Gurugram: Haryana’s Nuh district, which witnessed communal clashes last week, is in the Mewat region that covers parts of neighbouring Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan as well.
With Meo Muslims comprising 79 percent of present-day Nuh’s population (according to the 2011 census), the 31 July clashes, which left six dead, over 70 injured, have put the focus on the community’s political representation in the region, more so as the Lok Sabha elections and state assembly elections are due next year.
However, with Nuh accounting for just three of the 90 seats in state assembly, Meo leadership is of little significance in the number game.
The three seats under the Nuh district are Nuh, Punhana and Ferozepur Jhirka. Currently, all the three seats are held by Congress MLAs, and all of them are Meo Muslims — Aftab Ahmed from Nuh, Mohammad Ilyas from Punhana, and Moman Khan from Ferozepur Jhirka assembly constituency.
Hathin, the only assembly seat in Palwal district — it also has Hodal and Palwal — with Meo population, has elected an MLA from this community only thrice since 1972, according to Election Commission (EC) data. Sohna in Gurugram also has a considerable number of Meo Muslims but it has never elected an MLA from the community.
In the 2019 state elections, both Hathin and Sohna in Gurugram went to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with Praveen Dagar and Sanjay Singh representing the two constituencies respectively.
“We have had great leaders in Mewat (region). But the problem is that more than concentrating on improving people’s lot, they have focused more on harbouring animosity against each other,” said Nuh historian Saddique Ahmad Meo.
Before the delimitation exercise for Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha constituencies in Haryana in 2007 and 2008 respectively, all Meo-dominated assembly seats formed part of the Faridabad parliamentary seat, and it returned Meo leaders only thrice — Tayyab Husain (Congress) in 1980, Rahim Khan (Congress) in 1984, and Khurshid Ahmed (Lok Dal) in 1988 Lok Sabha elections, according to EC data.
“In the last delimitation exercise, Hathin became a part of Faridabad while Nuh, Punhana and Ferozepur Jhirka were with the Gurugram parliamentary seat, leaving no chance for a Meo Muslim leader to reach Parliament as Meo votes got divided. This is how the representation of Meo Muslims in the system, which was already low, went further down,” said Ahmad.
Dynastic politics is common in India, and the Mewat region is no exception. In fact, power has always remained in the hands of a few political families in Mewat.
Ahmad Meo also sees no scope for new leadership to emerge from the community. “New leadership generally emerges from universities. But unfortunately, we don’t have a university in Nuh. Children of these dynasts and a few well-off families attain education outside Mewat, but common people can hardly afford such a luxury,” he said.
ThePrint looks at the Meo leadership in Haryana and the various political families that have dominated the region.
Also read: Nuh violence puts focus on Meo Muslims of Mewat — who they are & what is their history
Meo leadership over the years
Two of the most prominent political families in Mewat were those of Khurshid Ahmed and Tayyab Husain. Both of them contested a number of parliamentary and assembly elections against each other, and changed parties several times, shows EC data.
Khurshid Ahmed practised law in the Supreme Court before jumping into politics. He became a member of the legislative assembly (MLA) five times between 1962 and 1982. He represented Nuh in 1962, 1968, and 1991 and Tauru in 1977 and 1987.
He was elected to the Lok Sabha in a bypoll in 1988. Mostly a Congressman, Ahmed fought the 1987 assembly elections and 1988 Lok Sabha elections on the Lok Dal ticket. He died in 2020.
His father, Kabir Ahmed, became an MLA in a bypoll in 1975 and 1982, while his son Aftab Ahmed, the present MLA from Nuh, was elected to the assembly in 2009 and 2019.
Tayyab Husain was Ahmed’s contemporary. His father, Yasin Khan, remained a legislator from undivided Punjab in the pre-Independence era from 1926 to 1946, according to historian Meo.
Husain holds the unique distinction of being an MLA from three states — Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan. He was also an MP 1971-1976 (Gurugram seat) and 1980-1986 (Faridabad seat), shows EC data. He died in 2008.
His son, Zakir Hussain, is a three-time MLA, and the administrator of the Haryana Waqf Board. He won the 1991 election as an Independent from Tauru (a part of Mewat before delimitation), in 2000, he won the seat on a Congress ticket while in 2014, he became MLA from Nuh as an Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) candidate.
Husain’s daughter Zahida Khan became an MLA from Rajasthan’s Mewat region (Khaman assembly seat) in 2008 and 2018, and is presently a minister in the Congress government in that state. Husain’s other son, Fazal Hussain, also contests from Tijara assembly seat in Rajasthan.
Husain’s brother Hamid Husain also became MLA once from Nuh on an INLD ticket in 2000, according to EC data.
Also read: Nuh violence got India’s attention, but Mewat wasn’t always communal
Lesser-known families
Rahim Khan, who won from Faridabad Lok Sabha seat in 1984 parliamentary elections, heads another political dynasty in Mewat. He became the MLA from Nuh assembly seat in 1967, 1973 and 1982, each time as an Independent. His brother Sardar Khan won the Nuh seat in the 1977 assembly elections on a Janata Party ticket while his son Mohammad Ilyas won it in 1991 on a Congress ticket, according to EC data.
Iliyas was also elected from Punhana seat of Nuh district in 2009 and 2019, on INLD ticket and as a Congress candidate respectively, shows the data.
Shakrulla Khan, another head of a political family, became an MLA from Ferozepur Jhirka thrice — as an Independent in 1977, and as Congress candidate in 1982 and 1991. He remained a minister in the Haryana government twice. His son, Naseem Ahmed, represented the constituency as an INLD MLA on two occasions — 2009 -2014 and 2014-2019.
Yet another leader, Azmat Khan, was elected to the Ferozepur Jhirka assembly seat on a Lok Dal ticket in 1987 and became a minister. His son, Azad Mohammad, was elected in 1996 on a Samata Party ticket from the same seat and in 2005 as a Congress nominee. He became the deputy speaker in the assembly in his first term and a minister in his second term. Khan’s son Raheesa Khan became an Independent MLA from Punhana in 2014.
Congress MLA from Nuh, Aftab Ahmed, said though the political leadership of Mewat has raised issues pertaining to the local people, their voice hasn’t really been heard.
“Our people are completely dependent on agriculture, but they don’t have water to irrigate their fields. Groundwater is brackish. They are completely at the mercy of rain. The demand for a canal has been raised since the time of my father, Khurshid Ahmed. But nothing concrete has happened so far. The foundation stone of the canal has been laid now, but there is no word on when the actual work will begin,” he said.
Likewise, he said, a medical college was started in Nuh in 2012, but there is a shortage of doctors and paramedical staff. The hospital has equipment but no people to run them, he claimed.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)