Muslim community in UP has confusion worse confounded

Shobhit Kalra
Published on: 9 Jan 2017 12:33 PM GMT
Muslim community in UP has confusion worse confounded
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Muslim community in UP has confusion worse confounded

Lucknow: The goings-on in the Samajwadi Party may not have confused others as much as the Muslim community.

Members of the community have been largely backing the party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav for his fight against the Bhartiya Janta Party and tough stand against Kar Sevaks in Ayodhya leading to police firing which caused several deaths. Its rival, the Bahujan Samaj Party got some vote-share but compared to the former it was insignificant excepting 2007 when the party bagged more than 200 seats and formed government in Uttar Pradesh on its own.

The Samajwadi Party might have received the same favour if Mulayam was the undisputed leader of the party and his family feud had not come out in the open. A good many of them may be even now supporting him but their predicament is that with virtual division in the party the Bhartiya Janta Party may gain and none of them would like to see it happen. It is this possibility which is in the root of the confusion.

Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati has done whatever could be possibly done to win a sizable support from the community. She has offered 97 seats out of the total 403 to Muslims which is even higher than the seats allotted to Dalits, the community she has been mainly banking on.

But it may not be enough to wean the Muslims away for the simple reason that they largely vote for the candidates who can defeat the BJP and with the party drawing a blank in the last Lok Sabha election they are not sure of a complete reversal of the situation in the forthcoming poll. The party has not remained the same after allegation of corruption levelled against her not by one member but many in the past and some of the party senior leaders including R K Chaudhary deserting it a couple of months ago.

The Dalit community share in the total population is 21 or 22 per cent and with their majority support the scenario would have been different in the previous Lok Sabha poll. No party candidate could win the election indicated that many Dalits too went for the BJP candidates. Muslims' suspicion , therefore, is not unreasonable.

For both the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party Muslims matter. They matter for the community too as they cannot support either the Congress or the BJP. The latter it cannot vote for because of its anti-Muslim image and the former for the Babri Masjid demolition. General suspicion in the community is that the Congress government at the Centre then had mishandled the situation and did not do enough to prevent destruction of the mosque.

There is another reason for the community to worry about. In case of formalisation of split in the Samajwadi Party it will not remain as a strong a force in the state. Mulayam's position may weaken and chief minister Akhilesh Yadav faction may tie up with the Congress. In that even the community will have two options to choose from: one, to go with Mulayam or side with Mayawati.

Mayawati stands a better chance in such a scenario. She carries the same hope. The confusion in the minds of the community, however, is a welcome development for the BJP which hopes to cash on it. In addition it will depend on the Modi magic and his stand on triple talaq. Muslim women in general and a group in Shia Muslim sect in particular are opposed to this form of divorce and the two may vote for some BJP candidates, improving their winning prospects further.

A clearer picture will emerge in next few days after notification for the first phase of election. The seven-phase polling will end on March 8.

Shobhit Kalra

Shobhit Kalra

Writer has 10 years of experience in digital media. Presently working as Chief Sub Editor at newstrack.com. An avid reader and always willing to learn new things and techniques.

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