Mumbai: The voting for the Maharashtra assembly elections will be conducted on Wednesday, November 20 and all political parties have intensified their campaigns. Meanwhile, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has jumped in and has started a massive campaign to ensure the maximum turnout of Hindu voters. Banners are being displayed to that effect at prominent places across Maharashtra, including Mumbai and Navi Mumbai.
The karyakartas do not chant slogans but handbills containing the appeal are distributed. In Mumbai, such events have been held at Andheri, Bhandup, Chembur, Ghatkopar and several other places. A source in the RSS said in the last Lok Sabha elections many Hindus did not vote for a variety of reasons. The result was that the number of BJP MPs nosedived from 23 to 9 which alarmed the Sangh Parivar.
This time around the aim is to ensure a minimum 20 percent hike in voting so that candidates of the BJP and or it's allies, Shiv Sena (Shinde) and NCP (Ajit Pawar) are elected.
The campaign is, however, posing a problem in certain constituencies. For example, in Anushakti Nagar, the NCP (Ajit Pawar) nominee is Sana Shaikh, daughter of ex-minister Nawab Malik, whom the BJP is accusing of having links with international terrorist Dawood Ibrahim. Malik Sr has denied the charge but the perception persists, nevertheless. S Jayaram, a staunch Modi bhakt said, "I cannot imagine myself voting for Sana Malik. Many voters like me are facing a dilemma. And we don't want to press the NOTA button either."
In neighbouring Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar constituency Nawab Malik himself is the NCP (Ajit Pawar) candidate. The Sangh Parivar is boycotting him in a predominantly Muslim seat. Nawab Malik, on his part, has publicly declared that he does not need the saffron parivar's support. He is locked in a bitter fight with sitting MLA Abu Azmi of the Samajwadi Party, who is one of the richest candidates of Maharashtra.
Malik hopes to break the tape on the basis of the anti-incumbency groundswell in the extremely impoverished constituency where children have died of malnutrition.
