Voice of Muslim discontent in Maharashtra Congress, Arif Naseem Khan: Social activist to minister to dissident

When senior Maharashtra Congress leader Arif Naseem Khan resigned from the state party campaign committee Friday, he flagged his concern about the party not fielding a single candidate from the Muslim community in the Lok Sabha elections in the state.

Khan was a contender for a ticket from the Mumbai North Central seat, which the Congress allotted to Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad on Thursday.

“It was decided two months ago that I will be given the party candidature. It had enthused the minority community in Mumbai. However, the party has announced a different name from this seat (Mumbai North Central), which has created unrest within the minority community,” Khan stated in his resignation letter.

“I have no answer when people ask me why the Congress has not fielded a Muslim candidate. I also find it worth asking why a party whose foundation is based on the principles of social equality should not give a ticket to a Muslim candidate,” Khan said at a press conference on Saturday.

Khan first started working as a social activist in the wake of the 1992-93 Mumbai riots that had left close to 900 people dead. Khan, a native of Akbarpur in Uttar Pradesh’s Faizabad, would often roam the streets of the largely working class Jari Mari locality in Mumbai’s Kurla suburb, seeking funds for those affected by the riots. At this point, he was associated with the Congress as an ordinary worker.

Through his activism, he was instrumental in putting the heat on subsequent governments for their failures in implementing the Srikrishna Commission Report on the Mumbai riots that had indicted policemen and politicians for their conduct during the riots. Khan was also the first to file a petition in the Supreme Court in October 1998, seeking