Gurugram: Haryana’s Nuh district, which witnessed communal clashes final week, is within the Mewat area that covers components of neighbouring Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan as properly.
With Meo Muslims comprising 79 p.c of present-day Nuh’s inhabitants (in keeping with the 2011 census), the 31 July clashes, which left six useless, over 70 injured, have put the concentrate on the neighborhood’s political illustration within the area, extra in order the Lok Sabha elections and state meeting elections are due subsequent yr.
Nonetheless, with Nuh accounting for simply three of the 90 seats in state meeting, Meo management is of little significance within the quantity sport.
The three seats underneath the Nuh district are Nuh, Punhana and Ferozepur Jhirka. Presently, all of the three seats are held by Congress MLAs, and all of them are Meo Muslims — Aftab Ahmed from Nuh, Mohammad Ilyas from Punhana, and Moman Khan from Ferozepur Jhirka meeting constituency.
Hathin, the one meeting seat in Palwal district — it additionally has Hodal and Palwal — with Meo inhabitants, has elected an MLA from this neighborhood solely thrice since 1972, in keeping with Election Fee (EC) knowledge. Sohna in Gurugram additionally has a substantial variety of Meo Muslims nevertheless it has by no means elected an MLA from the neighborhood.
Within the 2019 state elections, each Hathin and Sohna in Gurugram went to the Bharatiya Janata Social gathering (BJP) with Praveen Dagar and Sanjay Singh representing the 2 constituencies respectively.
“We’ve had nice leaders in Mewat (area). However the issue is that greater than concentrating on bettering individuals’s lot, they’ve targeted extra on harbouring animosity in opposition to one another,” stated Nuh historian Saddique Ahmad Meo.
Earlier than the delimitation train for Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha constituencies in Haryana in 2007 and 2008 respectively, all Meo-dominated meeting seats fashioned a part of the Faridabad parliamentary seat, and it returned Meo leaders solely thrice — Tayyab Husain (Congress) in 1980, Rahim Khan (Congress) in 1984, and Khurshid Ahmed (Lok Dal) in 1988 Lok Sabha elections, in keeping with EC knowledge.
“Within the final delimitation train, Hathin turned part of Faridabad whereas Nuh, Punhana and Ferozepur Jhirka had been with the Gurugram parliamentary seat, leaving no probability for a Meo Muslim chief to succeed in Parliament as Meo votes received divided. That is how the illustration of Meo Muslims within the system, which was already low, went additional down,” stated Ahmad.
Dynastic politics is frequent in India, and the Mewat area is not any exception. In reality, energy has all the time remained within the palms of some political households in Mewat.
Ahmad Meo additionally sees no scope for brand spanking new management to emerge from the neighborhood. “New management usually emerges from universities. However sadly, we don’t have a college in Nuh. Kids of those dynasts and some well-off households attain schooling outdoors Mewat, however frequent individuals can hardly afford such a luxurious,” he stated.
ThePrint appears on the Meo management in Haryana and the varied political households which have dominated the area.
Additionally learn: Nuh violence places concentrate on Meo Muslims of Mewat — who they’re & what’s their historical past
Meo management through the years
Two of probably the most outstanding political households in Mewat had been these of Khurshid Ahmed and Tayyab Husain. Each of them contested a lot of parliamentary and meeting elections in opposition to one another, and adjusted events a number of instances, exhibits EC knowledge.
Khurshid Ahmed practised regulation within the Supreme Court docket earlier than leaping into politics. He turned a member of the legislative meeting (MLA) 5 instances between 1962 and 1982. He represented Nuh in 1962, 1968, and 1991 and Tauru in 1977 and 1987.
He was elected to the Lok Sabha in a bypoll in 1988. Principally a Congressman, Ahmed fought the 1987 meeting elections and 1988 Lok Sabha elections on the Lok Dal ticket. He died in 2020.
His father, Kabir Ahmed, turned an MLA in a bypoll in 1975 and 1982, whereas his son Aftab Ahmed, the current MLA from Nuh, was elected to the meeting in 2009 and 2019.
Tayyab Husain was Ahmed’s up to date. His father, Yasin Khan, remained a legislator from undivided Punjab within the pre-Independence period from 1926 to 1946, in keeping with historian Meo.
Husain holds the distinctive distinction of being an MLA from three states — Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan. He was additionally an MP 1971-1976 (Gurugram seat) and 1980-1986 (Faridabad seat), exhibits EC knowledge. He died in 2008.
His son, Zakir Hussain, is a three-time MLA, and the administrator of the Haryana Waqf Board. He gained the 1991 election as an Unbiased from Tauru (part of Mewat earlier than delimitation), in 2000, he gained the seat on a Congress ticket whereas in 2014, he turned MLA from Nuh as an Indian Nationwide Lok Dal (INLD) candidate.
Husain’s daughter Zahida Khan turned an MLA from Rajasthan’s Mewat area (Khaman meeting seat) in 2008 and 2018, and is presently a minister within the Congress authorities in that state. Husain’s different son, Fazal Hussain, additionally contests from Tijara meeting seat in Rajasthan.
Husain’s brother Hamid Husain additionally turned MLA as soon as from Nuh on an INLD ticket in 2000, in keeping with EC knowledge.
Additionally learn: Nuh violence received India’s consideration, however Mewat wasn’t all the time communal
Lesser-known households
Rahim Khan, who gained from Faridabad Lok Sabha seat in 1984 parliamentary elections, heads one other political dynasty in Mewat. He turned the MLA from Nuh meeting seat in 1967, 1973 and 1982, every time as an Unbiased. His brother Sardar Khan gained the Nuh seat within the 1977 meeting elections on a Janata Social gathering ticket whereas his son Mohammad Ilyas gained it in 1991 on a Congress ticket, in keeping with EC knowledge.
Iliyas was additionally elected from Punhana seat of Nuh district in 2009 and 2019, on INLD ticket and as a Congress candidate respectively, exhibits the information.
Shakrulla Khan, one other head of a political household, turned an MLA from Ferozepur Jhirka thrice — as an Unbiased in 1977, and as Congress candidate in 1982 and 1991. He remained a minister within the Haryana authorities twice. His son, Naseem Ahmed, represented the constituency as an INLD MLA on two events — 2009 -2014 and 2014-2019.
Yet one more chief, Azmat Khan, was elected to the Ferozepur Jhirka meeting seat on a Lok Dal ticket in 1987 and have become a minister. His son, Azad Mohammad, was elected in 1996 on a Samata Social gathering ticket from the identical seat and in 2005 as a Congress nominee. He turned the deputy speaker within the meeting in his first time period and a minister in his second time period. Khan’s son Raheesa Khan turned an Unbiased MLA from Punhana in 2014.
Congress MLA from Nuh, Aftab Ahmed, stated although the political management of Mewat has raised points pertaining to the native individuals, their voice hasn’t actually been heard.
“Our persons are utterly depending on agriculture, however they don’t have water to irrigate their fields. Groundwater is brackish. They’re utterly on the mercy of rain. The demand for a canal has been raised for the reason that time of my father, Khurshid Ahmed. However nothing concrete has occurred up to now. The muse stone of the canal has been laid now, however there isn’t any phrase on when the precise work will start,” he stated.
Likewise, he stated, a medical faculty was began in Nuh in 2012, however there’s a scarcity of docs and paramedical workers. The hospital has tools however no individuals to run them, he claimed.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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