Congress leader’s anger reflects larger picture of shrinking Muslim footprint in Maharashtra politics

Last week,Arif Naseem Khan, a former state Cabinet minister and one of the most prominent Muslim faces in the Maharashtra Congress, withdrew himself from campaigning in the Lok Sabha elections, saying: “Congress ko Muslim vote chahiye… candidate kyun nahin (The Congress wants Muslim votes… why not Muslim candidates)?”

Khan was an aspirant for the Mumbai North Central ticket, which eventually went to Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad. Consequently, not a single Muslim leader is contesting on the ticket of a prominent political party for the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra.

At 1.30 crore, Muslims make up 11.56% of Maharashtra’s population, with a higher concentration in Northern Konkan, Khandesh, Marathwada and Western Vidarbha.

The number of Muslim MPs from Maharashtra has never been proportional to their population in the state, since it came into existence in 1960. Of the 614 Lok Sabha MPs elected from the state in the past 64 years, only 15, or less than 2.5%, have been Muslim.

In the past four Lok Sabha elections, a total of Muslim candidates have fought on the tickets of prominent parties. In 2004, the Congress fielded A R Antulay from Kolaba, and he won. The NCP and Congress nominated one candidate each in 2009, followed by the Congress one each in 2015 and 2019. All of them lost.

The only Muslim MP from Maharashtra currently is the AIMIM’s Imtiaz Jaleel, who won Aurangabad by a narrow margin of 3,000 plus votes in 2019. It was one of the AIMIM’s first forays outside its base in Hyderabad. The AIMIM only contested the Aurangabad seat in 2019, when it had an alliance with the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi; it has said it will put up candidates in four-five seats this time.

Antulay’s win in 2004 from Kolaba, which has a