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In February, at a community panchayat in Bharatpur’s Ghatmika village, a teary-eyed Mohammad Jabir had a public confrontation with Rajasthan Minister of State (MoS) and Kaman MLA Zahida Khan.
The meeting was over the murders of Nasir and Junaid, the two men allegedly killed by cow vigilantes in February. Their charred bodies were found in Loharu in Haryana’s Bhiwani district. Zahida was urging the family members of the families to bury the bodies.
Jabir, a cousin of the slain duo, said the bodies would not be buried until Monu Manesar, one of the men accused of murdering the duo, was arrested. Manesar has been lodged in a Rajasthan jail in connection with the case since September.
“Pehlu Khan, Umar Mohammad, Rakbar Khan, and now Junaid and Nasir! How many more men will die?” Jabir said at the panchayat convened on the morning of February 17.
Nine months later, Jabir does not mince his words as he stands near the makeshift election office of Mukhtyar Ahmad, a chartered accountant who is contesting in the November 25 polls as an Independent after being denied a ticket by the Congress. The party has once again fielded sitting MLA Zahida from Kaman. Apart from 2018, Zahida won the seat in the Meo Muslim-populated Mewat region in 2008.
“Zahida Khan did not help us during the Nasir-Junaid murder case. When family members protested, the Congress government slapped cases on us. We will have to change this dictator. The public wants an MLA who sides with the biradari (community) and not the government.“
He added that Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot only took note of the case “after AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi targeted him” for not speaking on the matter. Owaisi had compared the case with the killing of Kanhaiyalal in Udaipur, who was allegedly murdered for sharing a post on the Prophet, and targeted the Gehlot government over “difference” in the government compensation.
Jabir is now campaigning for Ahmad, who the local Meo community believes supported the family members of Nasir and Junaid as they demanded action.
Owing to the severe opposition Zahida is facing among sections of the community in Kaman, the Congress only announced her name in its last candidate list, released a day before the closing of nominations.
The main contest is seen as between Zahida, Ahmad and the BJP’s Nauksham Chaudhary. The AIMIM has fielded Imran Nawab.
Another reason for the opposition against Zahida is the clout her family wields in the region. Her son and daughter are both pradhans of panchayat samitis, while her husband had served as one.
“The corruption in public dealing is a big issue here. False cases have been registered on the behest of the MLA, which have led to anger in the public. The election will be between us and the BJP. The minister will finish third or fourth,” says Ahmed.
A few hundred metres from the election office of Ahmed, people shuffle in and out of the house of Zahida. Thick brochures of the development work that has been done by the legislator in the last five years can be found here.
Sitting with Congress workers, Javed Khan, from Zahida’s camp, says the “Nasir-Junaid case has been used to polarise voters”. Kaman has around 2.55 lakh Muslim voters. Meo Muslims constitute 58% of this number.
“Some people tried to launch their political careers by using the case. These are the same people who refused to bury the body and protested against the state government. We handled the case smoothly, compensation was announced for the families,” said Jamshed Khan, a relative of Zahida’s.
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With a strong Independent candidate from the Muslim community challenging Zahida, the mood at the election office of the BJP’s 33-year-old candidate Nauksham Chaudhary is upbeat. So far, Kaman is the only place where the BJP has chosen to field a Dalit for an unreserved seat.
“Caste doesn’t matter here. This is a Hindu-Muslim election. But the Congress is not in the fight due to the huge opposition that MLA Zahida Khan is facing. We will gain with the division of Muslim votes between Zahida and Ahmed,” says Rakesh Gurjar, a former sarpanch involved with Nauksham’s campaign.
Nauksham, who is from Haryana, is trying to shed her outsider tag. She had unsuccessfully contested the Punhana seat in Haryana in 2019. The BJP ia also counting on the fact that it won Kaman in 2003 and 2013.
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