Nasir, Junaid lynching incident casts long shadow in Kaman assembly polls as Congress faces tough challenge
Animesh Singh
Alwar, November 25
It is said that time heals the greatest of wounds, however the horrific lynching of two Muslim youths Nasir and Junaid, both residents of Ghatmeeka village in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan, is still fresh in the memories of the people of the area and even those of neighbouring districts like Alwar.
With Rajasthan set to vote for the 2023 assembly elections on November 25, people in Kaman constituency, under which Ghatmeeka fall, hold a key to the future of the sitting Congress MLA Zahida Khan, who has been fielded again this time as the party’s candidate.
The lynching incident, which took place on the intervening night of February 15-16 this year, when both the youths were lynched and burnt alive allegedly by a suspected cow vigilante group in Haryana’s Nuh on suspicion of cow smuggling, has cast a shadow on the Kaman assembly seat.
Kaman, which falls in the Mewat region, neighbouring Haryana, has a sizeable Muslim population of around one lakh out of the total 2.5 lakh voters and therefore has been a pocket borough of the Congress.
Yunus, who runs a hair dressing saloon in Alwar rural, which is around 70 km from Kaman, is aware of the incident and said that this time, the Congress’ chances look tough.
Mohammad Hanif, an elderly teacher, who runs a school in Bakhtal Ki Chauki in rural Alwar, says that Zahida Khan did not raise the issue of Nasir and Junaid’s killing in the state assembly and people in the region are unhappy with her due to this.
Moreover, Yaseen, a youth from Vaulkhera, said that though some of the accused involved in their killing have been arrested, justice has still not been done with the families of Nasir and Junaid.
Hanif said that it would be tough for Zahida Khan to win easily from Kaman this time, unless the Muslim community votes for the Congress wholeheartedly.
Locals in the area say that though the Congress-led government has worked for the poor, the anger over the lynching incident is palpable.
In the last 25 years between 1993 and 2018, the Congress has won the Kaman seat four times, including in 2018, while the BJP has won from here twice, in 2003 and 2013.
In fact Zahida Khan’s father, Tayyab Husain, who was a minister in Punjab, Haryana and even Rajasthan governments, had won this seat in 1993 and 1998. Zahida won from here first in 2008 and then in 2018.
While Zahida Khan, who is a minister in the Ashok Gehlot government, had won by almost 40,000 votes in the 2018 elections against BJP’s Jawahar Singh Beadham, this time a 33-year old chartered accountant Mukhtyar Ahmad, is contesting as an independent candidate from Kaman.
Ahmad interestingly had sought a Congress ticket, but could not succeed and therefore, decided to contest as an independent.
However he is learnt to have indicated that if he wins, then he will go with the Congress.
Kavita Srivastava, the Jaipur-based national president of Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties India, says that the lynching incident led to several protests in the area and the people of Ghatmeeka only want justice for the families of the victims.
Hanif on his part says that the Muslims will not go with the BJP, therefore they may either support Mukhtyar Ahmad or Zahida Khan.
The BJP this time has fielded Nauksham Chaudhary, who originally belongs to Haryana, and had unsuccessfully fought the Haryana assembly elections in 2019 from Punhana seat, where she had lost to the Congress candidate and had in fact come third.
In short, the situation in this nondescript assembly seat, looks politically interesting, even as the families of Nasir and Junaid still wait for justice.
