Battle for BMC: A challenger from Hyderabad out for an upset

Asaduddin OwaisiOur only agenda is development Both the Samajwadi Party and Congress used the citys Muslim population merely as a vote bank says Waris Pathan of the All India MajliseIttehadul Muslimeen AIMIM when we meet him at his office in Fort on December 27 Pathan who got elected to the state assembly seat from Byculla during the 2014 assembly election is currently spearheading the Hyderabadbased partys campaign for the BMC elections slated to be held in the last week of FebruaryThe party in the voice of Pathan hopes to capture the imagination of a population that seems disillusioned with what the several parties that have been dominating Mumbai politics thus far seem to be offering We have conducted several development projects in Hyderabad as well as in Maharastra Dalits and Muslims were always neglected under the SenaBJP ruleControversial takeoffFounded in 1926 and headquartered in Hyderabad AIMIM became the subject of national news when in 2000 one of its leaders Akbaruddin Owaisi was charged with making inflammatory and provocative speeches in the Adilabad district of Andhra Pradesh on December 22 After the controversial speech he was charged with sedition under section 124 A of the Indian Penal CodeAIMIM party worker Matin Nayak fifth from left speaks to residents of BycullaHowever it didnt mark a dent in the partys popularity In 2014 the party contested from 35 MLA and 6 MP seats Of these they won seven assembly and one MP seats In 2016 the party won 42 seats in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation The party is headed by Akbaruddin an MLA from Telangana and his brother Asaduddin Owaisi In the last elections it has also tried to expand its base in MaharashtraIn 2016 AIMIM fielded a total of 60 candidates in various municipal council elections across the state Of these it managed to win 40 seats On January 1 Asaduddin launched the partys campaign for the BMC elections where it will contest 60 seats It hopes to corner the Muslim vote which accounts for 21 per cent of the citys populationResidents of Byculla are plagued by problems of illegal construction poor hygiene garbage dumping and waterlogging PicsSameer MarkandeThe Mumbai campaignLast Sunday the partys campaign launch was a wellattended public meeting on a narrow road in Nagpada With garbage strewn on the side star campaigner Asaduddin set the tone with his promise to get R7000 crore for Muslims in the BMC budget to improve facilities and amenities There are more than one lakh students in civicrun Urdu schools in the city but the conditions there are horrible as they dont have clean drinking water or toilets for students Many schools have shut down which we will start again if we come to power he had saidThe choice of area isnt random Political observers and foot soldiers within the party see great opportunity in areas like Madanpura Bhendi Bazaar Bandra east and west Govandi Malvani which not only have a sizeable Muslim population mdash in Madanpura and Govandi the population is over 80 per cent mdash but also complain of neglect from mainstream politicians Party leaders are confident of winning at least 20 seats in the civic electionsWaris PathanAsif Khan a 45yearold resident of Sakli Street in Byculla seemed to echo the sentiment The parties we have been voting for during the last few elections have done nothing to address our problems Our community has always only been used as a votebank AIMIM seems to understand our issues and doesnt shy away from talking about them he says Geeta Gawli from Akhil Bhartiya Sena is the sitting corporator from Khans areaThe voters here are not just unhappy with the way the Congress and Samajwadi Party have represented them most stand in unison when they say that they will not vote for Shiv Sena or BJP We want a party which is secular and so Shiv Sena and BJP dont fit the bill These two parties have been ruling the BMC for the last 20 years and our issues have always been ignored And even the other socalled secular parties are all the same MIM looks promising as of now says Mohammad Arif Fayaji 37 who is an engineer and resident of GovandiPathan says In 2014 we made history in Maharashtra politics by winning two seats Now we will do the same thing in the BMC election We will change the face of Mumbai In the last two years I have done my best to address the problems of my constituency without a single corporator Corporators from other parties in these areas are doing nothingThe OppositionThe Samajwadi Party candidate from Madanpura electoral seat Rais Shaikh dismisses AIMIMs claims of hurting his votebank They have a lot of answering to do All the promises they made before the assembly elections havent been realised They should first look at themselves before pointing fingers at us he adds He also claims that MIM has BJPs tacit support which hopes that it polarises the Muslim votes in the city thus reducing the wins Congress or SP can expect While that is just a theory there are a few who have bought into AIMIMs partyforMuslims bugle call Jiuaddin Shaikh 50 supervisor at the Mazgaon Docks who lives on Sakli Street in Byculla feels theres little chance of AIMIM winning Pathan is doing work for only the elite and builders Common people have to steal deal with garbage sewerage and lack of drinking water In the last two years he hasnt once come to meet us in our areaProblems AIMIM will need to addressAreas like Madanpura Byculla Dockyard Road and Shivaji Nagar need urgent attention Residents still get dirty water supply and water logging Illegal construction poor hygiene and cleanliness are common Shivaji Nagar in Govandi still faces water shortage and residents daily get water from BMC tankers which costs anywhere between R2000 and R7000 per tank In Byculla and Dockyard Road waterlogging and illegal constructions continue to affect residents