With the assembly elections in Punjab only a fortnight away, the Muslim-dominated Malerkotla constituency is heading for an interesting poll battle where a former DGP and a serving ADGP are slugging it out through proxy candidates. Two-time Congress MLA Razia Sultana is pitted against SAD candidate Farzana Alam. While Razia is the wife of ADGP Mohammad Mustafa, Farzana is the better half of former DGP Izhar Alam. Political pundits say the fight appears to be one of the toughest in Punjab.
Canvassing in a swanky SUV Ford Endeavour in villages in the constituency, Razia wastes no time in tagging her opponent as the “one not even following the tenets of Islam”. At Pharwali village, she says Farzana was a “proxy candidate” of her husband Alam.
On whether or not her husband Mohammad Mustafa was managing the show behind the scene, she retorts: “I am an MLA for the past 10 years. I have my own political standing and I have worked for the betterment of Malerkotla. I am confident of a hat-trick by winning for the third consecutive term.” A few villages away, Farzana counters Razia’s accusation: “The Congress claims itself to be a secular party but in Malerkotla, Razia is appeasing the electorate by playing the communal card and spoiling their minds by spreading venom against me and my husband by concocting stories that portray our family as anti-Muslim.” For her, says Farzana, the most important election issue was to maintain communal harmony in the religion-sensitive constituency.
Of the around 1.26 lakh voters, 70 per cent are Muslims, therefore, signifying that the community would play a decisive role in choosing the MLA.
Though Malerkotla has mosques in excess of 300, the Muslim clerics are preferring to stay away from the blame game and not ready to come openly in support of one particular candidate.
When spoken to, a majority of inhabitants said the issues that mattered to them were proper roads, sewerage and drinking water. “Both Razia and Farzana are taking potshots on each other. Indulging in communal politics and exploiting the people by bringing religion into the poll arena is not good,” say most of the villagers in Malerkotla.
