‘100% of Muslims vote for Cong. In return, they expect it to take up their cause… Cong should take a stand openly’: Cong Gujarat MLA Imran Khedawala

Khedawala: In fact, the Congress was the first to react. Gyasuddin and I were the first, we tweeted that the sub-inspector and constable who are behind the act should be suspended immediately. We are not with the stone-pelters, or with those who disturbed the garba, but when the Supreme Court has issued guidelines, they should be followed. You cannot, openly in a marketplace, to please one community, tie up men from the other community and beat them up. A wrong message goes out to the society that they (police) are our messiah. This will endanger our democracy, our Constitution. This will only increase animosity among communities.

Police can take action at the police station, and the courts can decide the punishment, but such an act in public sends the wrong message. I believe there is political involvement in this.

An abyss should not be created between Hindus and Muslims, we must bring them together. Our garba is internationally famous as a dance festival. In another incident in Surat, they beat up a Muslim securityman. He was hired by the company… you beat him up terming him a vidharmi (unfaithful). This will harm the nation extensively. Why are you dividing Hindus, Muslims by terming them (Muslims) ‘vidharmi’? Such acts are committed by organisations like the Bajrang Dal, VHP and RSS.

What do you mean when you say the Kheda incident was politically motivated?

Khedawala: The local BJP MLA and BJP sarpanch realised that the situation was not conducive to their victory, so they resorted to making Hindus, Muslims fight each other. This is happening at many places where the BJP is losing.

Why is it that only Muslim leaders have come out in support of Muslims?

Khedawala: We also face this question frequently. Whoever is the criminal should be punished. But at least they (the Congress) should issue a statement. Hundred per cent of the Muslim community votes for the Congress even today. So, in return, it expects someone will take up their cause.

In the Bilkis Bano case, Rahul Gandhi was the first to tweet that (she is the) country’s daughter, she is not a Muslim (alone), and that this should not have happened to her. Similarly, Pawan Khera, the Congress spokesperson, said this too. The Congress should also take a stand openly, it even does, but this does not reach the people.

Did you try talking to your party’s leadership about taking up issues of minorities?

Khedawala: We have twice or thrice told (Gujarat Congress chief) Jagdish Thakor and (AICC Gujarat in-charge) Raghu Sharma that, at such times, the Congress’s stand should be clear. That such an incident has happened with the minority community and we are all in support of the minority MLAs. They agreed. If there is an issue (concerning minorities) in Ahmedabad, then only two MLAs react — Gyasuddin and me. Shailesh Parmar and Himmatsinh Patel (the other Congress MLAs from Ahmedabad) should also come along. Don’t they also get Muslim votes? Fifty per cent of the votes in their constituency are Muslim votes, so they should also come in support. But why they do not, I cannot say.

What do you make of AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi’s frequent visits to Gujarat? They have announced candidates in Congress strongholds.

Khedawala: Owaisi has contested elections in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, especially in such seats where it directly benefits the BJP. He made his candidates contest in 100 seats (in Uttar Pradesh), 99 of them lost their deposit. His Gujarat visits will be more frequent in the coming days because his tours are planned at Kamalam (the BJP headquarters in Gandhinagar). His list, distribution of tickets, all will be prepared at Kamalam. And his script is prepared by people sitting in Nagpur.

What Owaisi Sahib is doing today in India is what Mohammad Ali Jinnah did in Pakistan for (creating) Hindustan, Pakistan. In Gujarat, he has declared his candidates in minority (dominated) areas. Sabirbhai Kabliwala (the AIMIM Gujarat chief) has been pitched against me. Similarly, in Surat, wherever Muslim votes are in a majority, they have declared candidates.

In Ahmedabad, my seat has 60:40 Muslim-Hindu ratio, but I cannot win if I don’t get Hindu community votes. But Kabliwala will not win and directly benefit the BJP. I have a considerable lead, so it won’t affect me much, but certainly it will damage me somewhere. I believe this (AIMIM) is (the BJP’s) B team, which even people know by now.

You have strongly protested against some government Bills in the Vidhan Sabha.

Khedawala: We, the Muslim MLAs, and the Congress party have protested against the ‘love jihad’ Bill (the amended Gujarat Freedom of Religon Bill).When it comes to the Disturbed Areas Act (covering areas where sale of property requires special permission), we protested against that too. As far as Muslims go, you have hardly made any housing scheme. You should have one at a safe place for minorities. It need not necessarily be for Muslims, but minorities, including Buddhists, Jains, Christians, Sikhs… I also protested against the abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir. You said that anyone can buy property there, and in Gujarat, you impose the Disturbed Areas Act! If my neighbour is selling his house, I cannot buy it. Why would I buy land in Kashmir? What am I to gain? In Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Vadodara and Surat, those who want to buy (land), you do not let them. Why would a Gujarati buy land in Kashmir when they have business here? There should be implementation of the Constitution in totality.

Do you think the government has tried to suppress the Opposition in the House through repeated suspension of MLAs?

Khedawala: During the recent two-day session of the House, first we requested the government to hear out the protesting mandals (government employees’ associations) and have a debate on that. Almost 30-32 associations were camped outside the Assembly, and we requested a debate on their issues for at least one hour, but they did not listen to us. They suspended 15 of us for two days. So, we conducted a mock Vidhan Sabha outside, where we showed that the situation in Gujarat was bad. In the past 27 years, the BJP has made only its own people prosperous. The public and the poor are upset. If a Dalit boy wants to get married, he cannot ride a horse. Doesn’t he have the right? He is stopped, and is beaten. We do not want such an India.

What do you think of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its attempts at getting a toehold in Gujarat?

Khedawala: AAP has only created an environment on social media, they do not have a team here. They do not have members working for them but agencies, which are putting banners on auto rickshaws, painting their symbol on walls. They do not have workers on the ground. They have not done anything in Delhi except hollow talk. The schools (which they publicise) were opened by (former Congress chief minister) Sheila Dikshit, they only painted them. Neither have they set up new medical clinics. People in Delhi are not even getting the promised free electricity. He (Arvind Kejriwal) cannot achieve the promises he made in Gujarat.

Our manifesto includes 300 units of free electricity after logical discussion. We have calculated how this money will be given to discoms. If a bungalow owner is also given 300 units of free electricity, how will we run the government? The rights of the poor would be snatched.

What is the Congress’s strategy in this election?

Khedawala: The BJP has been unable to run the state, and that is why it reshuffled the entire government (in October 2021) and stripped two ministers of their key portfolios (recently). People are angry with them. We will raise the issues in our manifesto and tell people that in the last 27 years you have been harassed, so we have brought a very good medicine for you which is called BDAM (Bakshi Panch, an OBC community, Dalit, Adivasi and Minorities). From KHAM (the Congress’s original formula of Kshatriya, Harijan, Adivasi and Muslim votes) we have moved to BDAM. We have to take this BDAM to the entire Gujarat. We have to bring together these communities, and if that happens, the vote share of the Congress will substantially increase, as per our calculations. We will take BDAM to the lowest ground level, rural and urban areas.

Given the recent protests over the cattle Bill, which the BJP government had to withdraw, do you think the BJP can still get votes in the name of the cow?

Khedawala: No, the people are now aware, all the cattle-rearing communities are well aware about their double-faced policies. Right from the first day, the Congress protested against the stray cattle Bill and demanded its withdrawal. But the BJP enjoyed a majority and got it cleared. So when the government realised that this community will be upset, they withdrew the Bill. They should have thought about this before tabling the Bill in the Vidhan Sabha.

The financial assistance the government announced for gaushalas has also not come. Take the Lumpy Skin Disease. When thousands of cows died, neither the PM nor the Gujarat CM showed any sympathy. They should have arranged for medicines from abroad, if not available within the country. They only want to do politics over cows. The government did not announce any compensation for the cattle deaths.