Muhammed Arif ‘Naseem’ Khan, the Maharashtra Congress leader, has resigned from the party’s campaign committee, citing his discontent with the party’s failure to nominate any Muslim leader in the state. He issued a letter to party head Mallikarjun Kharge, indicating that he would not campaign for the Lok Sabha elections because the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance had not fielded any Muslim candidates.
“MVA has not nominated a single Muslim candidate for Maharashtra’s 48 Lok Sabha seats,” the former state minister tweeted.
Many Muslim groups, leaders, and party members from across Maharashtra had expected the Congress to select at least one candidate from the minority community, but this has not occurred, he stated.
The 60-year-old politician stated that all of these party officials and workers are now asking him, “Congress ko Muslim vote chahiye, candidate kyun nahi (Congress wants Muslim votes, but why not candidates?”
“Due to all of these reasons, I will be unable to face Muslims and have no answers,” Mr. Khan stated in the letter.
Mr. Khan also announced that he is quitting the Maharashtra Congress Campaign Committee.
The Congress is running for 17 of Maharashtra’s 48 Lok Sabha seats in an alliance with the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar). They are members of the opposition, Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
Muhammed Arif Khan was running for a ticket in Mumbai North Central, but the party picked Varsha Gaikwad, the city unit president, for the seat. He ran for the 2019 assembly elections from Chandivali in Mumbai but lost by 409 votes.
Speaking separately to PTI, Mr Khan claimed that the Congress appears to have departed from its long-held concept of inclusion.
The senior Congress politician stated that he has received several calls from organisations representing minorities and party workers from various socioeconomic groups, wondering why the Congress had overlooked them when allocating tickets for Maharashtra elections.
“I am unwilling to confront the questions of why injustice has occurred (to minority groups). “The party has strayed from its inclusive ideology and representation for all communities,” said a displeased Mr Khan.
