UP Elections 2017: Mayawati pulls out all stops to woo Muslims

As any electoral analyst will tell you, the Muslim vote is crucial to winning India's largest state — Uttar Pradesh. And that's just what Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati is doing, albeit on a larger scale than 2012.

Just take a look at the figures. Out of the 403 seats up for grabs in the state the BSP has fielded 97 Muslim candidates — 12 more than 2012. (see box for party breakup of candidates) Her reasoning is simple. Since Muslims account for nearly 20 per cent of the voters in the state, Mayawati is playing Dalit-Muslim consolidation card to return to power. For instance, in the communally sensitive district of Bijnor, which has 43 per cent Muslim population, she has fielded six Muslim candidates out of eight seats. Other two seats are reserved for scheduled caste candidates.

Such seems to be the desperation for Muslim votes by the party, that some 186 kms away in Bareilly where Mayawati has arrived to address a mammoth gathering, loudspeakers are shut and she orders a silence as a mark of respect to the sound of azaan coming from a nearby mosque.

It's not just Mayawati's reaction. Before her speech, pointsman Naseemuddin Siddiqui tells his community: "UP did not have a single Muslim MP in 2014. Do you want the same in the Lucknow Assembly?" After the rally in a frank conversation, Siddiqui admits that the BSP has been a second choice for Muslims, who so far have repeatedly reposed faith in the SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav.

"But now he (Mulayam) himself is saying, his son Akhilesh is anti-Muslim. The community should not put its eggs in just one basket," he tells dna, before he rushes to accompany his leader in the waiting cavalcade.

BSP district president Deepak Singh seconds Siddiqui. Singh admits that the party's strategy for 2017 assembly elections is to woo Muslim votes as his party is sure that their Dalit vote base is intact, even though a significant portion had strayed into the BJP camp during the last Lok Sabha polls.

Insiders in the BSP do acknowledge that the party supremo needs to devise a new strategy and look out for alliances with like-minded parties. Since the failure of the party's alliance with the SP and Congress in the past, Mayawati has refused to enter into any pre-poll alliances. They say both the Congress as well as Hyderabad MP Asadudin Owasi's party All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMM) had approached her. But after keeping them hanging for months, she finally said 'No'. "We would have got a big psychological advantage, had Behenji tied up with either of these parties," they say.

BSP candidate from Rampur Dr. Tanveer Ahmed Khan, facing the SP heavyweight Azam Khan, denies that his party is only banking upon Dalits and Muslims. "Our focus is sarvasmaj. We have Satish Misra, a Brahmin in our ranks, so is Thakur Jaiveer Singh, RS Kushwaha, Lalji Verma, Ram Prasad Chaudhary etc," he said.

However, this has come at a political cost. In this endeavour of wooing Muslims, leaders like Swami Prasad Maurya, RK Choudhary and Ravindra Nath Tripathi have deserted the party, concluding that EBCs (extreme backward castes) were moving away from the party, especially in the aftermath of the BJP's pro-Dalit, pro-OBC outreach.

Asked whether Mayawati may repeat the past practice of joining the BJP after polls to become chief minister, Khan blames Mulayam for giving BJP a space in the state. "SP had an understanding with them four times and thrice contested elections with them. Mulayam was elected to the state assembly first time in alliance with Jan Sangh (BJP's predecessor) in 1967. In 1989, VP Singh, Mulayam Singh and BJP were together in alliance as Janata Dal. Then (LK) Advani's rath yatra happened during his period. Firing happened. In fact, Mulayam is also responsible for the demolition of the Babri Mosque," he says.

On Mayawati building only statues and memorials, Khan blames the media for ignoring her other works and focusing only on those works which had cost just 1 per cent of the budget.

Even though, the party doesn't believe in issuing manifestos, a pamphlet being distributed by party workers vows to waive farmers' loans up to Rs 1 lakh per head and extend quota benefits to the poor among the upper castes. The booklet also cautions that reservation facility to Dalits and backwards will come to an end in case the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party), which is working on RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) agenda, comes to power in UP.

The party cadres believe that gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari's Quami Ekta Dal's merger with the BSP has given a boost to party to woo backward Ansari Muslims across the state. Ekta Dal had earlier merged with the SP last year triggering a turmoil in that party. Mukhtar Ansari, his son Abbas Ansari and brother Sigbatullaha have being given party tickets from Mau, Ghosi and Mohmadabad seats, respectively.

Asked how much money he had to pay to get a party ticket, a demure Khan, owner of a hospital in the heart of Rampur city, said he pays for party fund every year voluntarily, not for seeking ticket. "We are the party of the downtrodden. You in the media don't understand this. No corporate pays us like they pay other parties. We collect donations from party workers to run party expenses and we pay voluntarily," he says.

BSP – Party Candidates breakup

Uttar Pradesh 403 seats

Muslims candidates 97
Dalit candidates       87
OBC candidates       106
Upper Castes        113 (Brahmins       66, Kashatriyas       36, Others 11)