More than four days after his message on social media that he was proud of those who demolished Babri Masjid, Milind Narvekar, Shiv Sena (UBT) Member of Legislative Council, is yet to delete the post. Muslims, whose votes were crucial in at least three of the 10 assembly seats in Mumbai that the Shiv Sena (UBT) won, are asking whether his party allows him to have his personal views on the issue.
Former Congress MLA Yusuf Abrahani, who was in the reckoning for the Byculla seat that was allotted to Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Manoj Jamsutkar in the recent assembly elections, said he will write to his party president Mallikarjun Kharge, suggesting that the party should fight the municipal corporation elections alone and not in alliance with Shiv Sena (UBT).
Narvekar’s post on micro-blogging site ‘X’ on December 6, the anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya created strains in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition. Abu Asim Azmi, the Shivaji Nagar-Mankhurd MLA of the Samajwadi Party, a constituent of the MVA, had announced that his party will quit the MVA.
Reacting to Azmi’s announcement, Aditya Thackeray, Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA had called Azmi the BJP’s ‘B Team’. The Samajwadi Party national leadership later clarified that the party will continue to be a member of INDIA block, and that the decision about being part of the alliance will be taken at national level. Parties in the MVA are part of the national INDIA block.
However, the fact that Narvekar is yet to delete the post has angered Muslims. Abrahani said, “Aditya Thackeray should instruct Milind Narvekar to withdraw the post which has hurt the feelings of Muslims to prove that his Hinduism is different from that of BJP. The politics of hurting the feelings of one community to please the other community should stop. It does not benefit either the people or our great country.’
Abrahani said, “Congress, which used to have 17-18 MLAs in Mumbai now has only three because we contested only eleven seats. The Shiv Sena (UBT) took Byculla. Party workers are asking me that though we supported Shiv Sena (UBT) they are now celebrating the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Party workers are angry. the alliance cost us seats. We did not win a single seat in Mumbai North East where we had MLAs earlier,” said Abrahani.
In Byculla, one of the 10 assembly seats in Mumbai that were won by Shiv Sena (UBT), Muslims are estimated to be 40-45% of voters and their votes are believed to have helped Jamsutkar win by a large margin of over 31,000 votes against his Shiv Sena rival Yamini Jadhav. Similarly, the victory of Haroon Khan, the Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate from Versova, a seat with 33.5% Muslim votes, is also attributed to support from Muslims. Khan won by a margin of just 1600 votes over his BJP rival Dr Bharti Lavekar. Muslim voters.
Muslims are now wondering whether the Shiv Sena (UBT) has tricked them into voting for a party that secretly holds on to its Hindutva agenda while seeking Muslim votes. Adding to the anger among Muslims is an earlier statement from the party chief Uddhav Thackeray who asked party members to visit every home in the city before the municipal corporation elections and remind voters about their commitment to Hindutva.
A member of the Muslim community said, “After Aditya Thackarey’s statements to the press stating Samajwadi party a BJP ‘B team’ for it’s threat to leaving the alliance after the post on Babri Masjid, it seems as if Narvekar has been allowed to say what he wants. Muslim votes and leaders are used at the time of elections and it is sad that we always think this after the elections when we see their true colours.”
