Azam Khan to rejoin Mulayam soon
July 27th 2010 03:05
Maulana Mulayam plans a comeback and that too in amnner bound to stun his opponents. In the aearly 1990s a senior journalist Osama Talha while penning an article for a national daily came up with a new title for a wrestler from Etawah, he called him Maulana Mulayam and the name struck to Mulayam Singh Yadav and saw him in good stead in the 1990s. The Samajwadi Party rose to heights even it could not have imagined and then came downfall in the last Assembly elections. The latter half of the first decade of the 21st Century was not as rosy as it should have been for this great grassroots leader. Even journos forgot that he was Maulana Mulayam and so did his vote bank.
His constant wooing of Amar Singh and his attempt to cuddle up to Kalyan Singh were both disasters in the making and a few months ago political pundits in the state were virtually writing off the Samajwadi Party as a non-player in future elections. They were justified in doing do for the silence in the SP ranks was deafening.
But now MSY has finally broken a studied silence. He has apologized to the Muslim masses for having neglected them, Amar Singh the man who his aides and prominent parties leaders had differences with has left the party and Mulayam has nothing to do with Kalyan Singh the man who is seen as the BJP face behind the demolition of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya.
It is obvious now that Mulayam is staging a comeback with a multi-star cast of Muslim leaders, an act which may well make him popular with the minority community and make him the darling of the voters of Uttar Pradesh once again.
Mulayam Singh has been seen as the right vehicle for delivery in regional politics by the voters of Uttar Pradesh. They still have a lot of confidence in the man’s words and there are still two years to go for the next Assembly elections. In such a situation MSY may actually succeed in pulling his party back from the brink and do it in a manner no other party leader can hope to do so.
Political sources indicate that the timing is just right. With the holy month of Ramzan just a few weeks away religious fervor and sentiment will be high among the minorities and MSY can cash in on this sentiment. It is rumored that the parties most favorite Muslim leader Azam Khan may rejoin after Eid and so will a battery of Muslim leaders to reinforce the dwindling ranks of the SP with new strength.
While those who take a simplistic view feel Amar Singh’s departure has left the Samajwadi bereft of Thakur support others feel differently. They feel Amar and MSY are playing a new game and Amar’s new manch could be SP in disguise. So has Mulayam divided his army into two flanks to catch the BSP in a double whammy?
Let us take a look at the last Assembly elections. The astute political wrestler that he is MSY knows he was literally beaten by Mayawati by a split second. In more than a 100 seats the Samajwadi Party lost by an average of 500 to 1500 votes to the BSP which pulled off its victory based on its social engineering by becoming a Brahmin dominated party overnight. In such a defeat Mulayam sees his victory. He has identified the main reasons for his defeat, the departure of the Muslim vote from his party’s fold.
Take the case of Raja Bhinga a six-time sitting MLA and one who can be termed a winning candidate in every sense. The Rani Sahab contesting on a SP ticket lost to Laddan Mishra by 1,500 votes. Then take the case of Nakul Dubey who won by less than 3,000 votes in Lucknow. Mulayam, say sources, feels all it will take to win these seats is political fine-tuning and the fact that the anti-incumbency factor will not work against him this time.
No doubt Azam Khan’s return will be celebrated among a section of the minority community. But the last few years have seen the rise of new Muslim parties too. Take the Peace Party led by Dr Ayub Ansari in the Devi Patan division, the Momin Conference of Rais Ansari in Sandila and several others, which have fragmented the Muslim vote. But Amar Singh is now being seen in political circles as a person who is closeting up to the small Muslim Tanzeems in the hope of creating a confederacy of Muslim tanzeems to forge together a new political cavalry so to speak. Armed with the language of the Sermon of the Mount these leaders can both destroy or recreate the new Samajwadi Party. So what is Amar Singh’s role here? Is he ought to destroy MSY or rebuild him? Only time will tell. Which leaves one more question unanswered. IF Azam Khan can return will other leaders, Muslim and even non-Muslim follow suit?
But now MSY has finally broken a studied silence. He has apologized to the Muslim masses for having neglected them, Amar Singh the man who his aides and prominent parties leaders had differences with has left the party and Mulayam has nothing to do with Kalyan Singh the man who is seen as the BJP face behind the demolition of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya.
It is obvious now that Mulayam is staging a comeback with a multi-star cast of Muslim leaders, an act which may well make him popular with the minority community and make him the darling of the voters of Uttar Pradesh once again.
Mulayam Singh has been seen as the right vehicle for delivery in regional politics by the voters of Uttar Pradesh. They still have a lot of confidence in the man’s words and there are still two years to go for the next Assembly elections. In such a situation MSY may actually succeed in pulling his party back from the brink and do it in a manner no other party leader can hope to do so.
Political sources indicate that the timing is just right. With the holy month of Ramzan just a few weeks away religious fervor and sentiment will be high among the minorities and MSY can cash in on this sentiment. It is rumored that the parties most favorite Muslim leader Azam Khan may rejoin after Eid and so will a battery of Muslim leaders to reinforce the dwindling ranks of the SP with new strength.
While those who take a simplistic view feel Amar Singh’s departure has left the Samajwadi bereft of Thakur support others feel differently. They feel Amar and MSY are playing a new game and Amar’s new manch could be SP in disguise. So has Mulayam divided his army into two flanks to catch the BSP in a double whammy?
Let us take a look at the last Assembly elections. The astute political wrestler that he is MSY knows he was literally beaten by Mayawati by a split second. In more than a 100 seats the Samajwadi Party lost by an average of 500 to 1500 votes to the BSP which pulled off its victory based on its social engineering by becoming a Brahmin dominated party overnight. In such a defeat Mulayam sees his victory. He has identified the main reasons for his defeat, the departure of the Muslim vote from his party’s fold.
Take the case of Raja Bhinga a six-time sitting MLA and one who can be termed a winning candidate in every sense. The Rani Sahab contesting on a SP ticket lost to Laddan Mishra by 1,500 votes. Then take the case of Nakul Dubey who won by less than 3,000 votes in Lucknow. Mulayam, say sources, feels all it will take to win these seats is political fine-tuning and the fact that the anti-incumbency factor will not work against him this time.
No doubt Azam Khan’s return will be celebrated among a section of the minority community. But the last few years have seen the rise of new Muslim parties too. Take the Peace Party led by Dr Ayub Ansari in the Devi Patan division, the Momin Conference of Rais Ansari in Sandila and several others, which have fragmented the Muslim vote. But Amar Singh is now being seen in political circles as a person who is closeting up to the small Muslim Tanzeems in the hope of creating a confederacy of Muslim tanzeems to forge together a new political cavalry so to speak. Armed with the language of the Sermon of the Mount these leaders can both destroy or recreate the new Samajwadi Party. So what is Amar Singh’s role here? Is he ought to destroy MSY or rebuild him? Only time will tell. Which leaves one more question unanswered. IF Azam Khan can return will other leaders, Muslim and even non-Muslim follow suit?
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