Owaisi defends AIMIM's West Bengal foray, roars 'Muslims not slaves of any party'

On Thursday, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi defended his party's decision to contest the West Bengal Assembly election due in April-May 2021. He was responding to WB CM Mamata Banerjee's charge that BJP is using AIMIM to further religious polarization in the state. Addressing a rally on December 15, Banerjee had said, "To divide the Muslim votes, the BJP is spending crores of rupees to bring in a party from Hyderabad. The plan is that BJP will eat into Hindu votes, and this Hyderabad party will eat into Muslim votes. In recent Bihar elections, they did the same thing. This party is a B-team of the BJP".

Lashing out at the Trinamool Congress supremo, Owaisi questioned whether Muslims which constitute nearly 30% of WB's population are "slaves" of any political party. Citing the data in his possession, he claimed that the state government had failed to ensure the upliftment of Muslims on many social indicators. As the Muslim population in WB can influence the fate of nearly 100-110 seats, TMC fears that erosion in this vote bank might benefit BJP. The Mamata Banerjee-led party had swept the 2016 Assembly polls by bagging 211 seats in the 294-member Assembly.

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi remarked, "Are 30% Muslims someone's slaves? Are they slaves of Mamata or BJP? Have you bought them? Are they are your employees? What did you give to Muslims? Did you manage to increase their education status or literacy? I have the data to prove this."

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AIMIM's pan-India expansion

With 1 MP and 7 MLAs in Telangana, AIMIM is considered a formidable force in Hyderabad. In recent years, however, the party has spread its wings to different parts of the country including Maharashtra and Bihar. For instance, AIMIM bagged one Lok Sabha seat and two Assembly seats in Maharashtra in 2019. Moreover, the Asaduddin Owaisi-led party's candidates won from the Sahebganj, Chhatarpur, Narpatganj, Pranpur, Barari, and Raniganj constituency in the 2020 Bihar Assembly polls. 

Refuting the accusation that AIMIM was responsible for Mahagatbandhan's defeat, Owaisi pointed out that NDA's victory margin on the aforesaid seats was more than the votes secured by his party. In the recently concluded Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation election, AIMIM had the best strike rate among all other parties by winning 44 out of the 51 wards in which it fielded candidates. Apart from the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, it has also decided to contest the local bodies' election in Gujarat in an alliance with Chhotubhai Vasava-led Bharatiya Tribal Party. 

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