By PNS News Agency New Delhi
Whereas heated debate is going on around the political stands of Asaduddin Owaisi, member parliament and president of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), and extension of his party beyond its traditional strongholds in Hyderabad, Okhla voters are destined to face the heat themselves in coming days.
During the last Delhi state assembly elections in February 2015, a political activist of the area tried to contest from the Okhla constituency on the MIM ticket but his proposal was turned down by the party as it was concentrating at that time in Uttar Pradesh only.
However, the party’s policy has changed since then as marked from its participation in local body elections in Karnataka and Owaisi’s visit to Kishanganj in Bihar last month to test the popular voter mood in a Muslim concentration belt of the state. In the wake, many Muslim political activists in different parts of the country feel inclined to come out in support of the party.
After the MIM’s successful venture in Maharashtra, where it won two assembly seats and 25 wards in Aurangabad Municipal Corporation, a large number of Muslims have started seeing the party as their favorite in the political situation marked with the rise of anti-Muslim right wing parties and failure of secular parties to keep their promise of inclusive development.
However, MIM’s failure to impress voters in Bruhat Banglore Municipal Corporation was a setback in its emergence on the national scene, after a self-imposed restriction to limit its activities to Hyderabad and Andhra-Telangana area for a long time. Undeterred from the party’s confusion as regards contesting in the forthcoming Bihar elections or its poor show in Karnataka, a few political activists of Okhla area have resolved recently to join AIMIM. Many others are weighing the options keeping the next MCD elections of Delhi in view.
Under the leadership of Mohammad Afzal Khan many AAP workers have joined the party a few days back. Consequently, Khan has been elected as the president of Okhla Ward. Others who joined along with him include Arif Saifi, Abdul Qayyum, Shadab Illyasi and others. Membership drive of the party has been taken up in the area by the team formed for the ward No. 205. Some dissatisfied cadres of SDPI are also thinking to join the AIMIM soon.
It will be interesting to see the political activism in Okhla area in the next few months to be steered by a number of pro-Muslim political parties comprising Indian Union Muslim League, Indian National League, Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), Welfare Party of India, Rashtriya Ulama Council, Peace Party of India and Samrath Party; besides mainstream parties such as the Congress, BJP, AAP, Samajwadi Party and BSP.
(Courtesy- okhlaheadlines.com)