Gujarat polls: For Ahmedabad's Muslims, Congress is the only option

A few metres away from Prem Darwaza, one of the 12 gates in the walled city in Ahmedabad, Qasam Bhai is preparing for an evening election meeting. Ghayasuddin Sheikh, the sitting MLA and again the Congress candidate, is scheduled to come and address the locals.

Qasam Bhai runs a tour and travel company which sends people for Hajj and Umrah, the Muslim pilgrimages to Mecca and Medina.

“This time, we are aiming at getting at least 80% of the Muslim voters out to the booths on 14 December,” he says, explaining the calculus of the constituency. There are over 85, 000 Muslims, a little less than half the number of total voters in the constituency, he counted on his fingers as he gave details of other communities. “If the Muslims come out and vote in large numbers, there is little chance that the BJP candidate would win,” he said.

“Even the Tablighi Jamat has become active this time which would otherwise steer clear of advising people on matters of politics,” he says, claiming how the Congress is not just expected to sweep Dariapur, but also win enough seats to form the government.

Qasam Bhai claims he has come especially for the elections. Amidst making phone calls, he describes how things have changed in this Muslim locality.

Post 2002, the youth have become more inclined towards skill development and education, he says. “It used to be a very different situation here earlier,” Qasam Bhai says, mentioning Abdul Latif, the gangster, whose life inspired Raees, a recent Shahrukh Khan starrer movie. “His house is barely 50 metres away,” he says. “A lot of people used to be involved in bootlegging. This road used to be full of people dealing in liquor. But that has changed now.”

Things have changed for the worse too. “You step into a Hindu locality with a skull cap or a burqa and chances are that people would give you strange looks,” Qasam Bhai claims. “People here are scared, especially after 2002!”

Yet, they continue to refer to Dariapur as an extremely sensitive area, another local Mohd Rafiq rues.

Dariapur and Latif are important markers of present day Gujarat politics. Latif especially, as he had all traits which the BJP could use to portray the fear of a Muslim mafia don to the largely Hindu Ahmedabad population - a criminal who had connections with Dawood Ibrahim. And it worked. His return from Pakistan, where he fled to escape prosecution in the Bombay blasts case, and arrest, perhaps propelled Keshubhai Patel to the image of a Hindu Hriday Samrat then.

Narendra Modi, with his tough image, has perhaps bettered Keshubhai or any other BJP leader from Gujarat.

“This used to be a slum. It was full of people making country made liquor. See what Modi has done,” Paresh Gohail, a local BJP supporter said. “Gundagardi khatam kar di,” he says, as we chatted on the Sabarmati River Front, something PM Modi, often cites as one of the markers of Gujarat Model.

BJP’s aggressive Hindutva politics forced the Congress to follow the same route.

The Congress, including its newly ‘elected’ President Rahul Gandhi, has chosen to not utter the ‘M’ word as he made his way to the many temples in the state. A local activist points out that during a meeting with the civil society groups, when Gandhi was told about how there were a sizeable number of Muslims in the crowd and that he should address them, he merely said “Congress would work for all sections”.

Yet, Muslims are rallying for the grand old party.

“The BJP wants the Congress leaders to talk about Muslims,” says Mohd Siddiq, a local in Dariapur. “But the Congress is not falling in that trap,” he says citing how the BJP was getting desperate and calling Gandhi, a follower of Alauddin Khilji and Aurangzeb. He says Raju Momin, an ex-Congress member who is contesting as an independent will not be able to get votes. "The people know that a divided vote may lead to BJP's win," he says.

In Jamalpur Khadiya, another Muslim dominated locality, an independent Sabirbhai Kabliwalah got more than 24% votes in the last elections which led to the victory of BJP. This is often cited by the Congress' Muslim workers to convince the electorate to not go for an independent. It may work in Dariapur as the locals claim. Albeit, in Jamalpur Khadiya, there is no strong independent candidate this time so the Congress is much more confident of wresting it from the BJP.

In Juhapura, one of the largest ghettos, the local Congress candidate has not campaigned as vigourously. This mostly new locality, which houses over five lakh people who have settled here from different parts of the state, lies in Vejalpur constituency. As a local from the constituency said at the recent Modi rally, it is referred to as “mini Pakistan".

“There are over one lakh Muslim voters here. But Congress’ Mihir Shah has not come very often,” a local Congress worker says as he chose three floor tiles to explain how different communities live in Vijalpura. “So this whole chunk is Muslim,” he points to one tile, “this one is primarily Dalit” and “the third one is where the rich Baniyas and Brahmins live,” he concludes.

The worker explains how the Congress lost the last election when it fielded a Muslim candidate. “Nobody else voted for the Congress’ Muslim candidate,” he says. According to his simplistic calculation, if 70% of the Muslims vote for the Congress, it will win the constituency. “Our thrust is to get maximum Muslims to go out and vote,” he says.

Aijaz Bhai, another local in Juhapura, says it is a good thing that no riots have happened after 2002. "But in this locality, there are no proper civic facilities. It continues to face the government's apathy," he says, complaining about having how no riots should not be a benchmark for any government. But the mere possibility of a Congress win has instilled fear too. "If the Congress comes to power, there will be riots again and it will be difficult to work," rues Nasir Bhai, who drives an auto rickshaw in the city.

For the Muslims of Ahmedabad, Congress seems to be the only choice, despite it taking them for granted. “We want to vote for the BJP. But it sticking to its choice of issues, including Triple Talaq and the way it has always communalised the elections, it has not left us with any choice,” Qasam Bhai says.

“It is not like we love the Congress. But do we have an option?” he asks.