On November 8, in his first rally of the Maharashtra Assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for consolidation of Hindu votes, raising the slogan “Ek hai toh safe hai (Together, we are safe)”. The political symbolism of raising the slogan in Dhule in North Maharashtra was not lost as the AIMIM led by Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi won the Dhule City constituency in 2019, though Muslims constitute only 21.7% of the population.

Modi’s call for consolidation was aimed at addressing the BJP’s growing challenge in Dhule City, where the party faces a strong contender for the Hindu vote in Anil Gote, a journalist-turned-politician and former three-time MLA. After a stint with the BJP, Gote is contesting the election on a Shiv Sena (UBT) ticket.

Gote is a flamboyant and controversial figure. Apart from being a former journalist and a political firebrand, he was also one of the accused in the Telgi stamp scam. He spent four years and one day in prison for his alleged involvement with Abdul Karim Telgi, the mastermind behind the stamp paper racket. Gote was accused of using his political influence to secure a stamp vending license for Telgi.

Gote began his career as a journalist with a national daily, forging friendships with influential politicians, including George Fernandes and Gopinath Munde. He joined electoral politics in 1999, winning Dhule City on a Samajwadi Janata Party ticket and quickly rising through its ranks.

However, ambition led Gote to make a critical mistake. He played a key role in an attempt to destabilise the government by trying to split the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). The failure of this coup marked the beginning of his downfall, which was compounded by his arrest in the Telgi stamp scam in 2003.

After almost four years in prison, Gote received bail in 2007 and made a comeback two years later when he won Dhule City again, this time on a ticket of his Lok Sangram Party. He joined the BJP in 2014 and retained the constituency in 2014 as he rode the Modi wave to victory. He became close to then Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis but a fallout between the two saw Gote being sidelined after the BJP’s decisive victory in the Dhule Municipal Corporation elections in 2018. He did not get the BJP ticket but contested the Assembly elections the following year as an Independent.

Undeterred, Gote contested the 2019 Assembly elections from Dhule City as an Independent. The undivided Shiv Sena that contested the seat finished fourth as the AIMIM’s Faruk Shah won the election by a narrow 3,307-vote margin, Independent Rajvardhan Kadambande finished runner-up and Gote came third.

Since then, the BJP has focused on reclaiming Dhule, which it has won only once in the last five decades (in 2014 when Gote was its candidate). The party recently received a boost when its candidate for the Dhule Lok Sabha constituency took a lead of 4,824 votes in the Dhule City Assembly segment. The BJP, in fact, led in five of the six Assembly segments and only lost the parliamentary constituency because it fell behind the Congress in the Muslim-dominated Malegaon Central Assembly segment.

For the Assembly election, the BJP has fielded long-time loyalist Anup Agarwal to challenge both Faruk Shah and Gote. The AIMIM’s win in 2019 and the fact that a Muslim MLA represented the constituency for the first time ever was seen as a significant setback for the established parties, including the BJP. As a result, there has been an effort to polarise the electorate this time. “The election has become intensely polarised, reflecting the broader communal and ideological divides in Maharashtra politics,” said Dhule-based activist Rajesh Masole.

While the Hindu vote is expected to get split between Gote and Agarwal, Faruk Shah faces a challenge from the Samajwadi Party S(P) that too has fielded a candidate.

The electoral contest in Dhule reflects a larger, tense political environment. But Gote says his focus is on transforming the city. “Over the years, this city has been systematically looted. There was a Rs 500 crore scam in the Dhule Municipal Corporation, and recently, newly laid concrete roads began eroding just days after construction. This is the scale of corruption we’re facing. People told me that if I didn’t step in, Dhule would be left to waste. That’s why I have decided to contest the election,” he said.