Godhra: After an impressive show in last year’s civic polls in Godhra, a communally sensitive town in Gujarat, the Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM is now trying to bank on the minority base on this assembly seat in the upcoming state elections. and the division of votes of the other candidates. The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) won seven seats in the Godhra Municipal Council (GMC) elections last year and also forged an alliance with independents to keep its ideological foe the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) out of power. . ,
Independent candidate Sanjay Soni became the president of the GMC in February 2021 with the support of the AIMIM, but parted ways with it in November that year after getting the support of the BJP, which has 18 members in the 44-member House.
In the upcoming assembly elections, AIMIM is trying to further consolidate its position and aims to win the Godhra seat, which is currently held by the BJP.
The city of Godhra in Panchmahal district in eastern Gujarat has had a checkered history of communal riots since independence. The gruesome 2002 incident, in which 59 ‘kar sevaks’ were killed, brought Godhra’s name to the national stage.
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The Godhra train burning incident on 27 February 2002 sparked state-wide communal riots in which 1,044 people were killed. Giving details, the central government informed the Rajya Sabha in May 2005 that 254 Hindus and 790 Muslims were killed in the post-Godhra riots.
Godhra is one of the 14 seats the AIMIM is contesting in next month’s elections to the 182-member assembly. Last week, AIMIM chief Owaisi addressed a large gathering to campaign for the 33-year-old Imam, party candidate Hasan Shabbir Kachba.
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The BJP has fielded its sitting MLA CK Raulji from the seat, which goes to polls on December 5. Her opponents are Rashmitaben Chauhan of the Congress and Rajeshbhai Patel of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
The other 13 seats in which the AIMIM, a Hyderabad-headquartered party, is contesting in Gujarat this time are Mand arevi, Bhuj, Vadgam, Sidhdhapur, Vejalpur, Bapunagar, Dariyapur, Jamalpur Khadiya, Danilimbda, Khambhadiya, Mangrol, Surat East and Limbayat, according to to Sabir Kabliwala, the party’s state unit president. The party had not fielded any candidate from Godhra in the 2017 polls.
AIMIM councilors allege that development has always stayed away from the Muslim-majority area, which is located in the western part of the city. City dwellers have to deal with problems like potholed roads, lack of cleanliness and water. Ishaq Bokda, an AIMIM supporter, said there are no banks, ATMs or playgrounds on this side of the city, which has an estimated population of over one lakh.
Faisal Suleja, GMC councilor of ward number seven, said, “Earlier, development took place only in 50 per cent of the area. It has always been on the other side (the city populated by Hindus and other communities).” , But that is changing, said Ishaq M Ghanchibhai, party councilor from ward number six. “Our region never got funds for development, but this time we (AIMIM) have fought and ensured that the funds are equal,” he said.
Ghanchibhai said that after winning seven seats, the party got two overhead water tanks for this part of the city. Ghanchibhai said the Godhra assembly constituency has about 2,79,000 voters, of whom 72,000 are Muslims, who are being wooed by the party. “If each candidate (of major parties like BJP and Congress) gets around 60,000 votes and we collectively get 72,000 votes, then victory is possible,” he said.
But Sophia Anwar Jamal, who has been an independent candidate for five times from ward number nine, rejects this claim. Jamal, a BJP member who contested as an independent in the Muslim-dominated region, said AIMIM would divide votes which would ultimately help the saffron party.
With the rise of AIMIM, Jamal alleged that he was being targeted for supporting the BJP, while his house was targeted. He also regretted not getting enough support from the party. In an interview with PTI last week, Owaisi denied AIMIM’s role as a “vote katua” (vote-cutter) party and blamed the Congress for the BJP’s long stay in power in Gujarat.