Gujarat goes to polls tomorrow but Dwarka's Muslim fishermen will not be able to vote
Muslim fishermen families from Devbhoomi Dwaraka district, who have been voting for many years from the area, cannot vote this time as their names have been deleted from the voters list
Gujarat will vote in the third phase of the Lok Sabha polls tomorrow (May 6).
For the Muslim fishermen of Dwarka district in Saurashtra region of the state, however, it will be just another ordinary day and the polling will not make much of a difference to them. This is because 575 Muslim fishermen families belonging to the district cannot vote as their names have been deleted from the voters list.
The names of all the Muslim fishermen of Gandhvi and Navadra villages were removed from the voters list after the ghettos they were living in were demolished during the expansion of the government port in the area.
Displaced and not rehabilitated
A year later, the displaced families are still not rehabilitated and do not have a permanent residence. Multiple petitions seeking the rehabilitation and compensation are still pending in the Gujarat high court.
Noticeably, the families have been voters in the Jamnagar Lok Sabha constituency under which Devbhoomi Dwarka district comes under for years and had also voted in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Talking to The Federal, Yajub Musa, a fisherman, who was displaced last year said, “When I did not get a voter's slip, I went to check whether my name and the others in my family are in the voters list. But our names were missing." Further, he added, “They demolished my home of 40 years last year. I had been voting here for the past 14 years.” Musa is one of the petitioners seeking compensation in the court.
Mahmood Dawood Pataliya, another fisherman whose name also does not feature on the voters list is also upset. "I was told that I don’t live here and so can’t vote here anymore,” he pointed out.
If fact, when he went back to the Bhogat port area where he and his family used to live to check for our names, he was told he will be arrested for "trespassing". "I checked online to confirm but our names were not there,” said Pataliya.
The homes of Muslim fishermen in Gandhvi and Navadra villages were demolished during the expansion of the government port in the area
“This has never happened in a Lok Sabha or a Vidhan Sabha election before,” he said. His wife Moshina added, “When they demolished our homes, we got a 24-hour notice to shift and grab whatever we could. Most of our documents got misplaced in the chaos. Now we have no proof of our existence.”
“We have been voting for BJP all our lives. Why is this happening to us?” she asked with sadness.
Letter to CEC
Noticeably, the Minority Coordination Committee (MCC), a Gujarat-based minority rights organisation had written a letter to the Chief Electoral Officer on May 3 this year, about this issue. The letter sought the ‘right to vote under special circumstances’ for the displaced families.
However, there has been no response or action by the authorities on the issue.
Noticeably, along the five coastal districts of Saurashtra, fishermen form about 20 per cent of the total electorate.
The Hindu fishermen who form the majority belong to an OBC community – the Kharwas – have been loyal BJP voters. While the Muslim fishermen have been known to be lean towards the Congress.