In the run-up to polls, Ali and the BJP have been trading charges. From Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, all are appealing to people to not vote for Ali because “he says no to Bharat Mata ki Jai”. Ali, on the other hand, is alleging that the BJP is afraid of him.
On 19 April, Modi attacked Ali at a rally in Amroha’s Gajraula, asking why a “person who does not like to express gratitude towards his motherland” should be allowed to enter Parliament.
To this, Ali responded in his poll meetings, saying: “I take all the attacks made by Modiji on me as a challenge. I don’t know why he is so afraid of my return to Parliament.”
ThePrint attended two political meetings of Ali Wednesday. “I am doing politics on the voice of my zameer (conscience). This is a fight for democracy and the mustakbil (future) of this country. This is a big question in the elections,” he said.
According to locals in Amroha, the election has turned into “Danish Ali versus BJP” and the fight is whether Ali will go to Parliament or not.
Workers of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Congress — both part of the national-level INDIA alliance — are reminding people at every poll meeting how a “Muslim MP was targeted and abused”.
SP leader and former cabinet minister Mehboob Ali, while addressing a public meeting in Didoli village near Amroha Wednesday, told the crowd that “Danish Ali’s party and we are now together”.
“Now, no one has the courage to say anything against him,” he said.
Hearing his words, hundreds of people sitting there started clapping and raising slogans in the name of Danish Ali, who was also present at the meeting.
The BJP has not given a ticket to Bidhuri, its South Delhi MP, this time. Speaking on the subject after the Didoli meet, Ali told ThePrint: “The PM himself is giving hate speeches in elections, so no need for any MP.”
“I have become an eyesore for PM Modi and Yogi Adityanath. The BJP is afraid of me, and that is why Yogi came to campaign for this seat several times and PM Modi came himself,” he added.
Ali too does not fail to remind voters about the Parliament incident.
In his public meetings, he says: “You people elected me and I represented you in Parliament. It was my responsibility to take your voice there, but I was attacked and abused.”
“I was one of the few MPs in the 17th Lok Sabha who troubled the BJP and Modi. I always raised my voice against him. This was the reason why I misbehaved in the House,” he said, referring to his own usage of derogatory words for Modi in Parliament on the day of Bidhuri’s verbal assault.
The Muslims of Amroha are deeply hurt with what happened with Ali in Parliament but also admit that he did not work much in Amroha in the last five years. With the BSP also fielding a Muslim candidate, political analysts believe the contest won’t be a cakewalk for Ali.
Speaking to ThePrint, Naushe Ali, 53 who had come from 10 km away to attend the Didoli meeting, said: “Danish Ali has not done much work on the ground in the last five years, but we have no option. The way he was treated in Parliament was disheartening and all the Muslims are with him.”
Another Muslim youth, Munasir, alleged that the community was facing discrimination. “When even the MP is not safe and is being abused in Parliament itself, how can we trust the system? On the one hand, BJP is making efforts to stop him from going to Parliament, while on the other we are trying to send him to Parliament again,” he said.
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‘Danish Ali was never seen in Amroha’
Voting is to be held in Amroha Friday and in the last 40 years, no sitting MP has won the seat twice.
The constituency is estimated to have 42 percent Muslims, 13 percent Dalits, 8 percent Rajputs, 7 percent Jats, 5 percent Sainis, 4 percent Gurjars, 2 percent Yadavs, 4 percent Valmikis, 7 percent Khagis, 2 percent Brahmins and Baniyas, and the rest comprising small Other Backward Class (OBC) castes.
BJP’s Tanwar was the Amroha MP before Ali and stood a chance in the seat but the BSP has made the contest triangular by fielding Mujahid Hussain.
Ali would also have a tough fight considering that this time he does not have the backing he did in 2019 when the RLD, SP and BSP had fought together. The three parties have the Jats, Yadavs and Dalits as their core voter-base, respectively, and also draw support from the Muslims. Ali had previously defeated Tanwar with a margin of over 60,000 votes.
Dr Man Mohan Singh, professor in the political science department of Jagdish Saran Hindu PG College of Amroha, told ThePrint that there have been changes in the politics of Amroha in the last five years.
“In 2014, the BJP convinced people on the issue of Hindutva, but in the 2024 elections, it is seen that castes will once again become important. They are still alive. The politics of biradari (communities) is very old. It faded for some time but it is not going to end so soon,” he said.
“There is resentment among people (in Amroha) about Danish Ali. People have not seen him in the area in the last five years. With Mujahid Hussain contesting the elections, the situation of the (INDIA) alliance seems shaky,” he explained.
Saurabh Chaudhary, who belongs to the Jat community in Didoli village, spoke about the resentment among the people. “Danish Ali was never seen in this area. Local people are angry with him but they have no other option if they want to defeat the BJP,” he said.
The BSP challenge
By fielding Mujahid Hussain, the BSP is eyeing support from the Muslims and Dalits, whose percentage together is about 55 percent in Amroha. The party has, however, also been accused of deliberately fielding a Muslim candidate to divide Muslim votes.
BSP supremo Mayawati last week targeted Ali, who joined the Congress this March. “The person who won on the BSP ticket (in 2019) did not take care of the people and their development. He betrayed the people and the party,” she said in Amroha.
“We did not give a ticket to the sitting MP, but did not punish the Muslim community for this. You people know that this seat was won by the BSP, but the person whom we or you sent to win, after becoming MP, neither kept the respect of the party nor the respect of the people of the area,” she added.
Ali is unperturbed with the assault, and told ThePrint that Muslims would not go with the BSP. On the ground, the SP too is working to unify its core Muslim voters so that they do not vote for the BSP candidate. The Congress has no strong cadre in Amroha.
The first joint rally of the INDIA alliance in which Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav were together was held in Amroha last week.
At Wednesday’s Didoli village meeting, most people present were from the Muslim community.
“There is no question of Muslims supporting the BSP. The SP is with us and we are contesting the elections together. Their organisation on the ground is strong,” Ali told ThePrint,
The Muslims too are trying to remain united. Professor Singh said the community was this time well aware that their votes should not get divided.
“The elections on the ground are not being fought by the opposition but by the people themselves. The Yadavs is also looking towards the SP,” he said.
Singh did caution that the BJP had long been successful in dividing the votes of the opposition. “But this time the division of votes does not seem to be like in the previous elections. The core voter of the BSP is not going with the BJP this time, but is with Behenji (Mayawati) only,” he said.
Brijesh Chaudhary, BJP’s Lok Sabha convener from Amroha, was optimistic about the party’s prospects and cited the RLD-BJP alliance for the same.
“Last time, the Jats were cut-off from us due to the RLD-SP-BSP alliance, but with the arrival of (RLD chief) Jayant Chaudhary, we will get Jat votes. We will also get some Jatav (Dalit) votes and with the help of these equations, we will win this time,” he said.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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