Even as it gears up for Lok Sabha elections, the Samajwadi Party is facing flak from its own Muslim leaders as well as criticism from Opposition parties for its ‘insufficient’ policies for minorities.
Shahi Imam Syed Ahmad Bukhari said during a visit to Kanpur that he lamented supporting the Samajwadi Party during the assembly elections.
The Shahi Imam said that the SP had promised to withdraw terror cases against innocent Muslim youth but now only cases involving leaders were being withdrawn.
“The SP, till date, has not done anything which can be said to be in the welfare of the Muslim community and I am sorely disappointed with this government. Muslims have suffered in communal riots but the government has not taken any steps,” he was quoted as having said.
As the Imam continues to attack the Akhilesh government, SP MP Abu Asim Azmi recently caused considerable embarrassment to his own party when he claimed in an interview that the UP government was ignoring issues related to Muslims. He stated that Muslims were sorely disappointed with the performance of the state government.
Meanwhile, release of the list of 55 candidates for the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh on Friday seems to have fuelled resentment within the party ranks. On condition of anonymity, a senior Muslim SP legislator, said, that by giving tickets to only 4 Muslim candidates in a list of 55, the party leadership had proved that it was not giving adequate representation in politics to Muslims.
“Only 25 seats remain to be announced which means that Muslims will not get more than 10 tickets. With this, how can we be expected to convince Muslims to vote for the Samajwadi Party? Yadavs are much less in population (about 10 per cent) compared to Muslims (18.5 per cent) and yet they have been given eight tickets which speaks volumes about the preference of the party,” he said.
The Congress, too, has been quick to point out the humiliation of Muslims by the Samajwadi Party.
In a statement issued here, UP Congress said that the Akhilesh government, after seven months in power, has yet to appoint the chairman of the Minorities Commission and the Urdu Academy.
“This reflects that Muslims are not on the priority list of the SP government. The SP Lok Sabha list further proves that Muslims are now being ignored by the ruling party,” said a UPCC spokesman.
Samajwadi Party spokesman Rajendra Choudhury meanwhile termed this as a “canard by vested interests” and said that the Samajwadi Party was the only political force that genuinely worked for the welfare of Muslims.