Three years after the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act stir in Shaheen Bagh in December 2019, followed by the north-east Delhi violence in February 2020, the Aam Aadmi Party seems to have lost the Muslim vote in the area.
The party has lost most seats which had either witnessed sustained protests against the CAA or violence that had hit the city shortly afterwards. AAP had maintained distance from the anti-CAA stir and expressed its inability to control violence in north-east Delhi in the absence of control over the local police. The violence had claimed more than 50 lives.
Gains for Congress
Wards like the Abul Fazal Enclave, adjacent to Shaheen Bagh, and the Muslim-dominated Mustafabad, Brijpuri, Shastri Park and Zakir Nagar voted for the Congress. In fact, all but two of the nine seats that the Congress picked up are Muslim-dominated pockets. Significantly, these areas have sitting AAP MLAs – Amanatullah Khan (Okhla), Haji Yunus (Mustafabad) and Abdul Rehman (Seelampur).
The Abul Fazal Enclave ward sent first-timer Ariba Khan to the MCD while in Zakir Nagar, Congress candidate Nazia Danish emerged victorious. Speaking to the media shortly after her victory, Ms. Khan said Muslims have seen through the development facade of the Kejriwal government in Delhi, and have put their faith in the inclusive politics of the Congress.
In north-east Delhi, where 36 people were killed and 19 mosques and dargahs were attacked, Congress candidates won from Brijpuri, Shastri Park, Chauhan Banger and Mustafabad, each of which had suffered badly during the violence.
Mustafabad, Brijpuri Puliya and Shastri Park were also anti-CAA protest sites. Nazia Khatoon of the Congress triumphed in Brijpuri, where two schools were set on fire during the violence besides attacks on the anti-CAA protest site. Shagufta Zubair won from Chauhan Banger in the area while Sabeela Begum clinched the Mustafabad seat. Congress’s Sameer Ahmed notched up a win from Shastri Park. The areas had reported spirited protests against the CAA and the local AAP MLA was allegedly absent.
Meanwhile, independent candidate Shakeela Begum won the Seelampur seat. The sole saving grace for AAP came from Sri Ram Colony where Aamil Malik bucked the trend.
Some easy wins for BJP
In the neighbouring Karawal Nagar, Bhajanpura and Ashok Nagar, where 17 Hindu lives were lost in the 2020 violence, BJP candidates notched up easy wins, consigning AAP to losses from both ends. The Muslim voters here preferred the Congress while the Hindu voters went with the BJP.
However, it was not all doom and gloom for the AAP when it came to retaining the Muslim vote in some pockets. In Old Delhi, AAP candidates won from Ballimaran, Chandni Mahal and Jama Masjid. These seats, notably, did not report any incidents of violence in 2020 nor were they sites of anti-CAA protests.
For the Congress, the support of the Muslim community in some pockets provided the sole silver lining to the cloud of dismal performance.
