Disillusioned with the Congress and confused with its strategy for the coming election, Muslim leaders in Gujarat, led by Pradesh Congress Committee Vice-President J V Momin, have demanded that the party translate its words into action and field Muslim candidates from at least 14 constituencies.The demand was made at the first-of-its-kind meeting attended by local leaders, councillors, MLAs and former MLAs of the community here on Sunday. The Muslim leaders said the Congress would have a fair chance of winning if it fielded members from the community on these seats because of their sizeable population here. There was a consenus that the Congress was not fielding enough Muslim candidates though it expected their support. The meeting also decided to question the AICC and UPA over why the Sachar Committee recommendations had not yet been translated into action, and if they can expect implementation of the recommendations in lieu of supporting the Congress. The strong words didn’t go down well with some of the GPCC office-bearers present, and there was a heated exchange of words.The GPCC apparently was not in favour of an all-Muslim meeting of leaders associated with the Congress fearing it would send a wrong signal within the party as well as outside. Momin and GPCC President Bharatsinh Solanki even had a spat when the latter asked them not to continue the meeting at the Circuit House. While Momin declined to comment on Solanki’s objection — only saying “some people were angry and we sorted out the issue with them” — Solanki has gone incommunicado, with his office saying he wouldn’t be available for the next two days. The constituencies which the Muslim leaders demanded should be kept for the community include Shahpur in Ahmedabad, Siddhpur in Patan district, Danta in Banaskantha district, Abdasa in Kutch, Mangrol in Junagadh, Wankaner in Rajkot, Balasinore, Thasra, Amod, Bharuch, and Surat I, besides seats which already have Muslim MLAs — Vagra, Jamalpur and Kalupur. Stressing the need for the Congress to act now, Momin said: “The younger generation in the community has started asking whether supporting the Congress in every election has done any good for them. And, whether non-Muslim Congress MLAs have been beneficial for the community. They also wanted to discuss what happened to the Sachar Committee report and its recommendations. There were a lot of angry youngsters who wanted to take up minority-related problems and issues and questioned the Congress’s intentions of actually dealing with them. Out of this brainstorming came out the idea that we should push for minority candidates in 14 constituencies where there is 50 per cent or more Muslim population. I am sending a memorandum detailing our demands to the AICC.” The Sachar report, in fact, figured high on everybody’s mind, with another leader noting that its recommendations were perhaps needed most in the state. “We don’t have proper schools, educational institutions, other infrastructure. We support the Congress, but is it going to do anything for our uplift?” he asked. In 1985, the Gujarat Assembly had 14 Muslim MLAs, a number that dropped to three in the elections held following the 2002 riots. The three sitting MLAs are Farooq Sheikh from Kalupur, Rashida Iqbal from Vagra and Sabir Kabliwala from Jamalpur. At Sunday’s meeting, the poll strategy for the crucial Shahpur constituency was also discussed. Located in the heart of Ahmedabad, Shahpur has a sizeable Muslim population, but the BJP’s Kaushik Patel has won the seat the past three times. Patel is the Revenue Minister in the Narendra Modi Government.
