BENGALURU: As part of Aam Aadmi Party’s strategy of fielding lesser-known candidates from modest backgrounds against political Goliaths, the party has fielded Ayub Khan (48), an autorickshaw driver, and once-upon-a-time friend of Bollywood star Salman Khan, from Shivajinagar. Ayub Khan will face sitting MLA R Roshan Baig (Congress) and Katta Subramanya Naidu (BJP).
“I am a bakra (goat) between two shers (tigers),” Ayub Khan says, adding that if he wins, he plans to achieve his long-time dream of restoring Russell Market’s lost glory and providing clean meat shops and slaughterhouses by using effective waste management methods.
Ayub Khan’s candidature is part of AAP’s method of fielding candidates emerging from the masses to bring a change at the grassroots.Born in Kolar Gold Fields, Ayub Khan has had a turbulent life right from his childhood. It was in 1980, as a Class 4 student aged 10, he was shifted to the fishing village of Chimbai Kolivada in Bandra, Mumbai. His family’s financial condition forced him to work at his uncle Altaf Bhai’s cycle shop. Ayub Khan says he met Salman Khan, then aged about 15, when he replaced the latter’s cycle tube, and their friendship bloomed for a time. “After Salman entered the film industry, we parted ways and I decided to return to KGF,” says Ayub.
It was in KGF — when he started driving an autorickshaw — that he became aware of the corruption in the system of granting licences that drove him to become the chief of Jai Hind Karnataka Auto Sanghathane, spearheading their campaign for granting licenses to autorickshaw drivers without any corruption.
Ayub Khan is passionate about the struggle that the auto drivers undergo. He is also staunchly opposed to the requirement of issuing the “8th pass certificate” for auto drivers to obtain licenses. He feels that if politicians are not asked to furnish such documents while filing nominations, why should the poor and uneducated — who want to earn a decent means of livelihood — be asked for such certificates?
His dreams for Shivajinagar
If he wins from Shivajinagar, Ayub Khan says his first step will be to tackle the issue of waste management. Cleanliness and waste management are of paramount importance in the constituency, he says. Ayub Khan also wants to ensure bank loans at subsidised interest rates for SCs/STs to buy autos or taxis. He also wants to introduce new waste management methods to ensure that meat shops and slaughterhouses do not dispose of animal wastes on the streets, or sell stale meat to the public. His dream is to reclaim the lost glory of Russell Market.