Muslim mind-set in Rampur

UTTAR PRADESH

Amitabh Shukla

Rampur, January 29

Made famous by the Bollywood movies for its knives, daggers are literally drawn between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP) candidates here.

Arch rivals in the local politics, Congress candidate Afroz Ali Khan and the SP candidate Muhammd Azam Khan are engaged in one of the fiercest contest in the area. Both have faced each other five times, the Congress candidate could win only in the last election. However, even for the SP candidate, the victories in the past have been least convincing with margins below one thousand on each occasion.

The psyche and the political inclination of the Muslims too are to be tested in this constituency. Here almost 70 percent of the population is Muslim and the remaining 30 Hindu. This equation has thrown several Muslim candidates and the caste equation of the 30 percent Hindus has become topsy-turvy.

One of the few Congress strongholds in the state due to the influence of the local MP Begum Noor Bano of the Congress, the Muslims here are a bewildered lot spoilt for choices due to a large number of candidates from their community.

While the Congress candidate in wooing them with his avowed secularism, the SP candidate is banking on the creation of “insecurity complex” amongst the community. He has told his electorate that persecution of the minorities would intensify due to POTO. He has also brought in the Kashmir angle and told the electorate that youths are being “targeted” by the government.

To top it all, he said that even the “beards of the Muslims are not safe” if the BJP comes to power in the state.

The radicalism of the Muslim mind was all the more evident with the nomination of Muslim League candidate Shifat Ali Khan. Playing to the gallery, he has literally promised “jannat” (heavens) of the Islamic law to his constituency.

“The Muslims of the area cannot be fooled with communal slogans,” said the Congress candidate Afroz Ali Khan. He said that instead of developmental issues, the communal candidates are looking for short term gains. His attack is focused on both the BJP and the SP. “Both the parties are communal in this constituency,” says his election in-charge Shakeel Ahmed Khan.

“The Muslims here are bewildered,” said Mohd Nissar, a school-teacher. He said that while the lower class Muslims are being attracted by SP, the secular and the middle class of the community is favouring the Congress. “In the contest of the Muslim candidates, if the BJP Supported Lok Dal candidate wins, it will be the community which will be a loser,” says the middle-aged teacher. (2002)