Mujahid Khan may be a backroom man in Maharashtra’s high-stakes political battle. But his role in rallying the Muslim vote behind the Maha Vikas Aghadi in certain areas – as a 52-year-old secretary of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee – was recognised during the Lok Sabha poll campaign.

But in a recent party meeting in Parbhani, Khan voiced his frustration over the lack of Muslim representation, warning that if the MVA alliance doesn’t field enough Muslim candidates in the upcoming assembly elections, they might lose crucial support.

He is not the only one to express this sentiment. Over the last 10 days, several Muslim politicians from the Congress and NCP, community leaders and activists, have held a series of meetings in Pune, Parbhani and Nagpur, criticising the MVA for “using” the Muslim vote without offering any political representation to the community.

Muslims make up nearly 11.5 percent of the state’s population, with a higher concentration in regions such as western Vidarbha, Marathwada, northern Konkan, and Khandesh. There are 11 districts with a sizable Muslim population, including Dhule, Parbhani, Latur, Akola, Mumbai, Nanded, Thane, Bhiwandi and Aurangabad. However, the number of Muslim MPs has never been proportional to the population. The 288-member assembly has a similar record, with just 10 Muslim MLAs; the highest tally stood at 13. 

In the Lok Sabha polls this year, Muslim voters, along with Dalit, tribals and OBC voters, were seen to have played a key role in the state’s opposition alliance MVA securing 31 seats. BJP leader and deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, apart from key NDA leaders such as Ajit Pawar, had acknowledged that the Muslim vote had shifted to the MVA. 

But the MVA had not fielded a single Muslim candidate. And even in the recent legislative council elections, MVA constituents Congress, NCP (SCP) and Sena (UBT) failed to nominate any Muslim candidate.

This has angered sections of the Muslim leadership while all eyes are on the assembly polls, which are likely to take place in October, when at least 30 of the 288 assembly segments will be decided primarily by Muslim voters.

The meetings

Three meetings and a press conference have been held so far in Pune, where Muslim several office-bearers, corporators and members of the Congress and NCP criticised the MVA over disproportionate Muslim representation.

Mujahid Khan said his party had organised programmes to explain to Muslim voters how they could avoid the split in their votes to defeat the BJP. “However, after the recent MLC elections where Congress and its allies didn’t nominate a single Muslim candidate, the community feels betrayed and is worried about their political representation in the upcoming assembly elections.”

“Congress and NCP could have easily nominated Muslim candidates for the two seats previously held by Muslim leaders. Congress was considering a Muslim candidate from Marathwada, where the state’s Muslim population is highest. However, at the last moment, they chose Pragya Satav, an OBC candidate…now, in the entire council of 78 members, there isn’t a single Muslim candidate. None of the parties, including the so-called secular ones that received strong support from Muslims, nominated a Muslim candidate.”

Samajwadi Party MLA Rais Shaikh this month wrote to Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, state Congress chief Nana Patole and state NCP (SCP) chief Jayant Patil saying the MVA must address the disparity in Muslim representation.

During a meeting at Kagdipura in Pune’s Kasba Peth constituency last week, Muslim leaders from the Congress and NCP passed a resolution demanding that at least two of the 21 assembly seats in Pune be allocated to Muslim candidates. The resolution decided to organise a large gathering of Muslim religious leaders and secular faces in eight assembly seats, and a meeting with the INDIA bloc leadership.

The meeting was chaired by former bureaucrat Abdur Rehman, who had resigned as an IPS officer to protest the controversial citizenship law. “Political empowerment is key to all other forms of empowerment. If a group, community, or caste does not have its rightful place in politics, it will impact their overall empowerment. This applies to Muslims as well. Without proper political representation, their social, economic, and educational progress will be affected.”

“Since 2014, Muslim representation in Maharashtra has been shrinking because parties that claim to be secular have tried to appear more Hindu. They fear that giving tickets to Muslims could lead to accusations of Muslim appeasement by parties like the BJP. They also have an unfounded fear that Muslim candidates won’t win elections. If this continues, regional Muslim parties like MIM and AIUDF will attract these voters, and more Muslim parties may emerge,” Khan stated.

Anjum Inamdar, a community leader in Pune, said, “For the first time in the country, Muslims voted in such large numbers for a specific alliance. In Maharashtra, we worked hard to convince the community to vote only for the MVA. Muslim religious leaders even announced from mosques to vote only for Congress-NCP-Shiv Sena (UBT). Muslim voters didn’t even extend their support to MIM or VBA. However, after the elections, the MVA’s response was surprising. Despite the support from the entire Muslim community in Maharashtra, they didn’t nominate a single Muslim leader in the MLC elections.”

Mohsin Khan, a Muslim activist from Latur who attended one of these meetings in Parbhani, said, “In the past, there was some Muslim representation in these parties, but now, so-called secular parties like Congress and NCP have reduced Muslim representation to zero in Maharashtra. The little preference they have given is mostly to Muslims in Mumbai, who are 90 percent from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. They have diminished the leadership of Marathi-speaking Muslims in rural Maharashtra, who were a major support base for these parties. This is one of the biggest mistakes made by Congress and NCP.”

“Maharashtra once had leaders like A R Antulay, but now it’s hard to imagine such a leader from the Muslim community. Congress promotes Muslim leaders in Mumbai who socialise with celebrities but neglects Marathi-speaking Muslim leaders in rural areas who understand local issues.”

Citing the example of  Latur-based farmer leader Pasha Patel who joined the BJP, Mohsin Khan, said, “He was a prominent farmer leader from Marathwada..but was sidelined over the years and eventually joined the BJP. Previously, Muslim leaders were elected from Beed, Aurangabad, and Ahmednagar, but now there is no representation from these areas.”

A meeting of Muslim politicians in Nagpur’s Ramtek on July 12 saw the participation of Congress leaders Muzzafar Hussain, Mohammad Nadeem and Shakoor Nagani. 

Muzaffar Hussain, a two-time MLC from Thane, said, “In 1999, Congress split and the NCP was formed. Congress then fought the assembly elections alone and allocated 18 seats to Muslim candidates. Eight of them won. In 2004, when Congress and NCP formed an alliance, the number of seats for Muslims was reduced to 15, and seven candidates won…after 2014, Muslim representation in Maharashtra dropped to just 10 to 12 seats, including four in Mumbai. These Mumbai seats went to Muslim leaders from UP and Bihar, while Marathi-speaking Muslims across the state got only eight seats.”

Hussain said the Congress’s failure to nominate a Muslim candidate is a serious mistake, and there is frustration over the party’s neglect of Marathi Muslim leaders. 

Mohammad Nadeem, a Congress leader from Yavatmal’s Pusad, said, “In the past, Vidarbha and Marathwada had good Muslim representation in the Vidhan Sabha. However, after 1995, when BJP and Shiv Sena came together, polarisation began, and Muslim representation in Congress and NCP started to decline. After 2014, it worsened as these parties feared losing elections. Despite strong support in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Congress and NCP have not changed their approach. This has disappointed the community, and if Mahavikas Aghadi does not allocate a decent number of tickets to Muslim candidates in upcoming assembly elections, they will likely lose Muslim votes.”

Atul Londhe, Maharashtra Congress chief spokesperson, said, “We are aware of these concerns of Muslim leaders. Our senior leadership has taken cognisance of it very seriously. Unfortunately, during Lok Sabha, the 17 seats  on which we contested, none was appropriate to field a Muslim candidate. Then in MLC elections we were supposed to give a seat to a Muslim candidate but  we had to give it to Mrs Pragya Satav who is the wife of our  deceased senior leader Rajeev Satav as she couldn’t get the full term after his demise. It’s not that Congress has not given representation to Muslims. Congress and NCP are the only parties which give appropriate representation to Muslim leadership. However, we are very much aware of their concern and we assure that they will be given proper representation as per their expectations  in the upcoming Vidhan Sabha  elections.”

Mahesh Tapase, NCP chief spokesperson, said, “In my party, not a single Muslim candidate asked for a ticket during the Lok Sabha polls. We didn’t contest in Muslim-dominated seats. In the upcoming assembly elections, if they ask  for tickets, we will consider it and tickets will be given on merit.” 

Update at 7.35 pm on July 26: This report had erroneously mentioned that the meeting of Muslim politicians in Nagpur’s Ramtek happened on July 12. It has been corrected to July 15.

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