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Mayawati gets support of Muslims

Chief Minister Mayawati with Muslim clerics in Lucknow on Wednesday.

LUCKNOW: Chief Minister Mayawati’s efforts to make a dent in the Muslim support base of the Samajwadi Party (and the Congress) and to further consolidate her party’s hold on the minority community were intensified on Wednesday with the Bahujan Samaj Party leader meeting a delegation of leading Muslim clerics at her official residence here.

The Muslim leaders had come to thank Ms. Mayawati for her stand on the proposed nuclear deal with the United States.

The delegation comprised the Vice-Chairman of All India Muslim Personal Law Board and leading Shia cleric, Maulana Kalbe Sadiq, the Naib Imam of Lucknow’s Aishbagh Idgah and AIMPLB member, Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahali, Muslim Personal Law Board member Maulana Hamidul Hasan, the Imam of Lucknow’s historic Tilewali Masjid, Maulana Fazlur Rahman Waizi Nadwi, Maulana Aleem Farooqui and Maulana Naeemur Rahman. Another important cleric, Maulana Kalbe Jawwad, who is in Iran, had a telephonic conversation with the Chief Minister.

Only on Tuesday the UP Chief Minister had stated that the UPA Government’s decision to go ahead with the nuke deal had angered the Muslims. She accused the Samajwadi Party and the Congress of launching a tirade against her Government as these parties were wary of the possibility of the Muslims shifting to the BSP.

An official press release issued by the State Information and Public Relations Department said the religious leaders urged the Chief Minister to use her influence to prevent the “anti-national” deal.

The Muslim clerics who met the Chief Minister on Wednesday had supported the Samajwadi Party when Mulayam Singh was in power in the State. Wednesday’s meeting with Ms. Mayawati was reportedly “arranged” by the BSP Government’s Muslim face, the Irrigation and PWD Minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui.

Apprehending the possibility of the Muslims veering towards the BSP over the nuke deal issue, the acting president of the UP unit of Samajwadi Party and Mr. Mulayam Singh’s brother, Shivpal Singh Yadav, attacked Ms. Mayawati for having thrice formed the government in the State with the Bharatiya Janata Party.

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