Muslim vote split helped BJP in Muzaffarnagar
HOW THE BATTLE WAS WON While the Samajwadi Party, RLD and the AIMIM fought for Muslim votes, the Hindus polarised in favour of the saffron party
After offering his Friday prayers in a local mosque in Muzaffarnagar’s Budhana area, 28-year-old Mohammad Naushad sounded upbeat about the election results expected the next day. “Myself and every Muslim I know, have been praying for Akhilesh Yadav’s victory. This time we voted with passion. We voted to redeem respect,” said Naushad who lost his house in the communal riots of 2013.
Naushad and almost everyone in Nayi Basti, a colony of around 70 families of riot-affected Muslims in Budhana, said that they voted for the Samajwadi Party .
Reasons? It gave them compensation; development work done by SP; the BSP remained silent on riots; RLD is considered a party of Jats who caused maximum damage to Muslims during the riots.
“We are waiting for this election result like we do for
(new moon which marks the festival of Eid),” said Naushad’s father Mohammad Yunus.
SP’s victory, Yunus said, would mean that people have taught a lesson to the BJP and a BJP’ win would mean that Muslims would have to live in fear.
After 24 hours, as results started pouring in, the mood was sombre in Nayi Basti. Groups of men watching TV were stunned, silent and grappling to put the result into perspective. By 3 pm, they had stopped watching TV and went back to their daily chores. In Muzaffarnagar and adjoining Shamli — two worst affected districts during the riots — the SP could win only one out of nine seats.
(Hindus got consolidated). And Muslims got divided. There is no other way to read this result,” said Naushad.
It is evident that the Muslim vote is not a monolith. Take Rohilkhand region, for example, where assembly seats have 30-60% of Muslim population. While the SP continues to enjoy the support of the community, the BSP, along with RLD and AIMIM were fighting to wean away the Muslim vote from the SP’s fold. It resulted in reverse polarisation of Hindu vote in this region and BJP became the unintended beneficiary, winning Muslim dominated seats of Badaun, Shahjahanpur, Pilibhit and Moradabad Nagar.
(This is a lesson for Muslims. They are never united),” grumbled Ishtiaq Khan, watching election result on TV in Budhana.
The result also challenges the theory that Muslims vote only to defeat the BJP. Not all Muslims across UP form a block go stop the BJP.
Thirdly, the result proves that a party can win UP without reaching out to Muslims.