The impression gathered from some constituencies in western Uttar Pradesh during the second phase of polling on Wednesday suggests that the electorate vented their anger against incumbent Samajwadi Party MLAs, including prominent ministers such as Azam Khan, Mehboob Ali, Kamal Akhtar and Iqbal Mehmood. All of them had won the 2012 Assembly elections comfortably. Of the 67 seats from 12 districts that went to the polls, around 40 are said to have around 30-65% Muslim votes. The community, thus, is in a position to influence the results on many seats.
Rampur is considered a Samajwadi Party fort because of the near invincibility of Azam Khan, the tallest Muslim leader of the party and also perhaps of the state. He has been challenged by BSP’s Tanveer Ahmed Khan, a popular doctor from the town, and Bharatiya Janata Party’s Shiv Bahadur Saxena. Azam Khan, eighth time legislator from Rampur, defeated Tanveer by 63,000 votes in 2012. But, this time Tanveer is said to be a serious contender and according to his supporters, he will cause the biggest upset of this election by defeating Azam.
“People are angry with Azam Khan. He is not safe. See the crowd at the polling centres. They might not reveal their ballot choice but they will surely talk of their woes which they suffered because of the highhandedness of Azam Khan and his people. Khan’s policies have brought misery to all struggling sections of society, be they labourers at local sawmills (locally known as aara machines), dwindling bidi and knives industry, low scale traders and hawkers, or be they madrasa owners, whose ancient seminaries have been bulldozed by Azam Khan and his brigade. I am sure they have voted against Azam,” said Khursheed Ahmed Khan, a social activist who runs his socialist weekly tabloid Ab Hoga Nyaya.
Khursheed lists sections of society against Khan: Turks, Qureshis, Ghosis and Dalits. “And they all have sizeable number of voters,” added Khursheed.
Kanwal Bharti, a Dalit writer based in Rampur, said that people have suffered a lot: “See all weaker sections of society, Muslims and Hindus alike, have suffered Azam’s tyranny. He has bulldozed their shops, usurped their graveyards, razed down their seminaries and has brought about large scale unemployment by shutting down local industries.”
Interestingly, Azam Khan in the late 1970s and early 80s had started his politics espousing the cause of the weaker sections of society against the tyranny of the nawabs who used to be then elected to both Assembly and Parliamentary seats from Rampur. But now, he himself seems to be a neo nawab. His wife is already a Rajya Sabha member and his son is making his debut in this election.
While this correspondent found Bharti’s and Khursheed’s views to be correct, but, Syed Kamran Ali, a Jamia student who went to his hometown to cast his vote, said that the majority of voters had voted for Azam Khan, in spite of the palpable anger. Similarly, Sayed Zaigham Murtaza, a journalist, dismissed the anti-Azam wave in the town as a rumour on every election day which dies its own death on counting day.
Despite repeated attempts, Azam Khan didn’t speak to this correspondent, but people close to him conveyed his message that “Khan Sahib dismisses reports against him as his opponent’s bitterness and that he has and will always address the problems of the people in his constituency”.
Azam Khan’s son Abdullah Azam, a candidate from Suar Tanda constituency in the district, was said to be locked in a neck and neck fight with his heavyweight rival, Nawab Kazim Ali Khan. “Debutant Abdullah has performed well against his royal counterpart from the BSP, but both seem to have equal weight. Ali’s advantage is that he has the devoted Dalit votes of his party,” said a local journalist with a Hindi daily.
On the other seats in Rampur district, Haji Yousuf Ali of BSP was said to be leading in Chamraua, Pradeep Gangwar of BSP in Bilaspur, indicating Azam Khan’s diminishing clout in the district.
In Sambhal, another Muslim dominated seat, the anger against Iqbal Mehmood, five-time MLA and a Cabinet Minister for Food and Drug Administration has lifted his archrival, former MP, Dr Shafiqur Rehman Barq’s grandson as the best chance of his party, All India Majlise Ittehadul Muslimeen of Asaduddin Owaisi. Locals allege that Mehmood discriminated against some areas while allocating development works like renovation of roads and his henchmen intervened in real estate dealings in the town unfairly, and that he himself being Minister of Food didn’t improve ration supply in the town.
Talking to The Sunday Guardian, Mehmood defended himself: “Allegations against me are propaganda by opponents. If my people are engaged in some wrongdoings and criminal cases are registered against them, they will face the law and I would expel them from my circle. Nobody can function in my name and indulge in outlawed activities.” Interestingly, he denied that he was a Minister in-charge of Food despite the fact that Chief Minister Office website showed him having that portfolio.
But some locals also swore by his development work. “He has improved dehat’s (rural area’s) road network. Now, you can take your vehicle deep into the villages. Plus, he has helped build eight inter colleges,” said one of his supporters.
Kamal Akhtar, another popular minister from the Akhilesh Yadav Cabinet, faced the ire of electorate in his constituency, Hasanpur in Amroha district. His rival, Gangasaran Khadgvansi of BSP, according to the locals, was in the lead. “Large sections of Muslims have voted for Khadagvanshi. Plus, Jats and Dalits have chosen him over others. Kamal is in serious trouble,” said Rohit, a school teacher. But Shiban Qadri, another school teacher from the area who was on duty at a polling centre, said that Kamal was still the first choice of voters.
In Amroha, another powerful minister, Mehboob Ali, a Teli, was facing the anger of the dominant Turks. Three months ago, a criminal belonging to the Turk community was killed allegedly at the behest of Ali’s supporters, which divided the Muslim community.
“Turks, Jats, Dalits and Saifis have preferred Naushad Ali of BSP. Mehboob Ali will not only lose, he will lose by a big margin,” said Mohd Asim, a school manager and social activist. Shah Alam Turk, a professor of mass communications said, “Mehboob Ali is losing to Naushad Ali. This seems to be the dominant perception from the town.”