By TCN News,
Guwahati: “Congress had tried its best creating internal dispute within Assam State Jamiat but the Assamese Muslim have shown their maturity and offered the AIUDF double number of seats comparing to the 2006 Assembly election,” Maulana Badruddin Ajmal Qasmi, president of the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), said.
Days before the state assembly election, Ajmal, who was state president of Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind (Arshad Madani faction), was sacked from the post and the state unit was dissolved. The move from Arshad Madani was seen as effort by Congress to divide Muslim votes.
AIUDF Chief Maulana Badruddin Ajmal
Perfume baron Ajmal, in a statement on 15th May, expressed his satisfaction that the party had been able to spectacularly increase its tally from 9 to 18 in the recent Assam assembly elections. Maulana Ajmal expressed his gratitude towards the voters that with their supports the AIUDF with second largest number of seats after the Congress, “stands well to represent the interests of minority and backward sections of society in the state.”
“The Assamese electors need to be praised for the way they showed political foresight and voted in large numbers for AIUDF, he said. AIUDF will continue to work for the welfare of Assam and its people cutting across religious and linguistic differences and would play a constructive apposition in the house as it had done in the past,” the AIUDF president assured.
AIUDF had contested 75 seats in the just concluded Assembly poll and managed to win 18, in a major improvement upon its earlier performance. Among the 18 AIDF MLAs, 16 are Muslims including one woman, and 2 Non-Muslims from SC and ST. In other 17 seats the party secured the second position.
The AIUDF president stated that it was owing to their efforts that Muslim representation in the state has increased for the first time to reach the high figure of 28. He clarified that his party, though backed by Muslims, represents all sections of society and Indian National Congress has tough time ahead in Assam.
Maulana Ajmal further said that “Congress had tried its best creating internal dispute within Assam State Jamiat but the Assamese Muslim have shown their maturity and offered the AIUDF double number of seats comparing to the 2006 Assembly election.”
He also said that the “false rumours spread about them that they were in cahoots with the BJP, were all proved wrong. BJP and AGP, despite their pre-poll ‘understanding’, were decimated at the hustings.”
He stressed the need to protect the interests of the deprived in the state, belonging to any community.
He affirmed that the AIUDF will build upon its mass support base at the grass roots level. He said that it will continue to tackle the major issues confronting the Assamese such as educational backwardness, floods, unemployment, and the false tag of being Bangladeshis on a particular community.
Maulana Badruddin Ajmal renewed his pledge to work meaningfully for the citizens of Assam and thanked all those who had co-operated to make his party improve its electoral standing as compared to the 2006 elections. He said that the AIUDF will play the role of a responsible opposition in the Assam assembly and will try to fulfill the expectations of the voters who have reposed their faith in the party in such a significant way.