By Abdul Hameed, TwoCircles.net,
Mumbai: Will the so-called secular parties Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) give fair representation to the Muslim community when it comes to field candidates for the forthcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra? Yes, if one goes by the promise these parties made during the recently held Lok Sabha elections.
There are the reports echoing in the media that the alliance may give tickets to nearly 40 Muslim candidates in the assembly elections to be held by the end of the year. The figure is more than twice in comparison to the seats allotted to the Muslims in the last assembly elections held in 2004.
Spokesperson of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) Husain Dalwai has been quoted by the Urdu daily Inquilab as saying: ‘Behind the tremendous performance of the Congress in the LS elections, Muslims have a great role. Seeing that the Muslims who kept themselves away from Congress after 1992 are pressing close to it, the party has decided to give more representation to them in the forthcoming assembly elections. And it is must to end the social, educational and economic backwardness of Muslims.’
In the last assembly elections 2004, Congress-NCP alliance had fielded a total of 16 Muslim candidates. Of them, 11 had emerged triumphant. The Congress had given ticket to 12 and the NCP to 4 Muslims from their share of 168 and 120 respectively.
That each of the Congress and NCP fielded only one candidate in the LS 2009 elections had created anger among the Muslims who were demanding at least five seats as per their population of 14% in the state. They even had threatened to boycott the Congress-NCP alliance. It was only after the promise from the alliance that Muslims will be given adequate representation in the coming assembly elections as per their population that the community changed its mind.
Dalwai said that the Congress feels the anger in the Muslim community due to its under-representation in the LS elections. He said that Muslims should be given at least 28-30 seats in the assembly elections according to their population.’
On the other hand the general secretary of the Nationalist Congress Party Munaf Hakeem has said that the party will allocate at least 10 seats to the Muslims in the assembly elections. He also said the party president Sharad Pawar is serious in this regard.
Some days earlier, there were reports in the media that Congress and NCP who fought LS elections under a tie-up may part ways in the assembly elections. The unexpected and great victory of Congress all over India has provided the political pundits with a chance to predict that Congress may break ties with the NCP in the assembly elections.