won. The poor turnout was the latest indication of the despondency with which Muslims in Maharashtra regard the five years of rule by a 'secular' government. When the Vilasrao government was formed in 1999, Mumbai's Muslims were dancing on rooftops. Never before had there been as many as five ministers from their community. After the Sena-BJP drought, this was a bounty. Every Muslim home now had a direct connection to Mantralaya, it was said gleefully. The sight of the Samajwadi Party Maharashtra president and 1993 bomb blast TADA accused (discharged by the Supreme Court) Abu Asim Azmi, till then reviled by the Sena mouthpiece Saamna, striding along the corridors of Mantralaya as a partner in the government, sent a thrill through even those Muslims for whom he'd done nothing. Azmi's loss this time from Bhiwandi, more than 50 km away from his domain in south Mumbai, is both a tragedy and a relief. A relief because had he won, his claim of being the messiah of Mumbai's Muslims would have gained strength, despite his doing little other than resorting to Thackeray-style rhetoric. A tragedy because his defeat, despite his closeness to the ulema and a public endorsement by two mainstream Muslim organisations, represents the failure of the elusive 'Third Force', so desperately sought by Muslims sick of the Congress-NCP. Not even the most vehement opponent of BJP-SS could endorse the last five years of 'secular rule' in Maharashtra. The omissions and commissions are startling: 53 communal riots (in contrast to the Sena-BJP's three); the shielding of guilty policemen indicted by the Srikrishna Commission; the targeting of Muslims in fake encounters; POTA's communal use; a refusal to advertise police recruitment drives in the Urdu press (for the state's constables/inspectors, Muslims remain landyas); the benign relationship between both Congress CMs and Bal Thackeray (he helped Sushil Kumar Shinde become CM by not fielding an opponent); continuous tirade against Muslims in Saamna ("All the murderers in the country ??” those that are found ??” are all Muslims. Tear apart not just by law but by force" are editorial statements from last month's issue); impunity to the VHP to conduct poisonous campaigns across interior Maharashtra; the bureaucratic functioning of the Maulana Azad Financial Corporation set up specially for Muslims. For the first time in a decade, Maharashtra's normally expressive Ulema Council refused to endorse any party, asking Muslims to vote for the 'best' candidate. That statement brought the favourite of the secularists to the ulema's doorstep four days before election day. Digvijay Singh's belated rush to the heart of Mumbai's Muslim area was another first; normally, the Congress sends emissaries to the community weeks in advance. Why, in 1999, even former Sena strongman Chhagan Bhujbal had wooed Muslims, only revealing his reluctance to shed his ideological roots after he became home minister. It was this 'arrogance' of the Congress that Maharashtra's politically conscious Muslims wanted to dent by supporting potential Third Force candidates, hoping to pressurise them into pushing for Muslim demands. Alas, not only were such candidates too few, had they won, they would have sold themselves for a ministerial berth. Muslim activists knew this, yet, from all sides one heard the anguished question: What else can we do? There were two other factors, which made votes drop into Congress's lap: Sonia Gandhi's 'sacrifice' and Thackeray's last-minute anti-north Indian outburst. Despite Sonia not having lifted a finger to ensure a genuine secular government in Maharashtra, not even the most disgusted Muslim could resist her grand gesture, the final stamp which set her apart from her predecessor, Narasimha Rao, in the eyes of the Muslims. Now that Maharashtra is set for another five years of non-Hindutva rule, should we expect genuine secular politics, some tough stands perhaps, from the new government? There's no reason why that should happen. All the Muslim ministers described as nikammey by the community are back. The Congress has seen it can win even without wooing its vote bank. What prevents it from lapsing into complacency? Yet, Muslims across the board are happy. Yes, all the rascals have returned, but they shrug that it's only rascals who win anyway. Communal forces have been kept out, that's what matters. |
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