Anger against the administration and rage against the ruling Samajwadi Party were evident in this Muslim belt of Lalgunj and Azamgarh
Photo | PTI
Lalgunj (U.P.): Heavy police presence, shops with shutters down, small groups of men whispering to each other early Thursday morning at Mohammadpur, in Lalgunj Lok Sabha constituency, was a clear sign of an uneasy calm.
Clashes between two communities over a minor issue on Monday had claimed the life of a youth in this area. Anger against the administration and rage against the ruling Samajwadi Party were evident in this Muslim belt. Lalgunj and Azamgarh are two adjacent Lok Sabha constituencies in eastern Uttar Pradesh.
It was clear that the Muslims of Mohammadpur were ready to abandon SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, who is already reeling under a gradual shift of the Yadav vote bank towards the BJP. But the minority community of Mohammadpur was not shifting either to the BSP or the Congress.
Block Development Committee president Muhammed Nagman seethed: “We have had enough of BSP and SP and Congress.” They are looking at the Ulama Council or Aam Aadmi Party. Rashtriya Ulama Council (RUC), popularly known as the Ulama Council, came into existence as a protest group after two youth from Azamgarh were killed in the Batla House encounter in 2008.
The following year, the RUC contested Lok Sabha polls on five seats. Though it failed to win a single seat, reports indicated that the outfit secured nearly 2.25 lakh votes. The Azamgarh administration on Wednesday prevented the RUC from holding a meeting near Mohammadpur.
While the AAP’s presence is somewhat symbolic, it seemed the RUC was likely to reap the benefit of Muslim rage against Mulayam. Yet again with the Muslim votes moving away from the SP, BSP and Congress to a fourth alternative, it could mean advantage saffrons. What came as a surprise was that the minorities in this area were not losing sleep over BJP rule at the Centre or in their constituency. “Hame koi farak nahi parta (It makes no difference to us),” said Abdul Fazal, sitting beside Nagman. “All these political parties, who were trying scare us with impending BJP rule, are no better,” Nagman butted in. By this time a good number of people had gathered with the police watching from a distance. Someone from the crowd shouted “Modi toh hamare khula dushman hain... baki sab chhupe dushman hain (Modi is our declared enemy... the others are hidden enemies).” “Theek, theek (Right right),” the crowd echoed. “What about Muzaffarnagar,” another pointed out. “The SP is as bad as the BJP,” others said.
The SP is in a catch-22 situation. If Yadavs, OBCs and a section of dalits are angry with Mulayam Singh for his “Muslim appeasement”, a section of Muslims are angry about the “lack of development and the corruption among the leaders”.
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