Lok Sabha elections 2024: Congress top four demand justice for Muslims

Congress state working president Arif Naseem Khan. File pic; Chandrakant Handore, Congress MP; Bhai Jagtap, Congress MLC; Dr Amarjitsinh Manhas, Congress state treasurer

Senior Congress leaders in the city have come together to ensure justice for Muslims, who have been denied candidature from the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). The development took place on Saturday after an aspirant from Mumbai North Central Lok Sabha constituency, Arif Naseem Khan, spoke his heart out, saying that he had quit as the party's star campaigner because he had no explanation to offer to his community for the denial.

City Congress president Varsha Gaikwad was preferred over Khan and other contenders. The community's members, traditional sympathisers of the Congress, were upset as MVA had not fielded a single Muslim candidate, Khan said on Saturday, denying rumours of leaving the party. Khan's sentiments have found support in his party colleagues.

People in the know said that the party's Rajya Sabha MP Chandrakant Handore, state treasurer Dr Amarjitsinh Manhas, MLC and former city president Bhai Jagtap and former minister Suresh Shetty met at a city hotel to discuss the issue. Other than Khan, two of these leaders, Jagtap and Shetty were in contention for the North Central ticket.

"The leaders have decided to write to the national president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, the state president and others who matter in the party. There is still time for changing the nomination from North Central. If the party cannot replace Gaikwad, it still has the Mumbai North constituency left for naming a Muslim," said a leader privy to the development.

The leader said his senior colleagues wanted to make the party's high command understand the repercussions of Muslim disenchantment. "There was a period that saw the community discarding our party. Gradually, it has shifted towards the Congress again. The current socio-political scenario is very conducive for consolidating Muslim support. We should not squander the advantage by upsetting the community, which has a significant presence in the city," he said, adding that every fifth person in Mumbai is a Muslim.

According to information, these leaders, including Khan, will stay away from campaigning in North Central if Gaikwad stays in the contest. Instead, they will work elsewhere in the city, the rest of Maharashtra and other parts of the country. None of the four leaders wished to speak at this point in time. They asked us to come back after a few days.