Closed Indian Muslims fight the choice in Delhi to “set a record straight” | Elections

New Delhi, India – Nooreen Fatima, 41, is eagerly looking at the hands of the clock, waiting for her sons to return from school. She has a crowd of fans waiting for her at the corner of her street and should be met as soon as she can.

When they arrive, she busy collects their school bags and then pushes into the skin of Abay to hurry down before her team stops her to shoot at crowdfunding attraction, and charging voices for her closed husband, Shifa ur Rehman.

“Fighting for her rights, my husband has been in prison for almost five years,” she says, scratching her fingers nervously.

In April 2020, Rehman, a 48-year-old human rights activist, was arrested by police in Delhi, accusing him of mobilization Student protests against a Controversial Citizenship Law. Critics described the law as discriminatory because it quickly puts naturalized citizenship for people from Indian neighboring peoples if they belong to any minority community – Except for Islam.

Rehman and Tahir Hussain, the second prisoner who waited for his trial in cases related to the riots and demonstrations that broke out in New Delhi in 2020, ran in the upcoming elections in the legislative assembly of the Indian capital of February 5. They were killed in 2020 violence, most of them Muslims.

After five years of intense legal battles and dozens of complaints before the Indian courts, their families are now turning to the Delhi elections with hope for buying.

“We were treated as gangsters and terrorists [since Rehman’s arrest]. In this election, we have to prove our innocence, “Fatima tells Al Jazeera.” When we win, people have been unjustly closed for years with us. “

Fatima leads a group of women, lifting slogans from hand speakers, through narrow strips of dashed holes, sewage leaks and pale slogans on the walls from the day of the protest movement. “How will we respond to oppression?” Yells at the top of the voice. “With our voice for Shifa!”

‘Setting up a record’

While the campaign in the OKHla constituency in the southeast Delhi, Fatima remembers the dark days after Rehman was arrested, exactly when the Coid-19 also hit the first time. Pandemia was “the worst time,” Fatima says.

She remembers the time when her sons, Zia and Arhan, would get sick and there were no good hospitals in the vicinity. Now, when she goes on a campaign, she not only reminds people of the prison sentence of her partner or difficulty during pandemic, but also of a clogged sewer, dusty roads and decomposing infrastructure.

Both Rehman and Hussain compete in the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslim (Aimim), at the head Asaduddin Owaisi. Although the party is challenged only by these two places, Owaisi, a five -time member of the Parliament from the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, advocated the gathering of support for them.

In one rally for Rehman, Owaisi hit a former Main Minister Arvind KejriwalParty leader Aam Aadmi (AAP), who has been in power for 10 years in the capital. AAP has won the majority of Muslim votes at the last two elections in Delhi. But many in the community believe that they have since failed them at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi Bharatiya (BJP) – in national authorities – is increasingly confronting the accusations of adoption Hindu Majorge. For example, AAP supported the controversial citizenship law that led to protest in 2020 and refused to support those closed due to protests.

“I dare to ever come to October and walk those streets,” Owaisi said. “Then they will know how people live here.”

OKhla is among the seven electorate units in the 70 -seat assembly where Muslims are or in the crowd or have a large enough population to significantly affect the outcome of the choice. Because many analysts predict a close competition between the BJP AAP Delhi, these seven places could be shown critical in determining who rules in a city that enjoys major political influence in India as the capital. OKhl witnesses a competition with a square, with the ruling AAP, BJP, Indian old Old Parties of Congress and Aimim Competing.

Aap refrained from personal targeting on Rehman and Hussain, but he dug in Owais. Aananatullah Khan, Aap’s sitting young in OKhl, told Al Jazeera that Aimim’s entry into the conflict “should have split Muslim voices and hand over the place of BJP.” In the meantime, the BJP also hit Owaisi, warning of the “polarization” by the appointment of candidates charged in cases related to riots.

Fatima passes through a dense market area near Shaheen Bagh-what was the center of demonstration of wives of women against the controversial citizenship law five years ago and access to meals. He tells an older man who runs a trade to press Rehman’s “Kite” symbol on an electronic voting machine when he votes on February 5th.

Nasruddin Shah (61) blesses Fatima and promises him support. “Government arrogance needs to be broken. Shifa is one of us and fought for us,” Shah says Al Jazeera later.

“Unlike Delhi, we are not voting to form a government here. We vote to set the record directly,” Shah says, leaving his store and joining Fatima.

‘She’s irresistible’

Nearly 25 km (15 miles), on the northeast border, dusting the Mustafabad district – among Delhi’s most densely populated – in the election. The area is among the least developed in Delhi, and the blackened facade of several buildings is reminiscent of a fire that broke out here during the 2020 protests.

In a room full of men passing around Paan (Bethel-List) and tobacco as they speak loudly, a teenager sits on a wooden chair in the corner preparing for a political gathering.

Shadab Hussain, 19, is visibly tired and his throat is painful. But he and the others in the room heard some good news: at the end of January, the best Indian court allowed his father Tahir Hussain, a six -day conditional freedom from custody in the campaign for his election.

The last time Shadab was part of a political gathering was in 2017, when his father won the Local Council elections. “I remember that winning gathering when I was walking with him; I was only 11 years old,” Shadab says, sitting in his father’s office, while his mother Shama Anjum goes from door to door to place voices for Hussain.

Hussain influenced the local policy under Kayrywal’s AAP inscription. But the party expelled him after police accused him of encouraging the riot in 2020.

Shadab says his father’s absence has left a deep void in his family for the last five years. “My father was target because he was a Muslim; because of his influence here,” Shadab says, to reporters gathered around him. “Through this election we will remove the stains.”

The campaign focuses on the bad sanitary, water and overall development in the constituency, with 250,000 voters, and Shadab admits that it can become “really irresistible”.

And the enthusiasm for Hussain’s conditional discharge was mitigated by details that soon filtered: The Supreme Court limited Hussin’s conditional freedom until the daily hours, forbade him to visit his home and ordered him to return to prison before sunset. Still, Shadab says, “I’m happy that my father is able to walk the streets and be among my people.”

‘Never be afraid’

Return to OKhl, after the highest court approved by Hussain Sorpodiol Visited, the Rehman’s campaign was moved by the court and secured probation of freedom the next day, under similar restrictions.

“Never be afraid, you never be weak, because Shifa ur Rehman has never been weak,” Rehman says in a thunderous voice, as he descends from a police vehicle on a rally, hair and bearded beard than they look at the posters in his campaign.

“It’s not about winning or losing. It’s about proving that we want our self -esteem and our dignity. We will not bow before anyone,” says Rehman, surrounded by police staff.

Fatima and the kids get to know him briefly. Then Fatima and Rehman move in different directions, both campaigns. Unlike Rehman – which she describes with love as stubborn – Fatima says he was not really interrupted because of political gatherings. “I’m not the type of person,” she says. “But I have to do it.”

Because, she says, the election results of February 8 will have a deep significance for her. “I want to be able to learn my children to commit [what is] Exactly, “he says, refraining tears.” Their father, Shifa, fought for people, but his name was a terrorist. “

He pauses on a long breath and continues: “It’s five years for a very long time: imagine five eids, five Ramzana [Ramadans]Five birthdays, without Shifa, and I saw everyone moving with their life. But I can’t do that anymore. “