Asaduddin Owaisi and his BJP rival Kompella Madhavi Latha are the two ends of the political spectrum in Hyderabad where the latter made her entry to the electoral field by aiming an imaginary arrow at a mosque, sparking a huge uproar.

While Owaisi is expected to retain the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat his All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen has kept since 1984, social worker Latha is doing her bit to breach the fortress.

Owaisi ducks the oft-repeated question by reporters about his AIMIM being a “B-team” of the BJP after playing spoiler in Uttar Pradesh and dividing Muslim votes in several other states. But never does he lose an opportunity to gun for Hindutva politics and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Babri Masjid zindabad,” he chanted thrice while campaigning in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Lok Sabha constituency in Maharashtra recently, emphasising that neither he nor the AIMIM have lost focus of their brand of politics, although people in Hyderabad often complain about non-performance.

Back home in Hyderabad, he goes around asking why Prime Minister Modi doesn’t want Muslims to be educated and progress.

He repeatedly tells his election rallies that Muslims have not stolen reservation from any other community while dismissing the Prime Minister’s controversial allegation that states like Karnataka had sliced down reservation for OBC communities
to give 4 per cent reservation to Muslims.

Hyderabad: Charminar illuminated with tri-colour lights in the old city of Hyderabad, Satuday night, Oct. 7, 2023. PTI

“We haven’t stolen anyone’s quota,” Owaisi stresses, reminding the Prime Minister that it was given to Muslims considering their socio-economic-educational backwardness.

But the larger question in the minds of AIMIM supporters in Hyderabad is whether the party is losing ground on its home turf. “The people are unhappy about lack of access to Owaisi, while that wasn’t the case earlier,” says Jalal, an autorickshaw driver in the Old City that has been an AIMIM pocket borough.

A resident of the Muslim quarters in the Old City, Jalal is just one of the many who were undecided on whether to vote for Owaisi again or pick his Congress rival Samir Waliullah.

“I’ll take a call on who to vote closer to the polling date,” he tells The Telegraph.

Owaisi had polled over 50 per cent of the votes in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, winning the only seat his party has been dominating in Telangana. In the November-December state elections, the party won seven seats, six of them in the Hyderabad Lok Sabha segment.

While Latha’s singular poll pitch is that “I am here as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mission”, Owaisi seeks continuity, riding on the vote bank of the Muslims and secular Hindus.

“Modiji has sent me here to cut someone’s kite,” Latha repeatedly tells her supporters, alluding to the AIMIM’s “kite” party symbol.

But her imaginary arrow aimed at the Siddiamber Bazar Mosque in the city has become fodder for Owaisi, who’s milking every bit and reminding Muslims why the BJP should be kept at bay.

BJP Hyderabad candidate Kompella Madhavi Latha, in a screengrab shared on social media, aims an imaginary arrow at a mosque on Ram Navami. Sourced by The Telegraph

“Is this the Viksit Bharat that he (Modi) is talking about?” Owaisi asked at a poll meeting, where he emphasised maintaining peace and brotherhood that has come to dominate the discourse in the city, home to India’s second biggest tech hub.

Political analyst Ande Satyam has little doubt that Owaisi would retain the seat, but with a slightly reduced vote share. “I feel his vote share would come down to 45 per cent. But none of the other parties are strong enough to defeat him here. The BJP has only itself to blame, as terrorising Muslims will prove counterproductive here,” he tells this newspaper.

Whether it is aiming an imaginary arrow at a mosque, or the sustained targeting of Muslims across the country, it has only strengthened Owaisi’s cause.

Hyderabad votes on May 13