Thiruvananthapuram: A BJP member for eight years, it was Mumtaz Thaha’s relentless work during the successful campaign in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls for party candidate from Thrissur Suresh Gopi that brought her the attention of the leadership.
A year later, the 37-year-old businesswoman became the party’s first Muslim woman councillor in the state. She is the lone winner among 22 Muslim women candidates fielded by the BJP in the recently concluded Kerala local body polls.
Fielded from Thrissur’s Kannankulangara ward, Mumtaz wrested the seat from the Congress by a margin of 77 votes.
“I felt really happy having taken up that responsibility. I am happy that people found me trustworthy,” says Mumtaz.
With Mumtaz winning, the BJP has a total of eight councillors in the crucial Thrissur Corporation in central Kerala, while the United Democratic Front (UDF) swept the local body by winning 33 seats. The ruling LDF secured 11 wards.
Mumtaz said work has already begun in her ward, with plans to set up a health centre. She said she would continue to work with all parties for the people in her ward, a promise she made during her door-to-door campaign.
The victory is significant for the BJP, which has been struggling to secure a major political win in the state.
The party has been aggressively reaching out to the state’s Christian population for the past few years and also rolled out a mass Muslim outreach programme ahead of the local body polls.
This initiative included a door-to-door campaign to popularise the BJP’s vision of development, and build trust with the community in an effort to counter the party’s image of being ‘anti-Muslim’.
According to the 2011 Census, Kerala has 54.7 percent Hindu population, followed by Muslims (26.6 percent) and Christians (18.4 percent).
However, the BJP’s vote share declined to 14.76 percent from 16.68 percent in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Party leaders say Mumtaz’s victory is a sign of change in the public perception, and the success of the BJP’s outreach efforts.
“It’s not a small thing. We had actively tried to find women like her from the community, which has been distancing itself from the party, and give them a platform to grow,” P.K. Babu, a BJP leader from Thrissur, told ThePrint.
He said Mumtaz has been active in the party for some time, including during Suresh Gopi’s campaign. He added the party has several leaders from the community, but Muslim participation is still limited.
“It will change slowly. People can’t be misguided forever. People will understand the truth and come to us. It has happened in other places,” Babu said, adding that Mumtaz is the first Muslim councillor in the Thrissur Corporation itself.
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A businesswoman-turned-politician
Mumtaz, a mother of two who also runs a pet grooming centre, credits her entry into politics to her father, who has been with the BJP for over a decade.
During her campaign, Mumtaz says she was often asked why she chose the BJP for her political entry.
Her response, “If it (the party) were anti-Muslim as it’s perceived, it would not have fielded me or the other 21 others. People can have individual perceptions, it’s okay.”
She says the party steered clear of controversies and focused solely on development plans for the ward, an approach the BJP adopted statewide during the campaign. She says the victory belongs to the party, which worked together during the campaign.
“Why not the BJP? My father asked the same then. If the party is allowing us to work, and if its ideology matches ours, why not the BJP?” she said.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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