Parties like the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), Janata Dal (Secular) and Forward Bloc which once had a prominent place in Maharashtra's politics are eyeing the Lok Sabha elections for a fresh political opening.
SThey may be down but not out. Parties like the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), Janata Dal (Secular) and Forward Bloc which once had a prominent place in Maharashtra's politics are eyeing the Lok Sabha elections for a fresh political opening.
The IUML, which once had a strong base among Muslims in Mumbai, is putting up candidates in 11 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra. The party, which has a presence in Kerala and among the Keralite Muslims in Mumbai, saw one of its leaders from the city, GM Banatwala, being elected for seven terms to Parliament from Ponnani in Kerala.
Banatwala was a corporator in the BMC and the first IUML MLA in Maharashtra representing the erstwhile Umerkhadi constituency. However, the party began losing its popular base after the advent of Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party (SP) in Mumbai with leaders like Bashir Moosa Patil switching over.
"We plan to contest from 11 constituencies including three in Mumbai... There is resentment among Muslims as the Congress and NCP have not maintained their proportional representation in their list of candidates," charged IUML Mumbai general secretary Abdul Rehman CH, adding that the community needs around 6-7 MPs considering their around 13.5% population in Maharashtra. He added that despite losing much of its electoral base, the IUML had corporators in Nagpur and Amravati and panchayat members in Beed and said they were trying to expand their base in the youth for electoral success.
"Muslims have been used only as vote banks by major parties," said Rehman, blaming the Congress for not acting to better the lot of the community. The IUML had put up candidates in seats like Mumbadevi, Tuljapur, Malkapur, Jalgaon Jamod, Hingoli and Aurangabad in the assembly polls.
The mercurial former MP Jambhuwantrao Dhote, who was known as "Vidarbhasinha" (Lion of Vidarbha) in his heyday for his aggressive espousal for a separate Vidarbha, is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Nagpur and Yavatmal as an All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) candidate.
The left-wing party was established by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and had a presence in Vidarbha, including in the local self-government bodies. Dhote was among the two AIFB MPs elected in 1971 and in the subsequent assembly polls, the party could get around 2.4% votes. Maharashtrians like KN Joglekar and RS Ruikar were senior AIFB leaders.
The AIFB has made pacts with smaller parties like Brigadier Sudhir Sawant's Shivarajya Party in Maharashtra and is also planning to contest from seats like Amravati. "The Congress and BJP are dens of corruption. Their economic policies are hardly different. The country lacks an honest opposition party," charged Dhote.
The JD (S), which once boasted of stalwarts like Barrister Nath Pai, Madhu Dandawate, Madhu Limaye, George Fernandes and Mrinaltai Gore in its previous avatars like the Socialist Party and the Janata Party, has seen its electoral fortunes gradually dwindle in the post-Mandal era.
However, the JD (S), which still has a base in areas like Malegaon, Purandar, Miraj and Kolhapur, is planning to contest from Sangli, Osmanabad, Amravati and Hingoli as a third front constituent. "This is a battle for survival... we failed to change according to the situation. The political vacuum was filled by others like the Shiv Sena and MNS," said former legislator and the party's Maharashtra chief Sharad Patil, adding that a reason for the erosion of the socialists' base was the youth drifting away from it.
However, Patil added that the green shoots of hope were still alive. "I am 100% sure that if given a good option, the people will support us," he said.
The JD (S) and its previous avatars declined from 19 MPs from Maharashtra in 1977 to just five in 1989. Subsequently, it has drawn a blank and, in 2009 got just 0.2% votes. Its seats in the assembly too fell from 99 in 1978, when it got 27.99% votes, to just 2 in 1999 (1.5% votes) after which it failed to get MLAs elected. Moreover, some socialist leaders have also switched sides to the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP.
The Dravidian parties too are planning to put up candidates in Mumbai considering the substantial Tamil-speaking population. The Tamil Nadu-based Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK), which is led by actor Vijayakanth, is also planning to put up candidates in South Indian dominated areas of Mumbai. "We have supporters in Mumbai, but the party is yet to take a decision on putting up candidate," Mumbai-based DMDK leader Sivasundaram told dna. The DMDK is part of a BJP front in Tamil Nadu.
Sivasundaram, who had contested the state assembly elections from Tamil Nadu, said that they had also put up candidates in the BMC elections. "We have around 60 branches not only in Mumbai but also in Mira-Bhayandar, Ambarnath, Kalyan, Ulhasnagar and Panvel," he said. The rival AIADMK has contested from seats like Sion Koliwada and has also put up nominees in the Lok Sabha polls in the past.
In 2009, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) put up a candidate Jawed Abdul Kureshi alias Prof Jawed Pasha in Chandrapur, where he won 10,000 votes.
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