While the Congress celebrates its victory in the Lok Sabha elections and flaunts its secular credentials, in the Muslim-dominated city of Malegaon ? part of Dhule Lok Sabha constituency, formerly a Congress bastion — it?s the BJP that has emerged the winner. With Assembly elections due in four months, the ruling party in the state has reason to worry.
Malegaon has a history of communal clashes and was rocked by riots in 2001, a series of blasts in 2006 and another bomb blast in 2008. Most recently, it made the headlines when members of an extremist Hindu group ?including Sadhvi Pragya Singh, retired Army officer Ramesh Upadhyay and Lt Col P S Purohit ? were chargesheeted by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad for the September 29, 2008, blast among others.
After the 2001 riots that killed 13 persons, the Congress-led state government had promised to set up a 200-bed hospital. The promise was reiterated after the 2006 blasts that killed 37 persons. The last blast killed four in 2008, but the hospital is still awaiting inauguration. In fact, the hospital has become a metaphor for the inefficiency with which the Congress tackles the problems of minorities.
While the BJP?s Pratap Sonawane trounced Congressman Amarishbhai Patel by a margin of 19,419 votes, the party?s loss is also due to the JD(S)?s Nihal Ahmed Molvi, who secured 72,738 votes from Malegaon, gaining from anti-Congress sentiments. Nihal Ahmed has been the Malegaon MLA for seven terms until 1999, when he was defeated by Congressman Shaikh Rashid, currently serving his second term.
The results have come as a boost to Ahmed, who may contest the forthcoming Assembly elections from Malegaon to defeat Shaikh Rashid. ?It is true that the anti-Congress sentiments helped me in getting votes in Malegaon,? Nihal Ahmed said. ?But my party will decide whether I should contest the Assembly polls?.
Newly elected MP, Pratap Sonawane, says ?Malegaon has been the most specific deciding factor in my victory. People have realised that the Congress only pays lip service to their problems and uses them as vote-banks.?
The most worrying factor for the Congress, however, is that Ahmed, who may stage a comeback in Malegaon in the assembly polls, has been an old friend of Sharad Pawar. In 1978, when Pawar staged a coup against Vasantdada Patil and formed the Progressive Democratic Front government, Ahmed was made a minister. The votes garnered by Nihal Ahmed in the Lok Sabha polls, therefore, have made the Congress nervous.
?We know the issues in Malegaon and are planning to inaugurate the new hospital in June. We want to invite Soniaji to inaugurate it and have asked for her appointment,? a local Congress leader said. ?We are also going to attend to the other problems.?
