Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said few Hindu candidates call him for campaigning any more, but local leaders deny that it’s because he’s Muslim.
New Delhi: A cross-section of Congress leaders across states has denied senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad’s charge that Hindu candidates don’t invite him for campaigning any more, insinuating it was because he is Muslim.
Speaking to alumni of the Aligarh Muslim University Thursday, Azad had said that since 2014, Hindu candidates had stopped asking him to campaign for them, fearing he would hurt their chances of getting elected.
“Today we are divided, society is divided, friends are divided… Since (my) Youth Congress days, I have been campaigning across the country from Andaman Nicobar to Lakshadweep. Around 95 per cent of those who used to call me were Hindu brothers and leaders, and just five per cent were Muslim brothers,” Azad said.
“However, in the past four years, the percentage has dipped from 95 to 20.
“Aaj darta hai aadmi bulane se, ki iska voter pe kya asar hoga (They are afraid of calling me, lest it affects votes).”
‘Mass appeal counts, not religion’
Local leaders, however, say it’s not religion but other important factors — such as the mass appeal of the campaigner — that play a decisive role in which leaders are invited.
“In the case of assembly elections, there are a number of aspects that have to be looked into. Candidates decide whom they should call, as they want to call those who have mass appeal and can help them get votes,” said Bodh Lal Shukla, Lucknow city Congress committee president.
Azad, a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir is not considered a mass leader, despite winning in the Lok Sabha elections and assembly elections twice each. In 2014, he lost from Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency.
In Chhattisgarh, Azad is part of the list of 40 star campaigners that the state Congress has prepared. The others in the list include Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Shiv Kumar Dahariya, working president of the Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee, said: “Azad ji came to Chhattisgarh a fortnight ago to campaign. The star campaigners will appear for candidates irrespective of whether the candidate is Hindu or Muslim.
“This type of differentiation happens in the BJP, not the Congress.”
Mahendra Jeet Singh Malviya, a sitting MLA from Bagidora (Banswara) in Rajasthan said: “Congress is a secular party, so we don’t invite leaders based on their religion or caste. It could be his (Azad’s) personal statement.”
Chandrashekhar Tiwari, the district Congress committee president for Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, pointed out that the Congress’s list of star campaigners hasn’t changed much.
“The list has largely remained the same over the past few years, so naturally, candidates invite from that list itself. There is no question of Hindu-Muslim or caste-based invitations. We see every voter as a voter only, not as a Hindu or a Muslim,” he said.
Muslim leaders campaigned in Gujarat & UP too
Many MLAs in Gujarat that ThePrint spoke to said they had invited Muslim leaders to campaign for them in December 2017, and that religion was not an issue.
Kirit Patel, MLA from Patan, said: “There is no truth to (Azad’s) statement. While campaigning, I had invited a number of Muslim leaders.”
Mohansinh C. Rathwa, MLA from Chhota Udaipur, said: “Whether it is elections at the level of taluka, district, assembly or Lok Sabha, we have always invited star campaigners, whether they are Muslim or Hindu. I can definitely say that I got a lot of Muslim votes, and they were with us.”
Azad had also campaigned across Uttar Pradesh during the 2017 assembly elections.
Naresh Saini, MLA from Behat, said: “Ghulam Nabi ji campaigned twice and attended two jan sabhas. I also won by a good margin of 30,000 votes, so I don’t know why he said that. Unke aane se mujhe zyada vote mile (I got more votes because he came to campaign for me).”
‘Religious polarisation is a reality’
Political scientist Suhas Palshikar, who taught at the Savitribai Phule Pune University, said Azad’s statement was a reflection of the “religious polarisation” of elections.
“Though no candidate will admit it, it’s a fact. Often, they don’t want a Muslim campaigner in a non-Muslim constituency, as he may not be useful in catching votes,” Palshikar said.
“Though there was always an undercurrent, this trend has become stronger in recent times.”
Palshikar added that though the image of the Congress is of a secular party, it does not want to offend the Hindu electorate. “Congress also wants to position itself as a party of the Hindus, partly out of desperation, as it is contesting in the Hindi heartland,” he said.