Shahi Imam, Syed Ahmad Bukhari and some clerics from Deoband on Saturday appealed to Muslims to vote for the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh.
Addressing a press conference here at a local five-star hotel on Saturday, the Shahi Imam said that Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav had assured him that interests of Muslims would be adequately protected if he was voted to power. He also rejected the Congress sub-quota for Muslims within the OBC quota and said that it would create a casteist divide within the Muslim community. “Reservation should be given to Muslims as a community because the entire community is comparatively backward,” he said.
Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, who was also present on the occasion, reiterated his promise and said that he would not disappoint Muslims and would address their hopes and aspirations on coming to power. The exercise is apparently aimed at creating a polarisation of votes on communal lines in which the Samajwadi Party stands to gain along with the BJP.
Interestingly, Mohammed Umar Khan, son-in-law of the Shahi Imam, is the Samajwadi Party candidate from Behat in Saharanpur.
The Shahi Imam lashed out against the Congress saying that the party had ruled for 50 years and there was “blood of Muslims on its hands.” He said that the Congress had targeted innocent Muslim youth in the name of terrorism and had filed to remove backwardness among Muslims in its long regime.
He termed the BSP a party of one caste and said that the party had insulted and humiliated Muslims in the past five years. The Shahi Imam said that he had forgiven Mulayam Singh Yadav for joining hands briefly with former BJP leader Kalyan Singh.