Antulay: Last Muslim CM in Maharashtra?
Reporters Name | CAMIL PARKHE | Monday, 8 December 2014 AT 08:08 PM IST
For many people in Maharashtra who are now in the late 30s or 40s, the name of Abdul Rehman Antulay may immediately remind the cement scandal to which he was allegedly linked with. Antulay had to relinquish the chief minister's post due to this scandal. Although the Supreme Court later acquitted him of the charges, Antulay had to pay heavy political price for this scandal as he was moved away from Maharashtra and rehabilitated in national politics. Elected to the Rajya Sabha, he also held the union minister's post two terms.Antulay was one of the few prominent Muslim faces having pan-Maharashtra appeal and popularity among cross sections of society. The then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi surprised the powerful Maratha lobby in Maharashtra by appointing him as the state chief minister in 1980. During his short stint as the chief minister, Antulay earned the image as a non-nonsense politician, a leader who could take fast decisions and who had total control over the bureaucracy, some of the traits which he shared with S B Chavan, another politician hand-picked by Indira Gandhi to lead Maharashtra. Having full command over the party organisation, Indira Gandhi then could afford to appoint a leader of her choice – and too belonging to a minority community- to head Maharashtra government. Indira Gandhi had earlier also selected Abdul Ghafoor as the chief minister of Bihar in 1973.
Antulay shifted fom his Colaba (Raigad) Lok Sabha seat where he was defeated in 2004 to contest from Aurangabad – a seat having a sizable Muslim electorates. But his presence in the election arena had helped the rival parties to polarise votes and Antulay was defeated here too. After this, even the Congress and NCP have been wary of fielding a Muslim or other minor candidates as it now amounts to giving a cakewalk to rival parties, barring the minority-dominated seats like Malegaon and Bhiwandi.
With the demise of Antulay, Muslims in Maharashtra and to some extent in India, have lost a leader to whom they could relate to and bank on representing their interests.
Vasantaro Naik, a member of the Banjara tribe, was chief minister of Maharashtra for a record 11 years. But that was four decades back. As the political things stand today, it is unlikely that a Muslim or any minority leader will occupy the chief minister's seat in Maharashtra or any other state in the country in the near future. Presently, there is no minority leader belonging to any mainstream political party who can truly claim to be mass leader or at least a minority leader having well connect to his/ her community. This is bad for the secular fabric of the nation. In the absence of such leadership and political parties ignoring minorities due to vote bank politics constrains, communal forces may be able to create their base among these communities. It is in the interest of the nation that all mainstream political parties give equal representation to all sections of communities, be it in civic bodies, at state or national levels. Antulay should not be the last Muslim or minority leader to be the chief minister of a state in the country.
To the relief of people in Maharashtra, the BJP leadership has finally started negotiations with its estranged ally, the Shiv Sena, for sharing power in the state. This is expected to end the over a month-long period of political uncertainty in the state. The previous month had witnessed an unprecedented show of political opportunism and vendetta by some parties with total disregard to the interests of the state or the mandate given by the electorates in the recent state assembly elections.
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