HOJAI : For Assam’s biggest minority face, Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, the April 9 electoral contest begins from his Gopal Nagar home in central Assam’s Hojai town. Gopal Nagar is located in the Binnakandi constituency, from where Ajmal, a former MP and president of the minority-based party All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), is contesting.
Ask anyone in Hojai, and he will guide you to any of the various educational institutions or the Haji Abdul Majid Memorial (HAMM) Hospital and Research Center that the Ajmal Foundation runs in the “perfume town”.
Locals know him as “Ajmal Seth”, who is a perfume baron with business interests spread across India and the Gulf. Despite his significant reach in Assam’s “Miya” areas, the AIUDF is facing the toughest battle this election.
For nearly two decades, AIUDF remained a force to be reckoned with in Bengali Muslim constituencies, bagging 10 seats in 2006 polls, 18 in 2011, 13 in 2016 and 16 in 2021. The party’s slide began with the 2024 Lok Sabha elections when it drew a blank.
Ajmal’s drubbing signalled the AIUDF’s depleting popularity, and Congress began to work in minority areas. Despite the odds, Ajmal is confident. “We hope that we will win 25 seats,” he said. AIUDF is contesting 30 seats.