Congress MLA Zeeshan Siddique, who was recently removed as president of the Mumbai Youth Congress, lashed out at the party on Thursday alleging “rampant communalism” within the Congress echelons while stating that the party merely pretends to support and protect Muslims.
Mr. Siddique, a first-time MLA from the Vandre East (Bandra East) constituency, was removed from his position as Mumbai Youth Congress president on Wednesday days after his father, stalwart Congress leader and former Minister Baba Siddique joined the ruling Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
The younger Mr. Siddique said despite his father switching sides, he had always maintained that he remained with the Congress.
“The Congress claims to be with the minorities. But no Muslim leader has ever been the president of the Mumbai Congress. The Congress claims to protect Muslims. But the kind of communalism raging within the Congress, and within the Youth Congress, is not seen anywhere else,” he alleged, speaking to reporters in Mumbai.
Mr. Siddique said that despite Mumbai having tall Muslim leaders in the Congress like Naseem Khan, Aslam Shaikh, Amin Patel and his father, no one was ever made the Mumbai Congress chief.
Double standards
Accusing the Congress of double standards when it came to dealing with Muslims, Mr. Siddique demanded to know why he had been removed as Mumbai Youth Congress president without any official communication despite his superiors claiming to support him after his father’s defection.
“Even when my father went over to the NCP, I stuck on with the Congress. In spite of being down with dengue, I had attended the Congress Legislature Party meeting held at the Vidhan Bhavan premises recently for [Congress candidate] Chandrakant Handore’s Rajya Sabha nomination. At the time, all senior leaders appreciated my presence. I even got a call from Delhi commending my decision to stay with the Congress,” he said.
“Despite all this, I came to know I have been removed from the post of Mumbai Youth Congress. Then again, I received no official communication to this effect. I cannot understand their double standards. On one hand, when my father moves over to the NCP, they act like my godfathers while they quietly remove me from my post without telling me anything officially,” Mr. Siddique complained.
Stating that he had had to fight hard for the post of Mumbai Youth Congress chief (he was elected in 2021), he claimed he was forced to wait for eight-ten months to take over even after being elected to the post.
“Even in the Karnataka Youth Congress Mohammed Nalapad was similarly forced to wait despite having won Youth Congress elections. Are we discriminated against because we are Muslims? If you have so much problems with Muslims, then why pretend to provide security for us,” Mr. Siddique said, remarking he had given 12 years to the party but that his services had not been valued.
“Today, Sanjay Gandhi’s family — Maneka Gandhi and Varun Gandhi are in the BJP. But the party has no problem that Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra are still with the Congress. A.K. Antony is in the Congress but his son Anil Antony is with the BJP. But the party doesn’t have a problem with that. Is it my fault that my surname is Siddique? Am I being targeted because I am a Muslim?” said Zeeshan, suggesting he was removed from his post only because he was from the minority community whose father had joined one of the ruling parties.
While Zeeshan had not yet severed ties with the Congress, he hinted he was being compelled to look out for alternatives.
