Mukherjee was busy the whole of Saturday and Sunday thanking his former colleagues in the Congress party for ensuring victory of his son.
President Pranab Mukherjee’s son Abhijit scraped through in the Jangipur by-election by a slender margin of 2,536 votes, but two recently-launched Muslim parties spoiled his party by dividing the secular votes.
Mukherjee was busy the whole of Saturday and Sunday thanking his former colleagues in the Congress party for ensuring victory of his son. He had secured mandate for his son, amidst fierce opposition both in Delhi and in the West Bengal unit of the party, which wanted to field a Muslim candidate for the Lok Sabha by-election.
A senior Congress leader and a cabinet minister, who obliged the President by campaigning in Jangipur, told DNA that even Congress president Sonia Gandhi had favoured fielding a Muslim candidate in Jangipur, which according to the latest census figures has 76% Muslim population. “It was very tough to convince local leaders why the Congress was nominating a non-Muslim to contest from the Muslim majority seat,” he said. “But ultimately we had to give up, seeing that Mukherjee was unyielding.”
It’s not that the Jangipur seat was returning a Muslim. Pranab won it in 2004 with a margin of 36,840 votes and again in 2009 with a margin of 1.28 lakh. It was because of his stature that he had no difficulty in winning the seat that he vacated on becoming the President.
Even his son could have bagged more votes, but for the Muslim parties that entered the fray. Dr Raisuddin of the Welfare Party of India (WPI), backed by the Jamaat-e-Islami, polled 41,620 votes, while Tahidul Islam of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), also a breakaway group of the Jamaat-e-Islami, secured 24,691 votes.
Though insignificant, compared to 3,32,919 votes polled by Abhijit and his nearest rival Mujaffar Hussain of the CPM (3,30,383), the votes gained by these parties nearly spoiled the party of both the secular parties. The BJP’s Sudhangshu Biswas got 85,887 votes.
Jangipur constituency has a total of 12,40,617 voters, of whom 63% are Muslims.
Of the eight assembly constituencies in Jangipur, Raghunathganj has nearly 79% Muslims, Lalgola 78%, Suti 64%, Sagardighi 63%, Jangipur 56%, Nabagram (SC) 51% and Kahrgram (SC) have 52% Muslim population each.
During 2011 assembly election, SDPI candidate Zakir Hossain came third in Raghunathganj assembly constituency, while Badrul Sheikh of the party stood third in Sagardidhi assembly constituency. The Welfare Party contested elections in the state for the first time.
Apart from state leaders such as Manas Bhuniya and Pradip Bhattacharya, those from Delhi like Ghulam Nabi Azad and Shakil Ahmed extensively toured Jangipur. Congress star-campaigner Md Azharuddin also addressed two rallies in the constituency. On the contrary, the CPM had considered it a token fight and not a single top-rung CPM leader campaigned for Muzaffar Hossain.
Rattled by the close margin, the Congress central leadership on record rejects the idea that ignoring local Muslim leadership had nearly cost them this seat, vacated by the President. “Indira Gandhi fielded me from Maharashtra (Yavatmal and Wasim) in two successive elections and in both places Muslims were just below 5%. I won through the support of Hindus. Only criteria should be the work, dedication and not communal affiliation,” Azad says.
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