Telangana Congress chief Revanth Reddy. File | Photo Credit: ANI
The decision of Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen to contest merely nine seats in the home State of Telangana has set off a war of words with AIMIM and the Congress accusing each other of having quiet understanding with the RSS. The Telangana Assembly, which has 130 seats, goes to polls on November 30 with Mr. Owaisi’s party contesting less 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 wearing “khaki knickers under his sherwani”.
The allegation gained currency on social media with fellow party leader Srinivas writing on X (formerly 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 as the BJP maintained silence, Mr. Owaisi retorted by drawing a parallel with the remark of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who in an election meeting in Jharkhand back in 2019 had alleged that the protesters (anti-CAA) could be recognised by their clothes. “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 said at an election rally in Hyderabad.
The allegations against AIMIM stem from Mr. Owaisi’s much-vaunted plans to go national by putting up candidates in States like Gujarat, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal. In Gujarat elections last year, AIMIM contested 13 seats, mostly in Muslim-dominated areas. In Uttar Pradesh, the party, along with its junior allies, had put up 100 candidates in 2022 Vidhan Sabha elections; 99 of them had lost their deposit. In Bihar, AIMIM had contested 20 seats, again largely in Seemanchal which has a significant
Muslim population. All this led to frequent allegations that Mr. Owaisi was trying to divide the anti-BJP vote or the so-called secular vote, thereby helping the BJP romp home. However, Mr. Owaisi had rubbished the claims pointing out that the victory margin of the BJP candidates in Bihar was usually more than the number of votes polled by his party. Of the 20 seats where the AIMIM was in the fray, the National Democratic Alliance won six, the then Mahgathbandhan (Rashtriya Janata Dal-Indian National Congress-Left) got nine seats and the AIMIM five. 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 main Opposition party, the Samajwadi Party, did lose seats with wafer thin margin in the 2022 elections. For instance, in Kursi, the BJP candidate won by a little over 200 votes. Here, the AIMIM candidate got over 8000 votes. In Nakur, the BJP won by merely 155 votes; the AIMIM representative got around 3,500 votes. The defeat was attributed to a few hundred votes garnered by AIMIM’s candidate.
About a year ago, after the Congress had been routed in Gujarat elections, party general secretary Jairam Ramesh had alleged of Mr. Owaisi’s role in our politics has become amply clear. Both the AAP and AIMIM have been getting the active support of the BJP and they have cut into the Congress vote bank.”
Even as the allegations against Mr. Owaisi continue to gather steam, his party is testing waters in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh too by putting up three and two candidates, respectively.
