In Assam, Ajmal is leader of oppn but his calculations go awry – ToI – 14.5.11

Abantika Ghosh | TNN

New Delhi: AIUDF president Maulana Badruddin Ajmal’s calculations have gone awry. He was planning to leverage his good showing in the Assam polls to wangle ministerial berths for his colleagues in the state and also a portfolio for himself at the Centre. Now, he is staring at the leader of opposition’s chair in Assam. Worse, he has additional challenge of keeping his small flock together when he has no slice of the power pie to offer.
    Ajmal’s reverses, however, cannot cancel out his commendable performance. He has bagged more seats (18) than main opposition Assam Gana Parishad, and also scored a significant point within his community fold. He proved his supremacy over the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind (Arshad Madani faction) that had ousted him ahead of the assembly polls, compelling him to scurry for cover to the Mahmood Madani faction. No wonder, the perfume baron can barely conceal his disappointment.
    “I don’t know how this happened. How could Congress do so well? This is like magic. But, this cannot happen only by grace of god. EVMs have been tampered with. We will decide tomorrow whether to complain about it,” a dejected Ajmal said.
    Ajmal had predicted more than 20 seats for AIUDF. Now, the deficit is haunting him. Congress’s crossing the halfway mark in the 126-member assembly has made the party redundant. Ajmal, too, had played hard to get in the runup to the polls despite constant wooing by Congress general secretary and head of Assam, Digvijay Singh.
    The AIUDF chief was tightlipped about his plans even two days ago. Now, there are no takers for his studied silence.
    There is more to Ajmal’s uncharacteristic despondency than just the tally. He is conscious that parties like AIUDF survive on the scent of power, and an equitable distribution of its fruits. An empty plate will make it difficult to keep the motley crew united in the days ahead. The results bring to bear that there is certainly a constituency for the party. However, despite an aggressive Muslim tenor to AIUDF’s campaign, a majority of the community members have voted for Congress.
    Though Ajmal refuses to admit it, he must be thinking about not entering into a prepoll alliance with Congress. He had snubbed the grand old party for its links with “corruption baggage”.
    AIUDF’s setback may have implications for Deoband’s Darul Uloom, and the future of seminary’s beleaguered VC Maulana Ghulam Mohammed Vastanvi. Ajmal, who supported Vastanvi shortly after the Gujarati cleric endorsed the Narendra Modi administration, deserted the VC on the day of the crucial Majlis-e-Shoora meeting in February.