Asaduddin Owaisi interview: ‘Unsuitable to see AIMIM’s Maharashtra wins by way of prism of faith… what do secular events have left?’ | Political Pulse Information

* The AIMIM has received 126 seats in Maharashtra’s civic polls, virtually doubling its tally within the state’s companies. What do you credit score for this improved efficiency?

We’ve been energetic in all places, even in locations the place we didn’t win within the parliamentary and Meeting polls. We stored assembly individuals, labored on their points, and organised a number of public conferences. Our leaders travelled extensively.

Within the parliamentary elections, each the BJP and the so-called secular events got here collectively to defeat Imtiyaz Jaleel. But, he secured greater than 3 lakh votes. A couple of month-and-a-half in the past, within the municipal elections, we received 85 seats. That is God’s grace and the belief of the individuals. Everyone labored very arduous.

We ran an intense election marketing campaign. Our MLAs from Hyderabad travelled to Maharashtra and held public conferences. All our leaders fanned out throughout Solapur, Latur, Nanded, Parbhani, Dhule, and different key areas.

* We’re seeing Muslim-dominated cities voting for events led by group members. Does this mark a decisive shift of Muslim voters away from the secular events, or is that this a purely native, municipal phenomenon?

What sort of secular events are you speaking about? In Malegaon, Mufti sahab (Mohammaed Ismail Abdul Khalique) is our MLA. In Govandi, we now have received a majority of the eight seats. In Aurangabad, our Hindu candidate has received. You can’t take a look at every little thing solely via the prism of 1 faith. It’s flawed to see AIMIM’s victory via the prism of faith. What is going to you then name BJP victories?

* In a number of companies, events such because the Congress and the Samajwadi Celebration as soon as obtained important minority votes however have carried out poorly this time. Why do you assume this has occurred?

Solely they’ll reply why that is occurring. We’re doing our work and persons are free to decide on. Elections are one of the best type of expressing like or dislike.

They’ve misplaced thrice and Narendra Modi continues to be the Prime Minister. They’ve misplaced thrice in Maharashtra as properly. Have they got a solution? What’s left with you?

The citizens, particularly the youth, has realised that they require a celebration that may put ahead their views and assist new management emerge. Muslim and Dalit areas will not be properly developed. In lots of areas, water comes as soon as each 5 days and folks have to purchase ingesting water, whereas the BJP claims it has a triple-engine authorities. These are points that perturb individuals.

The silence of secular events on atrocities in opposition to Muslims has additionally not gone unnoticed. In Akola, my convoy was stopped by some youth who informed me they might vote for us. They stated that when Akola witnessed communal riots, solely the AIMIM got here and helped them.

Nobody talks in regards to the incarceration of Muslim youth beneath the draconian UAPA. There’s a full checklist of things which have led to this shift.

* Malegaon has thrown up the ISLAM celebration because the single-largest group, with the AIMIM coming second. Are you open to an alliance with them to run the company?

This can be a query that solely Mufti Ismail can reply. I’m not ready to reply to this. He’s dealing with the celebration there and it is going to be his determination. No matter determination he takes will likely be acceptable to me.

* Given this electoral momentum in city Maharashtra, does the AIMIM now see itself enjoying a bigger function in state-level politics, together with Meeting elections, or will the main focus stay on municipal governance and grassroots enlargement?

Jaleel sahab misplaced the Meeting election by only one,100 votes. Nasir Siddiqui additionally misplaced by a slender margin. In Shivaji Nagar–Makhurd, we misplaced by 11,000 votes within the Meeting. However should you challenge the civic ballot votes this time, we’re successful the constituency by 20,000 votes.

In Dhule, our candidate had earlier gone away to Ajit Pawar. Now we now have 12 corporators there. This exhibits we now have a robust floor presence and that the civic polls have given us much-needed momentum.

Now we’re making ready for the Zilla Parishad polls. We can not sit on at present’s laurels. As Sunil Gavaskar as soon as stated, after you make a century, the following day you need to begin from scratch. We’ve to begin from scratch, work on the bottom and use this momentum to construct the celebration additional within the state.