'They are attacking my wife; they are attacking our 13-month-old daughter. They are saying that I do drugs.'
'I'm giving an open challenge to Mr Nawab Malik and Ms Sana Malik let's go to the labs and let's do the medical test of our family and your family.'
The Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) surprised political observers when they chose 30-year-old Fahad Ahmad to contest from the Anushakti Nagar constituency in north east Mumbai against Sana Malik, NCP leader Nawab Malik's daughter.
A former Samajwadi Party member Fahad vociferously agitated against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and National Register of Citizens as a student leader at the Tata Institute of Social Science in Mumbai.
Married to actor Swara Bhasker, Fahad, a passionate orator, tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com, "This is personal now. They (Nawab Malik and Sana Malik) don't deserve any respect. Bohot hua samman (I am done with my respect for them). Ab eit ka jawab eit se hi diya jayega (We won't spare them if they keep attacking us personally)."
You were a student leader when you were with the Samajwadi Party. Now you are contesting an election as an NCP (SP) candidate. How did this happen?
Basically what this (his shift from the SP to NCP [SP]) tells us that in this election nothing matters -- neither a person nor a political party or its symbol. I'm not somebody who stabbed the old party leadership and got into some other party.
If I would have stabbed my old leadership (the SP) they would have been very angry with me and not come for my campaign.
How did you get the NCP (SP) ticket? How did it work for you?
They (the top NCP [SP] leadership must) have realised that I have been working on the ground for many, many, years. I'm a local candidate here. Ever since this constituency came into existence in 2009, no local MLA has been elected.
Maybe Sharad Pawar saheb was thinking that it has been a long standing demand of the (that a local candidate should represent Anushakti Nagar in the assembly), so let's fulfill that (demand).
My educational background, my background as a student leader at TISS (the Tata Institute of Social Sciences which is in the same constituency) all helped me.
Did you pitch your candidature to the NCP (SP) chief? What role did Supriya Sule play in you getting to contest the seat?
She (Supriya Sule) has been my mentor throughout this journey. I have never met such a gracious politician in my life.
This constituency has approximately 29 per cent Muslim votes and there are many Muslim candidates contesting from here. How do you think will this dynamic play out?
I am not a traditional politician who thinks about vote banks. Yes, Muslims are a marginalised community, just like the Dalits and all the poor belonging to various castes and religions who are living in Anushakti Nagar.
I am a Muslim. I never shy away from my identity. But it doesn't mean that I will do my politics around that only. I'm thinking about Anushakti Nagar as my family. In family there is no caste, no creed, no gender discrimination. I'm contesting this election on these lines.
Just like Sana Malik of the NCP this is also your first election.
No, no. She is not a debutant. She contested the BMC election in 2017 and lost very badly from his (Nawab Malik's) hometown Kurla.
Anushakti Nagar as well as Mankhurd Shivajinagar from where Nawab Malik is contesting are considered his bastions. He has been an MLA from Anushakti Nagar twice. What kind of challenges are you facing to take on Sana Malik?
I think he's (Nawab Malik) my biggest asset. He's my biggest asset because he has failed to deliver. He won the election last time because he was saying Tukaram Kate (of the undivided Shiv Sena and who defeated Malik in 2014) will come and it will harm the Muslims a lot. Now he's in alliance with Tukaram Kate (who after the split in the party switched to Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena).
He (Malik) didn't deliver on the lines of education, on the lines of (fighting against) drugs, on the lines of healthcare facilities. He's my biggest asset. He knew that he would be defeated and so he left this constituency and went somewhere else (the neighbouring constituency of Shivajinagar Mankhurd).
You were a very popular as a CAA and NRC activist. And you are in alliance with the Shiv Sena (UBT) which once ideologically favoured the CAA and NRC...
Who said it?
The Shiv Sena might have changed its colours now...
Uddhav (Thackeray as Maharashtra chief minister) has done a great job in 2.5 years. I am witness to it. I would have been in jail if there would have been some other chief minister because I was a face of the CAA and NRC in Mumbai. I would have been in jail. I'm here because of the Uddhav Thackeray saheb.
This clearly resonates how committed he is to the idea of the Constitution and protection the Constitution from the machinations of all those who want to scrap it.
Mr Aaditya Thackeray has said it very nicely that the Hindutva of the Shiv Sena is about providing food. This is what he has often said in Hindi: 'Hamara Hindutva logon ke gharon main chulha jalata hai (Our Hindutva strives to provide two square meals to the people of this country).'
'Jo hamare samne chunaav lad rahe unka Hindutva logon ke gharon ko jalata hai (The Hindutva of people contesting against us believes in burning down people's homes).
What conversation will you have if you come across Sana Malik? She's also a young politician like you...
From the moment my ticket was declared, I have been telling her that she is my sister. And my campaign is going to be a very respectable campaign. But unfortunately they don't deserve it. They are attacking my wife; they are attacking our 13-month-old daughter. They are saying that I do drugs.
I'm giving an open challenge to Mr Nawab Malik and Ms Sana Malik that let's come, let's sit on the table, let's go to the labs and let's do the medical test of our family and your family.
When you talk like this, aren't you diverging from the path that you have chosen that you will go for a campaign without any bad blood and that only issues of public importance will be raised?
Look, this is personal now. They don't deserve any respect. Bohot hua samman (I am done with my respect for them). Ab eit ka jawab eit se hi diya jayega (We won't spare them if they keep attacking us personally).
What advice did Sharad Pawar and Supriya Sule gave you for fighting this election?
Booth management. Booth management. Booth management.
Meeting people. Meeting people. Padyatras.
How many times have you met the father and daughter and what's your impression about them?
Look, why you're calling them father and daughter. This is wrong on your part.
Let's say political figures...
Two great politicians. They have spent all their lives for the betterment of people and society. Supriyaji is a MP four times now. Because she's a woman, you are discrediting her identity.
What are your impressions of Sharad Pawar?
He's a genius and everybody knows it.
When people were questioning my candidature I said 'okay, you can question you can't question Mr Pawar.'
You are a debutant in electoral politics. What's your vision for Anushakti Nagar? What are you telling people you will implement if you get elected?
If you look around and research about Anushakti Nagar you will find out that it's a constituency where in many areas people don't have access to drinking water, schools and good schools and libraries.
When it comes to education of children and youth, Mr Nawab Malik has failed to build a single library in the last 15 years (he has been a two-time MLA from Anushakti Nagar).
Forget about schools, they even haven't made hospitals.
My agenda revolves around these three-four pillars. The first is ending the nexus between corporates, developers (and politicians) to help the slum dwellers in this constituency.
I'll work on building schools to uplift the standard of education of my constituents. I have already found out some places where schools can be built. I have also identified the place where we can build a hospital of at least 200 beds.
The places to construct schools, libraries, hospitals is available but the passion and the urgency to provide thee basic facilities was missing.
I have already found out how to tackle the issue of unemployment in my locality because there are three big companies, all of them Navratnas: BPCL, HPCL and RCF. These companies need skilled labourers. I will talk to these companies, develop a skill centre and provide these companies with skilled labour.
Supply of drugs is a very big issue in my constituency. To break the nexus of the distributors and drug suppliers we will develop an app which will protect your identity; you can report anonymously to us about the drug trade in your locality and we will then take it up with the authorities and make sure that this nexus is busted.
Youth indulge in drugs because they are jobless, they don't have proper education; there isn't much awareness about the menace that drugs create in lives of the young people.
There are no recreational facilities where the youth can expend their energies constructively. We will provide funds to develop sports infrastructure.
We will work on behavioural change of the youth. We will talk to the community through religious institutions like churches, temples, mosques to form committees that can work to wean away the youth from drug addiction.
I have a clear cut agenda. When I meet people I tell them I don't want to promise anything. I just want to put forward my dream before you.
The problems which I have faced in my life, the problems you all are facing in your lives, we will together ensure that our children will not face those problems and concerns in heir lives.
