Indian election results evoke mixed reaction from expats

RIYADH: Indian expats living in the Kingdom might have missed voting in their most crucial elections in five provinces, the results of which were announced on Saturday, but they made all possible efforts to defeat the communal forces by sharing their concerns with their families and friends back home. Various Indian organizations in the Kingdom worked in close coordination with each other. Still the secular parties suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the most populous province of Uttar Pradesh (UP).

Reacting to the results, Mohammad Quaiser, president of Tanzeem Hum Hindustani, said: “It is unfortunate for our secular democracy.” He voiced concerns over the use of electronic voting machines during the polls.

“The results are creating doubts over the fairness of the polls,” he said.

Murshid Kamal, convener of the India Islamic Culture Center, said: “In democracy, one has to accept the mandate and popular voice, no matter how unfortunate the verdict is.”

The defeat is a lesson for the secular leadership in India to form a grand alliance, he said, adding that the outcome of the polls indicates that in the near future, divided regional parties will not be able to defeat the communal forces in the northern Indian belt due to the highly-polarized voters.

Akhtarul Islam Siddiqui, general Secretary of Bihar International Society for Welfare and Solidarity (BISWAS), said: “The BJP victory shows that development is irrelevant if compared to communalism; Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) played an important role to bring the BJP back to power.

“No doubt, Muslims voted for anti-BJP parties, but no one can deny that a large number of Dalit and Yadav voted for the BJP, just like in the 2014 national elections, which made Muslim votes ineffective.”

Arshad Ali Khan, general secretary of Aligarh Muslim University Old Boys Association (AMUOBA), said: “It was a bad day for us... this mandate shows how mentally backward the voters are in our state, where people are not able to think beyond the religious line.” Khan hails from UP.

“Demonetization was a foolish decision by the BJP government and a painful experience for the people. The cost of essentials are skyrocketing, but all these unpopular decisions by them were less important as compared to the communal agenda,” he said.

M. Z. Aazmi, general secretary of the Nadwa Old Boys’ Association, said: “In UP, secularism lost and communalism won.”

Referring to complaints by Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati that the main factor behind BJP’s sweeping victory in UP was the manipulation of electronic voting machines (EVMs), he said such concerns were also expressed during the 2014 elections. He urged the commission to do all what needs to be done in this regard.

He, however, expressed his relief that the saffron brigade lost elections in three provinces.

Kaunain Shahidi, a senior manager at Almarai, said: “Those parties who convinced the voters won in the five provinces through various means, including silent and subtle communal polarization.”