The SP leadership made hectic efforts to prop up more Muslim faces from west to east UP but could not get desired results. Mulayam Singh Yadav had also fallen back on both Sunni and Shia clerics (Mullas) to widen the party’s reach but these people proved highly “centered” and simply interested in serving their vested interest. They moved away for “greener pasture” after the departure of SP government in 2007 and 2017, writes M Hasan
Lucknow, October 10: “Tumme se ek bhi Azam ban ke dekhao, main unko kinare kar doonga” (even one of you show me to become Azam, I will push him aside), once retorted Mulayam Singh to a group of Muslim MLAs/Ministers, who had expressed displeasure over “giving undue” importance to senior leader and one of the founders of Samajwadi Party Mohammad Azam Khan. During the meeting a Muslim minister from west UP told Mulayam Singh Yadav “ Aap jis ke sar par haath rakh den who Azam ho jayega” (One would become Azam if you put your hand on his head). Yadav shot back “Kyaa apke sar par mera Haath Nahin hai” (whether my hand is not on your head). There was stoic silence in the meeting. Mulayam Singh Yadav amply knew the political significance and relevance of Khan. Khan had also played decisive role in installation of Akhilesh Yadav as the Chief Minister in 2012.
Thus, if Samajwadi Party Akhilesh Yadav flew all alone, even leaving Rampur MP Maulana and Pesh Imam Delhi Mosque Mohibbullah Nadvi back at Barielly airport last week, to meet Azam Khan, the message was loud and clear to Muslim leaders in party that even now “ there is no parallel to Azam Khan as a Muslim face” as a senior SP leader put it. Even after more than a decade Mulayam Singh Yadav’s words have proved prophetic.
The SP leadership made hectic efforts to prop up more Muslim faces from west to east UP but could not get desired results. Mulayam Singh Yadav had also fallen back on both Sunni and Shia clerics to widen the party’s reach but these people proved highly “centered” and simply interested in serving their vested interest. They moved away for “greener pasture” after the departure of SP government in 2007 and 2017.
Even though Muslim community is today largely aligned with the SP, there is now strong realization that SP’s “cleric-based” politics of the past had only proved counter-productive, which also boosted “communal” forces. Mayawati too had followed in the SP’s foot steps when she came to power in 2007.The then minister Nasimuddin Siddique, a Muslim face in BSP govt was pivot of “Mullah-centric” politics.
During two previous dispensations of SP (2003-2007 and 2012-2017) these clerics from various schools reportedly never pulled on well with Azam Khan whose upbringing and ideological roots are ingrained in Aligarh Muslim University. Khan had done his LLM from AMU before plunging into politics.
It may be recalled that during Mulayam Singh Yadav’s regime (2003-07) a group of clerics had expressed reservation to the Chief Minister’s move to involve Khan in some matters. They wanted decision directly from the Chief Minister.
Khan’s complete ban on entry of any other party leader to his Rampur house during Akhilesh Yadav’s visit on October 8 demonstrated that he did not recognize anyone of them who in fact looked the other way while he suffered in Sitapur jail for a long time. As of now there is even no space for Rampur MP also. He has refused to “recognize” him. There is now feeling in the party that Khan wants to keep Mullahs (clerics) away from the organization who have proved more a liability than asset in the past.
After going through political shenanigan of large-number of clerics during the last two decades in UP, the community also appears to be politically disenchanted with them. They have never been “vote-catchers” in the past and there is no change now when large-number of them are “hobnobbing” with BJP government. In fact, the role of some Shia clerics is more despicable than their counterparts in other sects. The road ahead for the SP is clear: whether it would again fall back on “clerical politics” or widen its PDA (Pichchda, Dalit, Alpasankyak) platform for others.
(M Hasan is former Chief of Bureau Hindustan Times, Lucknow)
