After a splendid performance in the Aurangabad municipal election the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) is now eyeing the 2017 BMC elections. The AIMIM made a foray into Maharashtra state Assembly elections by winning two seats viz Byculla in Mumbai and Aurangabad Central. The party’s strategy to forge an alliance with Dalit parties had worked well for it. AIAIMIM will challenge the supremacy of Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in the BMC. Earlier the Shiv Sena had alleged the AIMIM is indulging in divisive politics and creating hatred between Hindu-Muslim communities. The party had earlier called for a ban to be imposed on the AIMIM.
AIMIM party Chief Asaduddin Owaisi alleged that the “real potent venom” has been spewed by Sena leaders by demanding that Indian Muslims should be deprived of their voting rights. He added that people are fed up of hate politics and want development. Owaisi challenged Sena to show what work they have undertaken for the cause of development. The party has managed to consolidate the support of minorities under a single umbrella.
Owaisi said, “We will definitely contest every election in Maharashtra and we will put forward people’s issues in future as well. We are the only political party in Aurangabad which fought on the issues of drainage, water, roads, toilets, etc. Tell them to show what work have they done there in the last so many years?”
“The Sena should be cautious now for the BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) election because their style of functioning of getting elected by calling others names has been rejected by the people. We will show them what politics actually means. You cannot win with an agenda of Hindutva. You have to ensure development of everybody,” he said.
The AIMIM had benefitted by the polarisation of Muslim votes in Aurangabad. The party had clinched 11 of the 81 seats in Nanded Municipal Corporation elections held in 2012.
“They can continue with their pathological hatred for us. But what finally counts is what governance have they provided in the last six months in Maharashtra or 10 months in Delhi or the last many years in Aurangabad. That has been a great let down. The (Aurangabad) results show that this hatred against me or my party is not going to give them any political dividends anymore,” Owaisi said.
The Sena has not been able to digest the “humiliation” meted out by the BJP, he said, adding that the Uddhav Thackeray-led party is only taking out the frustration that it has with its ally on the AIMIM.
The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) made an impressive debut in Aurangabad, bagging 25 out of the total 113 seats in the municipal elections there.
