The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is reaching out to Muslims in the run-up to the elections as part of a strategy that acknowledges the intricacy of holding on to the support of Brahmin voters amid signs of the Bharatiya Janata Party’ new beginning in the state.
Disillusionment among Muslims with the ruling Samajwadi Party following the Muzaffarnagar riots offers a unique opportunity to BSP, a strategist close to party chief Mayawati said, adding up that Muslims were probably to go along with BSP since they would seek to vote strategically to keep Modi out.
With the BJP on the ascendant, the BSP has given an elapse to its outreach to Brahmins ahead of the upcoming elections. The maths works out in the BSP’s favour, the strategist said, further explaning that Muslims (18% of the state’s population) and the party’s core supporters among the Dalits (23%) form a bigger grouping than Dalits and Brahmins (9%) put together that the BSP banked on in the 2007 assembly elections and 2009 Lok Sabha polls.
This gives details that Mayawati’s bid to assure the Muslim electorate that her party will not back a Modi-led coalition after the polls. “If you vote for the BSP you will help keep the BJP out of power at the Centre,” she said at a rally last month on her birthday. “Only the BSP can give an equal share in power to the Muslims… I call upon for a Dalit-Muslim bhaichara (brotherhood),” she said, shunning her earlier slogan of ‘Dalit-Brahmin bhaichara’ in previous polls.
As per BSP members, the party is likely to field 18 Muslim candidates. The number is more than that announced by the SP, which has named 14 Muslim candidates in its list of 77 declared up to now. Mayawati has given tickets to eight Muslim candidates around Muzaffarnagar alone as she look forward to cash in on the polarisation in western UP.
“Muslims have seen the true face of Samajwadi Party in Muzaffarnagar riots. It was the Samajwadi Party which wheedled the riots in which Muslims bore the brunt. On top of that, Rahul Gandhi called the riot victims ISI agents,” BSP’s Swami Prasad Maurya. He was referring to the September 2013 riots that killed 62 and displaced more than 30,000 people.
Political commentator Ram Dutt Tripathi said the Muslim votes could get divided in the state, thwarting BSP’s strategy to some extent. “If it (Dalit-Muslim combination) were to come about, BSP would rule the state forever and control national politics. But it’s a difficult combination to achieve. The fact that Mayawati allied with the BJP in the past would play on the mind of the minority voters. Also, the Muslims would vote tactically, due to the Modi phobia, in order to defeat BJP,” said Tripathi.
Chowdhury, however claptraped Mollah’s allegations against the CPM, saying, “Mollah’s claims are meaningless. He is saying all this out of frustration.”
Mollah told that he would contest the next assembly elections on two main issues. “We want a Dalit chief minister from north Bengal and a Muslim deputy chief minister. We will be contesting the 2016 assembly elections by highlighting these two key issues,” he said.
The CPM is likely to field no less than 10 Muslim candidates in the Lok Sabha elections, a party leader said, adding that this could well be the biggest number of tickets given to the minority candidates by any party in the state.
Chowdhury’s backing to the party will make all the difference even as he may not be able to attend the rallies due to his illness, CPM members said. “There is no doubt that Chowdhury will be able to help us regain Muslim votes,” said Anisur Rahaman, CPI (M) MLA and state committee member. Another state committee member,
Moinul Hassan said, “Chowdhury’s decision to support Left candidates will not only help us regain our lost ground in West Bengal but also help the entire Left force to garner support from the minority communities.”