Maharashtra polls: Congress Muslim leader gives ‘Boycott UBT Sena’ call, shocks community
former Congress MLA Yusuf Abrahani has called a meeting on Tuesday of all Muslim groups and religious leaders to discuss his proposal to boycott the party
MUMBAI: Angered by the paucity of tickets given to Muslims by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), former Congress MLA Yusuf Abrahani has called a meeting on Tuesday of all Muslim groups and religious leaders to discuss his proposal to boycott the party. “The entire Muslim community voted for the MVA in the Lok Sabha elections,” he said. “In some constituencies, especially in Mumbai, Sena candidates won because of Muslim votes.”
Congress Muslim leader gives ‘Boycott UBT Sena’ call, sends shock waves through community
Congress Muslim leader gives ‘Boycott UBT Sena’ call, sends shock waves through community
Giving the example of Byculla, which has a 41% Muslim population, Abrahani pointed out that Arvind Sawant, the Sena (UBT) candidate for South Mumbai, got 86,883 votes from the Byculla segment while his nearest rival from the Shinde Sena, sitting Byculla MLA Yamini Jadhav, got only 40,817.
Jadhav will once again contest the assembly polls from Byculla against former corporator Manoj Jamsutkar, the Sena (UBT)’s candidate. Byculla was one of the seats over which the Congress fought with the Sena (UBT), and Abrahani was the front runner for it. Locals and community leaders say he would have easily won.
Since his own party ceded the seat to the Sena (UBT), why is Abrahani asking for a boycott?
“Uddhav should know that the Lok Sabha votes his party got belonged to the Congress, and we voted for him as part of the INDIA bloc,” he said. “We worked hard for his party. The least we expected was that where Muslims are in large numbers, they would be given tickets.”
“Isn’t Mr Abrahani aware that we have fielded Haroon Khan from Versova?”
said senior Sena (UBT) leader Subhash Desai. Desai claimed that Abrahani’s concern was not about his community and he was calling for a boycott only because he had not got a ticket from his own party. “Why Byculla, his party could have given him a ticket from anywhere,” he said. “Why didn’t it?”
Had Abrahani’s party approved of this proposal which would weaken the MVA? “I am proposing a boycott as a community leader, not a Congressman,” he said. “If the high command tells me to withdraw this proposal, I will,” he said. “But I also feel the Sena (UBT) is taking advantage of Rahul Gandhi’s wish to see a secular government in Maharashtra. We have to put pressure on them.”
However, while many Muslims are upset with the Sena, not everyone supported the boycott call. While some felt it would cause confusion in the community, a political worker pointed out that with the traditional Sena stronghold of Lalbaug being in the Byculla assembly constituency, it would have been impossible for Uddhav to nominate a Muslim.
“Let’s see what the opinion of the majority at the meeting is,” said Abrahani, adding that his proposal on Facebook had got 400,000 likes. “There’s still time till then for the UBT to take corrective steps.”
Desai scoffed at the idea. “I can give you a hundred bits of evidence to show how much Muslims love and support Uddhavji,” he said, adding that the party didn’t need to take note of Abrahani’s statement. “If he believes in the alliance, he should stop making such calls.”