According to Muslim intellectuals and leaders, the Samajwadi Party is likely to face electoral stumbling block in western UP because of its government’s handling of last year’s riots in Muzaffarnagar.
A telltale sign to this came on Monday when SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav was forced to call off his address at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) following protests by students.
Mushirul Hasan, former Jamia Millia Islamia vice-chancellor and an AMU alumnus told in response to Economic times, “The Muzaffarnagar riots shook the very grounds that had once built the image of Mulayam as the protector of Muslim interests and self-respect during the Ramjanmbhoomi-Babri Masjid conflict.” “Although it is yet to be seen if this anger against Yadav also costs him electoral setbacks, one thing is certain—that his position in the proposed Third Front will remain shaky hereto. He cannot be positioned as the champion of secularism any longer,” Hasan said.
AMU faculty members are of the same mind with Hassan’s assessment. “AMU students represent the Muslim youth from all over the state, and not just Aligarh; they are therefore a capsulated representation of the Muslim sentiment across UP,” said Arshi Khan, associate professor in the department of political science at the university. “The protest augurs bad omen for political parties that cannot protect the life and livelihood of their electorate.”
Students on the campus said that SP and, to a lesser extent the BSP, have always patronised elected student leaders from AMU with various favours and party postings.
EX- student union president Khalid Masood, who had organised the failed event, is a case in point. Masood was made the chairman of Fakhruddin Committee set up to recommend grants to state libraries. The post entitles him the status of a state minister.
Tariq Mansoor, chief medical superintendent of JN Medical College at AMU, said being politically sensitive and active was a good sign as long as the protesters were not aggravated or goaded by a political vested interest. “In the latest incident,” Mansoor said, “the students displayed that they have a mind of their own.” Does it then mean that an awakening of the Muslim youth in UP will cost Yadav and his party dear in the upcoming elections?
Hasan did not find it fair to see it in the light of Hindu or Muslim youth.