SYED KHALIQUE AHMED
NEW DELHI, FEB 22
The electorates in Tamil Nadu have responded to Hijab-haters befittingly by electing more than two dozen Hijab-wearing Muslim women in the local body elections. The municipal polls were held on February 20, and its results were declared today.
Unlike in North India, Muslims are not concentrated in ghettoes in Tamil Nadu. Instead, Muslims are scattered among the areas inhabited by people of all communities. Yet, so many Hijab-wearing Muslim women were elected from wards having a mixed population, is a slap on the face of BJP and its saffron allies who are communalizing the South Indian states by raking up Hijab in neighboruing Karnataka.
The results were the worst for the BJP as it lost Mettupalayam and Kannyakumari municipalities where it was in power in alliance with AIDMK for the last five years. Its performance was extremely poor in other cities and towns as well across the state.
தமிழக உள்ளாட்சி மன்ற தேர்தல் 2022 ல் மாநகராட்சி,நகராட்சி,பேரூராட்சி என 82 இடங்களில் மாபெரும் வெற்றி பெற்று தடம் பதித்துள்ள மனிதநேய மக்கள் கட்சி
MMK Winners..#TNLocalBodyElection2022 #mmkcandidates #DMK4TN pic.twitter.com/vxcnGSOV1h
— TMMK MEDIA (@tmmkhqofficial) February 22, 2022
Among the Hijab-wearing Muslim women candidates elected include All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) member Fathima Muzaffar Ahmed.
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Fathima, who contested the elections as Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) candidate in alliance with DMK and Secular Democratic Progressive Alliance, won with a huge margin. All the 11 candidates, including the BJP candidate and sitting AIDMK councillor, who fought against her from Egmore Ward, lost their deposits. DMK, headed by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin and its political allies, swept the local body polls.
IUML contested the municipal elections in Chennai after 55 years and came out with flying colours.
In a message, Fathima said she won the polls with the Grace of Almighty Allah.
“By the grace of Almighty, Allah has blessed me with great success,” she said in a Whatsapp message to journalists. “All praise belongs to Almighty,” she said.
Another Hijab-wearing Muslim candidate Alima Begum, who contested on the Social and Democratic Party of India(SDPI) ticket, won from Coimbatore Municipal Corporation.
According to Muslim political activists, more than 90 percent of the Muslim women, who contested the local body polls, are Hijab-wearing. The elections were held for 12,607 seats in 21 municipal corporations, 138 municipalities, and 490 panchayats. Out of 12,607 seats, 50 percent are reserved for women.
More than 22 Hijab-wearing Muslim women won the municipal elections from different municipalities on Manithaneya Makkal Katchi (MMK) headed by M H Jawahirullah. Among them are Benazir Jasmin and Shakeela Banu from Tiruvarur municipality.
(Syed Khalique Ahmed is the Chief Editor of www.indiatomorrow.net)
