In an exclusive interview with NDTV, Firdous spoke candidly about his unexpected foray into politics.
New Delhi:
Earlier this year, Sofia Firdous was preparing for the re-election of her father, Mohammed Mokim, who was then the sitting MP from Cuttack in Odisha. But just a month before the state assembly elections began, the family was shocked to learn that Mokim, the managing director of real estate company Metro Group, was ineligible to contest the election because the Supreme Court had not stayed his conviction in the Odisha Rural Housing Development Corporation (ORHDC) loan scam case.
With 30 days to go and no candidate, the Indian National Congress pinned its hopes on Firdous, the 32-year-old who gave up a career as a real estate developer to defeat the BJP’s Purna Chandra Mahapatra by 8,001 votes to become the state’s first Muslim woman legislator.
In an exclusive interview with NDTV, Firdous spoke candidly about his unexpected foray into politics.
“I am not a politician,” she stressed, “When my father was unable to contest the elections, 400-500 of his supporters gathered at our house. They recognised the hard work and strong foundation he had built in Cuttack and unanimously supported me to contest the elections.”
Firdous had already been actively involved in her father’s campaigns in the 2014 and 2019 elections, canvassing doors, managing social media and working closely with Indian National Congress Party activists. Her close ties with the party’s grassroots activists made her a natural choice. Media speculation further fuelled the momentum, followed by a phone call from senior party leader Girivala Behera that confirmed her candidacy.
Firdous faced the daunting task of running a short campaign with just a month to prepare, and she recalls her early fears about whether voters would transfer their trust to her father.
“The elections were just a month away. My biggest concern was that people knew my father well as he had done a lot of grassroots work. He lost in 2014 and then won in 2019. So why would people vote for me and trust me so quickly?” Firdous said.
“The campaigning began in the sweltering heat from 6 am to 2 pm and then resumed from 5 pm to 9 pm. We had only a month to reach out to people and focused on door-to-door campaigning. What really worked for me was the great work of my father and the report card that we proudly shared,” she added.
One of the youngest members of the Odisha Assembly, Firdous now faces an uphill task of taking on veteran politicians from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD).
“I am very excited. I joined the real estate industry in 2013 at the age of 21. A few years later, RERA (Real Estate Regulatory Authority) came into force. I studied a lot and started giving presentations on RERA. That’s how I got involved in advocating policies to the government. Even then, my seniors in their 50s and 60s would say, ‘She is still a kid’. I took it very personally and started working even harder,” Firdous said.
Drawing inspiration from former Odisha Chief Minister Nandini Satpathy, who also hails from Cuttack, Firdous aims to follow in the footsteps of the ‘Iron Lady of Odisha’.
As well as addressing Cuttack’s immediate problems such as drainage and mosquito problems, she has a personal ambition to elevate the city’s status as the luxury textile capital of India.
When asked about her identity as a “Muslim state legislator”, Firdous said, “I am an Odia-speaking Indian and a woman first and foremost. Throughout my career and professional life in real estate, I have worked hard for women’s empowerment and will continue to do so in politics too. Becoming a Muslim politician has never been something I have considered before.”
Recent state elections in Odisha brought an end to Patnaik’s 24-year rule, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) taking power with 78 seats in the 147-seat assembly, a significant shift from the BJD’s previous dominance. The BJD won 51 seats, the Indian National Congress won 14, and three seats were won by independent candidates. In the Lok Sabha elections, the BJD suffered a major defeat, with the BJP winning 20 seats and the Indian National Congress winning one of the state’s 21 seats.
