Politics over mafia don Atiq Ahmed as SP, BSP eye Muslim vote bank for 2024

VIVEK TRIPATHI

Lucknow, March 12 (IANS) Both the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh have been engaged in attracting the votes of the Muslim community, by softening their stand on mafia don Atiq Ahmed.

SP Secretary General Ram Gopal Yadav has come forward in support of Ahmed's minor sons.

Yadav said that the police are unable to find the real accused in the Prayagraj incident and that there was pressure on them to catch and frame anyone. He added that Ahmed's two sons were caught on the first day of the incident itself.

Yadav stated that it is suspected that one of them may have been killed. He said that the Constitution of India gives every citizen the fundamental right to life and the police cannot just apprehend someone and kill them, as that is a punishable offence.

The SP leader added that those who have done fake encounters will be prosecuted for murder.

He said that the culprits of Umesh Pal murder case should be punished severely but called the policies adopted by the state government destructive.

A senior SP leader said that the party, which has emerged as the largest opposition in the 2022 Assembly elections, does not want to lose the Muslim vote bank as the community has played a big role in strengthening it.

In the 2017 elections, 24 Muslim MLAs were elected, out of which 17 won on SP tickets, which increased to a total of 34 MLAs being elected in 2022, of which 31 were from SP.

BSP Chief Mayawati raised questions on the encounter of two of the four accused involved in the murder of Umesh Pal and said that the actions taken by the police in this matter have raised doubts within the minds of the people about the rule of law in Uttar Pradesh.

She questioned whether the government would repeat the 'Vikas Dubey scandal' to cover up its failures.

Mayawati added that the state government is under a lot of tension and pressure, especially regarding the law and order situation, over the murder of Umesh Pal in broad daylight.

She said that the whole country had its eyes on the state government on whether it would follow the rule of law or stop crime by killing criminals on the streets.

A BSP leader said that the party would perform well with the strong Dalit-Muslim alliance even if it does not team up with SP.

He added that Mayawati knows that better results cannot be achieved only on the Dalit votebank, therefore, after the setback in the Assembly elections, BSP has been trying to reconnect with the prominent Muslim community.

Significantly, the BSP was reduced to one seat and 13 per cent vote bank in the Assembly elections. Meanwhile, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, 10 BSP MPs won when it was in alliance with SP, prior to which the BSP had zero seats in 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

One of the major reasons behind the BSP's poor performance in the Assembly polls was believed to be the one-sided vote of the Muslims for the SP. Even after giving 89 tickets to Muslim leaders, none of them had won.

Political experts believe that SP got the Muslim vote bank in UP in bulk in the 2022 Assembly elections, but could not form the government. The party is now trying to save the votebank, which is why BSP leaders are giving such statements.

Mayawati has included the Muslim leaders in her party to bring the community's votes in her fold, by campaigning with leaders like Shah Alam aka Guddu Jamali from eastern UP and Imran Masood.

New equations are seen getting formed over Muslim politics in the state, in such a situation, opposition parties will have to adopt new strategies to maintain their vote bank.

BJP state spokesperson Avneesh Tyagi said that SP-BSP has dressed criminals in political garb and have nothing to do with the public.

Adding that, the opposition parties raise questions when action is taken against the criminals, as they have been the patrons of mafias in the state.

Senior political analyst Yogesh Mishra said that the SP and BSP built their empire by taking in criminals and there is no big mafia in the state who has not been a part of these parties.

Mishra added that these parties are enchanted by criminals, which is why Mayawati and Ram Gopal Yadav are speaking in support of Atiq Ahmed.

He said that Yadav is standing in support of Ahmed despite knowing that SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav does not like him.

Mishra added that both the leaders are supporting Ahmed due to their personal interest of gaining minority votes.