HYDERABAD: Despite having contested just 24 seats, Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen ( MIM ) won two seats in Maharashtra, which doesn’t seem much at first glance but is actually 0.9 per cent of the state vote.

The Hyderabad-based party’s successful debut in the state is being met with euphoria by some, and despair by others. “We have a counter to the BJP in the Assembly now, someone who can raise our concerns,’’ says Faridbhai Batatawala, social activist from Jogeshwari.

Others, however, were worried about the polarising politics practised by MIM. “Our interests can only be damaged. It’s ok to highlight Muslim grievances, but with a positive approach. MIM is purely negative,” said Afsar Usmani of the Movement for Peace and Justice (MPJ), Mumbra.

MIM cashed in on the Muslim anger against Congress in the state, while plunging into electoral battle outside their base for the very first time. It was difficult to find candidates and there was no record of work to fall back on. In Nanded, where MIM has had 11 corporators for the last two years, Muslims were openly contemptuous of them till this election. Even the party’s organisation was lacking, as the campaign was handled by enthusiastic but mostly uneducated youngsters, and overseen by party MLAs from Hyderabad.

The only strategy that MIM had was the religious and emotional oratory of the Owaisi brothers, who control the party and who projected themselves as saviors of a community victimised by “communal” governments. The five lakh votes polled by MIM candidates were for Hyderabad MP Asaduddin and Telengana MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi, not for the candidates. The youngsters, who proudly described Akbaruddin as “Musalmanon ka Modi” were not wrong. If Modi helped unknown contestants win, so did the Owaisis.

The party's two winners, Waris Pathan from Byculla and journalist Imtiaz Jaleel from Aurangabad Central are both newcomers.Many other unknown candidates came close to winning in Solapur, Aurangabad East, Nanded South, Mumbra, Mumbadevi, Versova, Kurla and Malegaon.

In the remaining 14 seats that they contested, the Owaisi magic failed, though the constituencies comprised a substantial percentage of Muslim voters. But the situation was different in Byculla and Aurangabad (E).

Bakri Eid fell 10 days ahead of the elections, and the Byculla Muslims, constituting 43 per cent of the voters, were furious with the difficulties they had to face in sacrificing cattle. Deonar is the only official slaughter-house. A petition to allow temporary abattoirs in Muslim-dominated areas of South Mumbai during the three days of Bakri Eid, a provision that exists under BMC rules, has been pending in the High Court since 2012.

The Congress government and the Senaruled BMC have remained unresponsive to this issue. Hence, a stridently Muslim party was seen as the ideal alternative.

Interestingly, however, when Mirror interviewed Waris Pathan, he didn't even mention the issue. In Aurangabad, according to Hamid Khan of the MPJ, the split in the Sena-BJP ranks and the unpopularity of Congress among Muslims gave MIM the winning opportunity.

Significantly, in Nanded South, Aurangabad East and Versova, MIM prevented Congress from winning ­ another of their aims. The party now plans to use this experience to contest Mumbai's municipal elections. MIM's entry into Maharashtra marks the return of aggressive Muslim identity politics in the state after 20 years, when SP had made its debut after the riots. But the SP had a national presence.MIM is exclusively and defiantly Muslim.

