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‘Disillusioned with Kejriwal’, 7 wards in riot-hit northeast Delhi vote for Congress in MCD polls

Delhi CM's silence on release of Bilkis Bano’s rape convicts, anti-CAA protests, and muted & belated reaction to 2020 Delhi riots seems to have not gone down well with voters.

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New Delhi: Muslim voters in riots-affected areas of north-east Delhi largely voted for the Congress in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections. This was construed in political circles as signs of the minority community’s disillusionment with Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for its refusal to speak up on issues concerning them.

AAP bagged the majority in the civic body polls Wednesday, winning in 134 of the total 250 wards. The BJP won 104 and the Congress nine. Three were won by Independent candidates.

Of the Congress’ nine seats, seven were in riot-hit areas in north-east and south-west Delhi. Six of the seven are Muslim-dominated, according to government data.

The Congress wrested three Muslim-dominated wards — Chauhan Banger (Shagufta Chaudhary Zubair), Mustafabad (Sabila Begum) and Abul Fazal Enclave (Ariba Khan) — from AAP. The other Muslim-dominated wards the Congress won included Zakir Nagar (Nazia Danish), Shastri Park (Sameer Ahmed) and Kabir Nagar (Zarif).

Although AAP did win in many wards with substantial Muslim voter base — for instance, Chand Mahal, Jama Masjid and Ballimaran — the minority community in riots-affected areas and in the south-east showing a preference for the Congress signalled growing unease and disillusionment with the AAP, which has been wary of raising issues concerning the community as a strategy to counter the BJP.

“A sizable number of Muslim votes have shifted from the AAP to Congress. This appears to be a rebound reaction because of Kejriwal’s refusal to take a firm stand on Delhi Riots or on the CAA-NRC protest. So, there are Muslim population-dominated areas that have opted to vote for Congress,” political analyst Rasheed Kidwai told ThePrint.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s silence on the release of Bilkis Bano’s rape convicts, Shaheen Bagh anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protests, the Nizamuddin Markaz incident during the pandemic and his muted and belated reaction during the 2020 north-east Delhi riots did not seem to have gone down well with Muslim voters.

They used to be a traditional vote bank of the Congress but had shifted to the AAP from 2015 assembly elections.

Chauhan Banger (that has subsumed Jafrabad) and Mustafabad fall in the north-east Delhi area that was hit by riots in 2020. An Independent candidate Shakila Begum, a former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) councilor, won in Seelampur, another ward in the area that saw the worst of the violence.

On the other hand, Abul Fazal Enclave’s Shaheen Bagh had become the epicenter of anti-CAA protest in 2019, where CM Kejriwal’s remarks over how if the police were under the AAP Delhi government’s control, he would have removed the protestors within two hours, had upset the minority community.

The AAP, in comparison, has six Muslim councilors, two of which — Aaley Mohammed Iqbal from Chandani Mahal and Sultana Abad from Jama Masjid — had earlier switched from the Congress.


Also read: Where is India’s politics headed? Just wait for the result of 2022 Delhi civic body polls


‘MCD election not a signal for any other big election’

Political analyst, Badri Narayan, director at the GB Pant Social Science Institute, Prayagraj, said that it was difficult to say whether the AAP’s Muslim voters’ base had shifted to Congress or not but if it was the trend then that would only benefit the BJP.

“If Muslim voters come to the Congress, it will be an advantage to BJP as it would be cutting into AAP’s votes. But we have to keep in mind that the MCD election is not a signal for any other big election. Its results would not affect the results of other more significant elections,” he said.

During the MCD election campaign, the Congress leaders had attacked the AAP chief for “not supporting Muslims” to court votes in the wards dominated by the community. Former Chandni Chowk MLA and one of Congress party’s star campaigners Alka Lamba said in one of her public meetings that at least the BJP was clear about its divisive politics, while CM Kejriwal had hit Muslims in the back.

“Who maintained silence over the wrongful release of the rapists of Bilkis Bano or the Delhi riots and the CAA-NRC (clashes)? Who had made Tablighi Jamaat infamous? It was him,” she had said in the Jama Masjid ward.

Similarly, when asked about a possible shift of Muslim votes from AAP to Congress in the election results, senior Congress leader and Former DPCC (Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee) President Subhash Chopra told ThePrint that it was less than what they had expected since Arvind Kejriwal had not even done one good thing for the Muslims.

“In the assembly election, they voted for Kejriwal, and now they have realised this man has not done anything good for the community. See he is giving subsidies instead, on free electricity — why not give that money to the DISCOMS? They both (BJP and AAP) attacked each other without having anything positive to show and the media ran with it. If media will show 24 hours that the main fight is between BJP and AAP, then that is what will be registered in the minds of the voters,” he said.

(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)


Also read: Cleanliness, ‘non performance’ top issues for voters in high-stakes Delhi civic poll


 

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