By Heena Fatima
The fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections held on May 20 saw unprecedented enthusiasm in minority pockets of Mumbai and its suburbs. Mumbai city voted for its six seats and, eyewitnesses said, there was a very positive response from minority voters, especially Muslims.
Braving extremely hot and humid weather, burqa-clad women and many bearded men stood in queues outside polling booths. Many of them reached the polling stations even before the voting began at 7-00 am.
“I have voted in many elections in the past and had never seen such excitement among Muslims as I saw on Monday,” said Ali Siddiqui who voted at a booth in Mira Road, in the western suburbs of Mumbai. “I saw women, many of them in burqas, waiting in the lines for over an hour. This is unprecedented as far as I remember.”
What could be the reasons for such a huge interest in voting among Muslims? Observers said that repeated allegedly anti-minority statements from BJP leaders, including the party’s top leadership, led the Muslims to use their votes as a weapon to respond to the hate speeches and slanderous comments.
“Vote is a big weapon in democracy to avenge a hate campaign. Muslims very thoughtfully responded to all the allegations lobbied against them with votes,” said Congress leader Zakir Ahmed. He added that non-Muslim supporters of INDIA block candidates joined Muslims to reach polling stations and vote enthusiastically.
Though many INDIA block leaders, including Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, complained that the polling on booths where the INDIA block had more votes was “deliberately made slow”, observers guessed that good polling in minority-concentrated areas might give good news to the INDIA alliance on June 4 when results will be declared.
It is not only areas like Bhendi Bazaar, Kurla, Bandra, Malvani, and Mira Road where Muslims were found voting enthusiastically, but even in Bhiwandi which has a good Muslim population, voters turned out in good numbers. “I have lived in Bhiwandi for over four decades and participated in several elections. I never saw such excitement among Muslims when it came to casting votes,” remarked a senior Urdu journalist Akhtar Kazmi. He added that he saw the maximum number of Muslims casting their votes by afternoon.
Rais Shaikh, Samajwadi Party’s MLA in Bhiwandi corroborated that Muslims showed great enthusiasm and reached their booths to exercise their Constitutional rights.
Imams and other community members had appealed to the community to come out and cast their votes. “The community heard our appeals. Despite the scorching heat, they took the trouble to stand in the queue and vote. This shows their concern to save democracy and the Constitution. The results will be very positive,” hoped senior activist Dr Azim Uddin who was among those who had addressed many voters’ awareness campaigns.
One of the voters’ awareness campaigns was organised by the iconic Islam Gymkhana at Marine Lines a week ahead of the May 20 polls where speakers appealed to the masses to go and vote first thing on voting day.
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