Not a Vote Bank

  • Abhishek Behl / FG
  • India
  • Apr 07, 2014

 

 

 

Despite living within 50 kilometres of Delhi, the Muslims in Mewat - which is part of the prestigious Gurgaon Parliamentary Constituency - have seen little development, as the local politicians have seen this community as a solid (maybe even predictable) vote bank only. Perhaps there has even been a conscious effort to keep this huge population illiterate and backward, as an educated and politically conscious electorate is certainly going to ask questions and demand accountability. Mewat still does not have a semblance of even a lower middle class; the majority is a rural peasantry, which has some very basic demands. Unfortunately, even these have not been met for several decades (like in many similar parts of India today). The Mev community in Nuh, Firozepur Jhirka and Punhana, is angry with the ruling classes, and more so with the Congress - which it says has been using its votes to win elections but doing nothing for the region. 

 

Yasin Khan, a resident of Adbar Village near Nuh, while sitting at a tea stall, alleges that both governance and development are non-existent in the area; even in education, despite there being a Mewat education cadre, there are very limited teachers in the schools. His friends from the neighbouring villages say that the Congress government - both at the Centre and in the State – has disappointed the Mevs, who are therefore likely to support the INLD candidate Zakir Hussain. In fact the people of the area feel indebted to the Chautalas of the INLD, who took the lead and carved out Mewat as a separate district from the existing Gurgaon and Faridabad districts. More importantly, their support for the INLD has not wavered despite the Chautalas openly supporting Narendra Modi - a political personality who seems to be anathema for Muslims across the country. The Muslims here seem pragmatic - while they are opposing the BJP candidate Rao Inderjit Singh, they will vote for Zakir Hussain of INLD. This stand is not going down well with Congress workers and activists, who are increasing telling people that a vote for Zakir would be a vote for Modi. Arshad Hussain Tain, a Congress leader from Nuh, and supporter of local MLA Aaftab Ahmed, asserts that Mevs of Mewat will accept defeat but never compromise with the opposition - particularly with a leader like Modi. He asserts that the Congress government has brought about development in the last decade and the region has got a medical and engineering college and a couple of ITI institutes and teacher training colleges. “We have a loyal support base and people know the government has delivered”, he says. However, the recent Sonia Gandhi visit did not evoke much confidence and there was a fairly ‘thin’ crowd at her rally. Locals say that had the Congress fielded a Muslim candidate, it could have been a better position to elicit the Mev votes; giving the ticket to Rao Dharampal has proved to be a dampener. Junaid, a resident of a village near Badkhali, says that people in Mewat want a change - both at the Centre and in the State. He says that Muslims will vote in large numbers for Zakir Hussain, as they see him as a fellow Mev who would be far from accessible. The supporters of Zakir are confident that he will win the polls, due to the strong support from the Mevs, in addition to the traditional Jaat vote bank of the Chautalas. Akhtar Husaain from nearby Adbra Village says that people of Mewat owe a debt to the INLD and will vote for Zakir en bloc this time. Fateh Mohd, an ex-sarpanch of Rithora, asserts that 80 per cent of the votes polled in Mewat would go to Zakir, as the INLD is the only Party that will bring further development to the region - as it has done in the past. The INLD supporters allege that the backwardness of this region is due to the Congress-walas, who fight back saying that Zakir Hussain's father and grandfather, despite being tall politicians from the region, did nothing but perpetuate dynastic rule.

Mewat remains a cut-off, backward region. Successive governments have promised better connectivity through a rail network, and not delivered; even a promise for a university did not materialize; there is lack of potable water; agriculture, a mainstay, is poor because the Mewat Canal and Kotla Jheel projects failed to take off. Jaikam Khan, another supporter, says that whatever development took place in the region was under the Chautala rule, and thereafter the government has been missing from here. He says there is acute shortage of power supply and, despite the local MLA Aaftab Ahmed being the State Transport Minister, commuting is tough. The Gurgaon-Alwar-Jaipur Highway, which at one time was a State highway, has been four-laned only upto Nuh; the rest of the road upto Alwar has two lanes and movement of thousands of dumpers makes it extremely dangerous. This road also came into existence only because the NCR Board intervened and funded the construction. The reference to dumpers also raises the issue of mining, which, despite being a key source of income in this region, has been banned. Consequently, stones from Rajasthan - where quarrying is allowed – are brought here and processed in crushers. Citing discrimination, locals allege that despite Mewat having 39,000 drivers with Heavy Vehicle licences, only 12 from the District were hired by the State government – again despite the State Transport Minister being from Nuh. “Our minimum share should have been 80 drivers, but it did not materialise as the Congress sees us as only as a vote bank,” asserts Fateh Mohd. He also alleges that unemployment is rampant in Mewat, and due to a lack of industry the youth are forced to migrate to other areas to earn a livelihood. 

Asked about the (vote) preferences of their women folk, most of the men smile and say that Meonis (women Mevs) vote for whichever Party/candidate the men tell them. Literacy among the women of this region is very poor, and even for men the average is abysmal. When asked if Hindus of Mewat, and even outside the region, will vote for a Muslim candidate, the INLD supporters assert that religion has never been the deciding factor for people in the area. “We have voted for Rao Inderjit in the past, and even for other (non-Muslim) Congress candidates. And even if our support for Zakir ends up as a support for Modi we won’t mind it”, says Junaid. The INLD believes that if Muslims in Pataudi and Bawal also support Zakir, and Jaats hang in with them, this Parliamentary seat could be won by them.  Another glimmer of hope that INLD supporters see is the strong effort being made by CM Hooda to somehow defeat his arch rival Rao Inderjit Sing. Rao had got around 50,000 votes from this region in the last election. Despite his switch to the BJP, his supporters in Mewat say that apart from his getting the benefit of a fairly consolidated Hindu vote this time, his personal relationships might help the BJP achieve a tally of close to a lakh votes from this area. He has good relations with some of the local leaders like Zahid Hussain, who are seeking the BJP ticket for the State polls coming up towards the close of the year. Sitting at the BJP office, Nasim Ahmed, a former AAP worker who has joined the BJP, says that gotra and caste are strong factors among the Mevs even now, and some of the castes among the Muslims - because of their close relations with Rao Inderjit - might vote for him. “We are not voting for Modi; we are voting for Rao Inderjit, because he is a tall leader of the area and our local leader has ties with him”, says another Mev supporter. The Hindus of Mewat, who have almost 1.25 lakh votes out of the total 4.85 lakhs, are putting their weight behind the BJP. While in 2009 many Hindus here did not support the BJP candidate, this time many are likely to vote for the BJP - particularly due to the Modi factor. However, the Yadav vote, which accounts for almost 20 per cent of the total, is likely to get split. Suresh Singh, a BJP supporter in Ujhina, says that the two Hindu villages of Ujhina and Sarkhel have 8000 votes, and out of that 7000 will go to the BJP. “We may or may not support the candidate but our vote is for Modi,” he asserts. Ujhina also has support for the AAP candidate Yogendra Yadav, and there are some families who are big supporters of Kejriwal, says Manoj Kumar. Kumar also says that had Zakir not been the INLD candidate, half of the Muslim votes would have gone to Yogendra Yadav of AAP. Some Muslims admit that Kejriwal had instilled faith among them by taking on the Congress and the scourge of corruption; but a strong INLD candidate (Zakir) and Chautala's popularity in the area have led to the AAP taking a back seat.

The electoral battle in the Gurgaon area has become very complicated, with caste, community and religion almost playing equally important roles - apart from issues like development, growth and jobs. This Constituency has the modern and orthodox elements in the extremes – kind of represented by the posh DLF areas on one hand and the backward villages of Mewat on the other. Despite being so close they are very distant. Muslims in Mewat want change, like other parts of the country, and would be happy if one of their own wins the Lok Sabha polls and represents their voice in the largest Panchayat of the country - as the people of this region define the Parliament.


 

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