TNN
Moradabad, Apr 18: Dressed in a black striped T-shirt, fashionably torn jeans and sporting funky blue shades, Mohd Azharuddin steps out of a ritzy silver SUV. In a flash, it's yesterday once again. Cameras click. Boys squeal. Girls stare from rooftops. Young men jostle to get closer. And the cops have a hard time keeping them at bay as the former India cricket captain walks the narrow bylanes of Faizganj mohalla campaigning as a Congress candidate.
"They know more about my cricket stats than I do," says Azhar, now 46. "I tell them, I have played 99 Test matches. If I win the election, I would feel I have played another Test match and completed my 100 off field," he says. The wristy batsman joined politics barely two months ago. But he is aware that in elections, crowds don't always translate into votes. Talking to party workers, he says later, "You guys must ensure that the support is converted into vote. There is no point in staying at the crease without scoring runs. You must campaign the way Sehwag bats." History isn't Azhar's ally. Since 1989, Congress has never won an LS seat in Moradabad.
In 1999, the party got just 10% of the votes and in 2004, it did not even put up its own candidate. But the arrival of Azharuddin has become a gamechanger in a constituency that has an estimated 45% Muslim voters.
His personality — a young, educated and famous Muslim whose popularity cuts across class and community lines — has taken other parties by surprise. Several local factors also work in his favour. First, Shafiqur Rahman Barq, who won in 2004, 1998 and 1996 from SP, has switched sides. He is a BSP candidate from neighbouring Sambhal. Rizwan Ahmad, the SP candidate this time around, isn't regarded as the same force. Second, Muslim votes also get divided among different communities. But being an outsider, Azhar is expected to be above all this.
Others in the fray include, BSP's Rajeev Channa, a Punjabi and BJP's Sarvesh Singh, a Thakur, and allegedly a strongman. The common view is that Azhar has started off with a decent score. But with the poll date, May 13, still four weeks away, he also needs to time his shots well in the middle overs and the slog overs.
The cricketer says nobody has asked him about the betting controversy during the campaign. "People don't ask me about those things. Only the press does," says Azhar. Tailor Mohammed Muqarram and brass businessman Wajahat Hussain, both from Faizganj, say they voted for SP last time but will vote for Azhar now. "He is a gentleman. He is also a VIP and can get things done. No harm in giving him a chance," says Hussain.
When his candidature was announced, Azhar says, Kapil Dev was the first cricketer to call him. "He wished me well and said, you call me whenever you need my help. Raj Singh Dungarpur and Kapil Dev have always supported me. I have no words to thank them," he says.
When Azhar joined Congress on February 19, he was expected to contest from his home state, Andhra. So why Moradabad? "My party thought Moradabad would be the best seat for me. The party hasn't done here well for a long time. It is a big challenge," he says. "Congress is the only party that will take India forward. It has the right blend of experience and youth." He says: "If I win, my first priority would be doing something about the power and generating jobs for the employed."