Ms Sultana battles in Muslim dominated segment of Punjab

Malerkotla, Feb 8 (UNI) The Congress candidate, Razia Sultana, the only Muslim woman MLA in Punjab, after celebrating her 40th birthday yesterday, quickly left for a tour of her constituency, as she is aware the going is tough for her in this election.

This constituency, the only segment in the border state, which has returned Muslim candidates, has been a traditional Congress stronghold, but over the years the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has made inroads. In 1997, SAD won this seat, but the Congress party again wrested it back in the last elections, when Ms Sultana was elected.

Ms Sultana is the second Muslim to make it to the state Vidhan Sabha. In the 1970's and early 1980's, the writ of former minister, the late Ms Sajjida Begum, a close confidant of former President, the late Giani Zail Singh, ruled in the constituency.

There are nine candidates in the fray this time, but the contest constituency is more or less direct, between Ms Sultana and SAD candidate Abdul Guffar, a close confidant of SAD general secretary and former Union Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa. Both the Congress and SAD candidates are concentrating on wooing the Muslim voters, who have always proved to be decisive in the past elections.

Almost 40 per cent of the 1,57,429 voters are Muslims concentrated mainly in Malerkotla town, Ahmedgarh and a couple of villages of the area. Ms Sultana is also trying to woo the 79,363 woman voters.

Mr Guffar is also depending heavily on his mentor, Mr Dhindsa who has a good following in the constituency, particularly among the Jat Sikhs, the backbone of the Akalis. The Congress on the other hand is arousing the passions of the Muslim electorate by reminding them of the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the alliance of SAD with the BJP.

The Congress in its manifesto has promised to provide more land to the Muslim community for their graveyards. It has also promised to establish a state Minorities Welfare Committee to address the grievances of the minorities.

Wife of Mohammad Mustafa, IG Police (Border Range), Ms Sultana is aware of the importance of her position, both as an MLA and as the wife of a senior police officer. Though the stature of her husband has an effect on the elecorate, it is of little significance to her.

''I am concerned about the people's support and that I want to serve them'', she says when anyone points to her high profile husband.

''The stature of woman in society here has changed in the past five years. Earlier, they would not go to any meeting, now they speak their mind and participate in every activity,'' she states when asked about the women of her community.

Besides addressing small rallies, both the Congress and SAD candidates are going from door-to-door trying to woo the voters.

They both enjoy a good rapport with the electorate.

In the last elections, Ms Sultana had to battle it out alone, with many Congressmen of her community opposing her candidature.

However the five years as an MLA has made her strong and she has learnt the finer art of politics.

She claims to have carried out a number of development schemes in the constituency, but her SAD rival is quick to point out it was the Akali party that carried out development works during the SAD-BJP regime. SAD chief Prakash Singh Badal has also campaigned in the constituency reminding the Muslim community that Malerkotla had the blessings of Guru Gobind Singh.

UNI