Aaley Mohd, Delhi’s new deputy mayor, is first Muslim to hold post since 1977
The AAP candidate and MLA Shoaib Iqbal's son was elected as the deputy mayor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi on Wednesday
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A seasoned politician, Aaley has had a long career, vacillating between different parties – he contested as an independent in 2012, aged 22; in 2017, on a Congress ticket, and in 2022, after he was fielded by AAP. (Twitter/Aaley Muhammad Iqbal) AAP candidate and MLA Shoaib Iqbal’s son Aaley Mohammad Iqbal was elected as the deputy mayor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi on Wednesday. He won with 147 votes, while the BJP got 116.
Earlier, when he was picked for the race by AAP, the three-time councillor had told The Indian Express he might become the first Muslim to be nominated to the post in many years.
His prediction proved correct.
“The last person for the post from our community was in 1977. This sends out a message that AAP is a party Muslims can trust, and their rights will be protected. (CM) Arvind Kejriwal ji chose me because I am a senior councillor; this is my hat trick (election win), and that is not a mean feat. I won with the highest margin (in the MCD polls). Calling this appeasement or tokenism is not right, it forgoes my achievement, and Kejriwal ji does not play ‘Muslim card,’” he told The Indian Express.
Aaley had won from the Chandani Mahal ward with a margin of 17,134 votes, the highest in the MCD polls.
Attributing his victory to the trust of the people in his ward, he said: “I am a workaholic and I’m always available to lend ears to people’s grievances in the walled city. The population is mostly lower and middle class… Like my father, I have always been there for them.” His father is AAP MLA Shoaib Iqbal, a six-time MLA from Matia Mahal who joined the party in 2020, along with his son.
A seasoned politician, Aaley has had a long career, vacillating between different parties – he contested as an independent in 2012, aged 22; in 2017, on a Congress ticket, and in 2022, after he was fielded by AAP.
Aaley said his brief stint with Congress made him realise how powerless they were. “I knew if I had to do something, I would have to join those in power.”
On the AAP’s poor show in Northeast Delhi in the MCD polls – the first election after the 2020 riots – he said there was so much to be done in those wards where the party put up a sub-par performance. “We have to go to the ground, talk to people and analyse what went wrong. Especially in Northeast Delhi. However, AAP managed to pull wards in Chandni Chowk constituency under its sway.”
Of the 19 MCD seats in Northeast Delhi areas hit by the violence, the BJP bagged 12, the Congress two and the AAP four.
Aaley also addressed the complaints surrounding Kejriwal’s absence when other leaders were visiting riot-hit areas. “He was in the Vidhan Sabha speaking about the issue… and constantly talking to the L-G and the Delhi Police commissioner. Since the Delhi government does not have law and order under its jurisdiction, he appealed to the Ministry of Home Affairs to deploy forces,” he said.
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