Arjun carves niche in Pawar domain

Significantly, nearly half of the 15 organisations were politically committed to the Samajwadi Party, particularly in Mumbai, in the last three elections since the Ayodhya crisis in 1992. This axis pushed the Congress into an alliance with SP in the 1998 polls and it won as many as 33 ofthe 48 seats. The SP is finalising an alliance with Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party this time.

Many leaders of these organisations believe that Muslims have become disenchanted with the SP in recent months, morre so after Mulayam Singh blockaded the formation of the alternative government after the BJP-led coalition lost the vote of confidence in April. The SP is no longer what it used to be, is the common refrain of these leaders. The Congress has cleverly capitalised on this sentiment as well as the confusion that arose after Pawar set up the NCP.

The organisations include the Ulema Council, Raza Academy, Imam Sanghatana and a host of educational bodies that command respect among the community. Aman Committee chief Wahid Ali Khan who was murdered last week, was also part of the group.

The special package based on Singh’s assurances mainly cover the educational and employment aspects — protection of minority educational institutions, provisions for technical education in predominantly minorityareas, constitution of a Central Madarassa Board to streamline the religious-academic education provided by Madarassas. Also, increasing corpus of the Minority Development Corporation to open new employment avenues, converting the corporation into a lending institution so applicants can directly access loans.

The party is also giving serious thought to accommodating more Muslims in its organisational hierarchy. A revamp of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee on these lines is expected any day now. That Pawar and Sudhakarrao Naik, both associated with the Mumbai riots of 92-93, are no longer with the party has also helped, say party leaders here.

During his three visits to Mumbai in as many weeks, Singh has made the “right moves”, said Congressmen. As part of this posturing, Singh will lead a delegation to the Governor Dr P C Alexander tomorrow morning to demand a CBI inquiry into Wahid’s murder. Later, he with party leaders will attend a state-level minorities conference in Aurangabad.

Hisinitial meetings with the organisation leaders were reportedly stormy. Also, he was not able to give an opinion on demands they made and concerns they expressed. After last week’s meeting, he went back to party high command and senior leaders — to return with the package.

Meanwhile, many of these organisation leaders had held discussions with Pawar and NCP state chief Chhagan Bhujbal. With the latest round of wooing, the Muslim community, it seems Congress can seriously challenge Pawar’s rapport with the community.