From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: Growing rift in the Samajwadi Party over its chief Akhilesh Yadav over issues related to the Muslims manifested on Friday as their leader Mohammad Kasim Raeen tendered his resignation from all party posts in Lucknow.
While leaders close to Akhilesh claimed his stance on Muslim issues “strategic”, adopted in the run-up to the elections to stop the BJP’s ’s “politics of religious polarisation” and keep Other Backward Class (OBC) and upper caste voters on its side, his opponents said the strategy failed to pay dividends in the elections and should be rethought.
The number of Muslim leaders questioning the silence of Akhilesh Yadav over the alleged incidents of atrocities against the minority community has been constantly going up.
“Attacks by the saffron brigade on mosques during Ramnavmi festivities in many cities including Madhya Pradesh and rising violence against Muslims is not stirring the conscience of our leader”, a prominent SP Muslim leader said preferring anonymity and hastened to add that Akhilesh cannot remain silent in the name of electoral strategy.
Kasim tendered his resignation citing no action by party chief Akhilesh Yadav and others against the alleged atrocities meted out to Muslims in the state. He accused the SP chief of having no interest in raising the issues of Muslims.
Referring to the “plight” of Muslim leaders and party MLAs like Azam Khan, Nahid Hassan and Shahzil Islam, Raeen wrote in a letter released to media: “I am resigning from all the posts of the party after being displeased with such behaviour of the SP President towards Muslims,” he added. Kasim was the SP sector in-charge of the Sultanpur district.
In the wake of rising discontent among the Muslim leadership of the SP, the party may find it tough to keep the minority community in good humour, argue political pundits. According to them, if the discontent intensifies, the SP will face a challenge in keeping the minority vote bank intact in 2024 getting as much support as it got in the recently concluded Assembly elections.
It will be difficult for Akhilesh to fight the perception that Muslim leaders are being ignored by him despite putting in their blood and sweat in the biggest ever consolidation of the community in his favour in the history of UP Assembly elections.
Despite aggressively positioning itself against the saffron party, the SP finished a distant second winning 111 seats and the BJP-led NDA retained power winning 273 seats in the 403-member Assembly.
In the recent past, the SP has been facing dissent from different quarters of the Muslim community. While an office bearer Salman Javed Raeen resigned on Wednesday, Azam Khan’s media in-charge Fasahat Ali Shanu, SP MP from Sambhal Shafiqur Rehman Barq and a cleric of revered Ala Hazarat shrine of Bareilly, Maulana Shahabuddin Rizvi, all have expressed dismay and displeasure over the alleged apathetic attitude of the SP chief towards the community.
The cleric even went to the extent of saying that Akhilesh didn’t like Muslims. He advised the community to shun the SP and join the BJP. Rizvi is also the national general secretary of Tanzeeem Ulma-e-Islam.
“In fact, the dissent emanating from the minority community is due to the frustration and feeling of hopelessness among the Muslims especially after the Assembly elections. In fact, the perception that Muslim consolidation could stop the saffron juggernaut has been defeated. Now the feeling of being ‘irrelevant’ as a vote bank is riding high among Muslims and they are venting that ire on the SP leadership,” says JP Shukla, a prominent political commentator.
However, he does not rule out a division of Muslim votes in upcoming elections especially the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. “The Muslims have realized that their votes even in favour of one party best placed to defeat the BJP cannot stop the saffron surge. So, in 2024, they may drift a bit towards the Congress as it will be a national election and the SP and BSP do not have much stake in it,” says Shukla.
However, for now, voices emerging from the Muslim camp are no music for the SP leadership. The situation may see other political parties like the Congress and BSP back in the picture eyeing Muslim votes.
