Rift in SP over chief’s silence on Muslims

Growing rift in the Samajwadi Party over its chief Akhilesh Yadav on 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 election to stop the BJP’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 poll 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 Ram Navami festivities in many cities including in 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 Akhilesh cannot remain silent in the name of electoral strategy.

Kasim tendered his resignation citing no action by party chief Akhilesh 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 released a letter to the media, stating: “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 community in good stead, 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 recent Assembly election.

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 poll. In another development, the SP’s Rajya Sabha member Sukhram Singh Yadav met UP CM Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow, triggering speculations he might switch over to the BJP.