The apology to Muslims from Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav seems to have unnerved the Congress that was all set to take advantage of Muslim alienation from the Samajwadi Party.
With Muslims having readily accepted Mr Yadav’s apology — even the Deoband seminary has hailed the same — the Congress is now trying to draw up an alternative strategy to keep Muslims on its side.
“We will definitely have to worker harder to enlist minority support in UP because after this apology, the Samajwadi Party will make a conscious effort to win back Muslim support. Muslims, however, have realised that the Congress remains the only truly secular force in the country and this is a major factor in our favour,” said a senior AICC leader. The Congress, if sources are to be believed, is planning to now concentrate on minority concentration districts (MCD) in UP to assuage the feelings of Muslims. “We may announce special schemes for MCDs since the main minority group in these districts in UP are Muslims. These schemes could be drawn up on basis of Sachchar Committee recommendations,” said the leader.
The 15 districts identified as minority concentrated districts in UP are Bulandshahr, Badaun, Barabanki, Kheri, Shahjahanpur, Moradabad, Rampur, Jyotiba Phule Nagar, Bareilly, Pilibhit, Bahraich, Shravasti, Balrampur, Siddhartanagar and Bijnor and schemes for Muslims here could prove beneficial for the Congress in the next assembly elections.
Congressmen in UP are also trying to convince the central leadership to send Mr Rahul Gandhi for at least one rally in each of these districts before the election campaign begins. “Mr Rahul Gandhi enjoys a high acceptability factor among UP minorities and if we can get him to interact and address at least one rally in each of these MCDs, we can consolidate our base among Muslims,” says a senior UP Congress leader.
It is clear that Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav’s apology to Muslims had forced the UP Congress out of its complacent mood and has swung it into action.
The SP, on the other hand, is delighted with the response from Muslims to Mr Yadav’s apology.
“Ever since Mr Yadav issued the statement on Thursday, we have been flooded with congratulatory messages from Muslim clerics and leaders of various sects,” said a state SP leader.