The last thing on Mohammad Azharuddin’s mind is cricket. One day before the World Cup final against Australia in Ahmedabad, the former batsman who has seen the highs and lows of stardom is trawling the narrow streets of Srinagar Colony in the heart of Hyderabad as the Congress candidate for the Jubilee Hills constituency.
Surrounded by a tight pack of followers and a DJ van blaring campaign songs, he weaves his way around women clad in black burqas which hide knapsacks, Lord Ayyappa followers in black robes riding scooters, autos honking at SUVs, curious onlookers, small grocers and the normalised madness of Indian streets.
Amid the chaos, you shout into his ear questions loaded with cricket metaphors, but he deftly flicks them away. This is your first election on home turf, you ask him. Any difference in the pitch from your first election in UP’s Moradabad? He smiles and tells you, “In Moradabad we did mostly roadshows. Here, you must walk. You must do more padyatras.”
Azhar’s campaign managers want him to touch base with as many voters as possible on the stretch. They ensure he doesn’t spend too much time at one place, asking him to constantly move on.
What you see next, you will not see in any of the millions of swanky images of the former India captain floating on the internet. Azhar sitting down to chat with a roadside butcher chopping meat, Azhar handing out pamphlets to a tea stall owner, Azahar stopping at every nook and corner allowing almost everyone to take selfies with him… A senior citizen pulls out his mobile to show Azhar his photo with Rahul Gandhi during the Bharat Jodo Yatra. He shows surprise.
Why did it take him so long to play an innings on home turf, you ask in the brief moment you stand next to him. Is there some home advantage? Again, no cricket metaphors. “When I joined the party, they needed me in Moradabad, so that’s how I started off,” he says and moves, pushed by a wave of supporters.
Azhar had won his first Lok Sabha election from Moradabad in 2009. In 2014, he was given the Tonk Sawai-Madhopur ticket in Rajasthan, but lost by a margin of more than 1 lakh votes. After nine years, this will be his first electoral battle and that too, at home in Hyderabad.
One reason why he has been given the Jubilee Hills ticket is to tap the Muslim voters in the constituency. You wonder aloud that he is a prominent Muslim face of Congress, a cricket star and a politician, but which identity takes precedence?
After a brief pause, he says, “I think I am a politician now. Yes, I belong to the minority community, but I believe that people of all faiths will vote for me. At the same time, I would like to appeal to Muslims to vote for Congress. If vote is split, there will be no development and it will be back to same old politics.” Will he be watching the World Cup final tomorrow? “I have a busy schedule tomorrow, so I don’t know,” he says. “Maybe, let’s see.”