Muslims seem to have looked beyond the Congress, at least in certain prominent pockets. The community almost left the party in Byculla and saw a split in Mumbadevi, as per a section of people dna spoke with.
In both constituencies, Muslims went for first-timer All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM). AIMIM had made a pitch for giving better representation to the community and catering to its members' problems. Speeches of their leaders were vitriolic and meant to strike a chord with Muslims on emotional issues, right from the Babri Masjid demolition to riots.
The two constituencies have 38% and 56% Muslim voters, who were responsible for bringing the areas' elected representatives to power.
“A decision was taken that we all go for the patang (symbol of AIMIM),” said Abdul Karim Patel, a resident of Nagpada in Byculla constituency. The same was the case with residents of Madanpura, who also form a large chunk of Byculla constituency's Muslim population.
While having a party that gave “community member” space was one reason (for voting for AIMIM), another was that they were “anyway disillusioned by Congress non-performance and other parties they tried out”. Muslims felt that the sitting MLA, Madhu Chavan of Congress, had little chance of winning, so one more reason to try out a new option.
“The community isn't even thinking in terms of getting more isolated (with this choice). If there is a bubble, it will burst later. They have been impressed with Akbar's speeches because there have been similar speeches by Adityanath. The voting pattern is also a warning for the upcoming elections. The chances of a secular government isn't there anyway, so they went for them,” said Zubair Azmi, a resident of Madanpura and director of Urdu Markaz, an organisation that promotes Urdu language and culture.
While Byculla saw a major vote swing, in Mumbadevi, vote division was said to be around 20%. This, they said, will certainly give sitting Congress MLA Amin Patel a scare, if not lead to his loss. “They have not done anything. Same as Samajwadi Party and NCP. They (AIMIM) are new, and we thought of giving them a try,” said Ghulam Hussain Shafi, a resident of Mirza Street. Konkani Muslims, said community members, are likely to go with Shiv Sena as they vote on linguistic lines.
“There is a vote swing, but Muslims believe they should not be wasting (their) vote. Ultimately, they know that AIMIM is not going to win. I am one of them. So though there will be a vote division this side, it may or may not be very drastic,” said Sham Shahedar, a resident of Imambada.
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