Chhattisgarh Muslims stare at diminishing representation in assembly election

The Muslims in Chhattisgarh stares at their diminishing representation in the legislative assembly as both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have sidelined the community in the ticket distribution for the upcoming elections.

The Congress has fielded only one candidate Mohammad Akbar from the community. The BJP, on the other hand, has not given ticket to any Muslim candidate since 2003.

“As per the census of 2011, Muslims are around 2.2 percent of the total population but we are around 3.5 percent now. Since 2003, the Congress has fielded two Muslim candidates in the state assembly but in this election only one Muslim – Mohammad Akbar – has been given a chance. The people of our community are not happy with this decision, but they have no option because the BJP has not given to any since the first elections,” said a Muslim Congress leader of Chhattisgarh.

In 2018, Congress fielded Mohammad Akbar from Kawardha constituency and Barduddin Qureshi got ticket from Vaishali Nagar (Durg) constituency.

Akbar won by the highest margin in the state while Qureshi lost to the BJP candidate.

Another Muslim leader who was hoping for a ticket said that there are capable leaders in Chhattisgarh, but this time the Congress avoided them.

“Nawaz Khan, Safi Ahmed, Ejaz Dehbar and Badaruddin Queshi were hoping for tickets, and they were capable of winning the election, but the Congress denied tickets to them. Probably, this time the Congress is strategically working to counter the BJP, which led to this decision,” the leader said.

Harsh Dubey, a political commentator based in Chhattisgarh, said, “The Congress usually gives two tickets to Muslims but this time only one Muslim got a ticket, but this will not create any impact on Muslim voters. The BJP has no Muslim face in the state. But when Muslim find personal connections or a known face they don’t hesitate to vote for the BJP as well. Till now their voting pattern is based more upon personal connections with an inclination towards the Congress.”

“Muslims are mainly in the cities, towns or in the urban settlements and very few in the rural areas. The state doesn’t have many Muslim leaders and the important Muslim leader is Mohammad Akbar, who is from the Congress party. Akbar resides in Raipur but represents the Kawardha assembly seat (around 120 kms from Raipur). In the 2018 election Akbar had the highest winning margin, he won his seat by more than 60,000 votes. This implies how an OBC dominated constituency, which is also the home town of three-time chief minister Raman Singh, elects a Muslim as their representative,” Dubey added.

Ameen Menom, president of Congress Minority Cell in Chhattisgarh.

Ameen Menom, president of the Congress Minority Cell in Chhattisgarh, said, “Our party is yet to declare candidates for seven assembly seats and we are hoping that one more Muslim will get a ticket. I think it will be a little early to comment about Muslim representation.”

BJP spokesperson Sacchinand Upasane said, “In the BJP, we have no Muslim leader who can fight election. We have Muslim leaders in other states like Madhya Pradesh and even at Centre. We never divide people on the basis of religion, but the Congress does appeasement politics by giving tickets to Muslim leaders.”