04-12-2007, 03:31 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Ambitious Deoband satraps divide Muslims </b>
Pioneer.com
Rajesh Kumar | Deoband (Saharanpur)
Around 15 km off the Delhi-Dehradun highway is Deoband, the seat of an orthodox Islamic seminary. The Deoband Vidhan Sabha seat has over one lakh Muslim voters. However, it's always a Thakur who has been winning this seat. Such results are possible due to the overwhelming ambitions of regional Muslim satraps.Â
Between Meerut, Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur, there are 24 Assembly constituencies. On more than three-fourth seats, Muslims have substantial presence. The poll agenda of the area perfectly mirrors the policy of Muslim appeasement. <b>A few days back, Congress's star campaigner Rahul Gandhi visited the seminary here and tried to convince the ulemas to help the Congress. But the Muslim clerics did not oblige and demanded that Gandhi should offer an apology for Babri Masjid demolition. </b> <!--emo&
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<span style='color:red'>Rahul Gandhi's attempt to win over Muslims by blaming former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao for Babri Masjid demolition has not really worked. They expected Rahul Gandhi to apologise the way his mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi apologised to the Sikhs for operation Blue Star. </span>
Appeasement, patronage and flourishing agrarian economy have ensured mushrooming of several ambitious Muslim satraps in the region. In Meerut city alone, there is serious contest between various Muslim leaders for establishing supremacy. While still a Minister in the Mulayam Singh Yadav Government, local MLA Haji Yakub Qureshi is fighting on Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) symbol. His bete noire Akhlaq Ahmed, who till recently was Mayor of Meerut on Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket, is supporting the Samajwadi Party (SP). Ahmed recently switched over to the SP.
<b>And of course, there is the party of Muslim ulemas backed by Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid, the United Democratic Front (UDF). Qureshi is expected to cause trouble for Mulayam Singh Yadav on several seats. There are several other small Muslim outfits in the fray. There is the Parcham Party of India led by one Saleem Peerzada, the Momeen Conference, the Muslim Majlis and the National League. These small parties enjoy the patronage of the UP Jamat-e-Islami led by Maulana Mohammed Ahmed.</b>
In addition, the prominent secular parties have fielded a good number of Muslim candidates on over a dozen seats, where elections would be held on April 13. In such a scenario, the electorate stands polarised. Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) headed by Choudhury Ajit Singh has tried to dent the Muslim vote-bank of Mulayam Singh by working up Kishan-Muslim unity with the help of former SP leader Munnawar Hasan. Despite the mushrooming of the Muslim outfits, the BSP and SP are still set to grab the lion's share of the minority votes. Mayawati has sent the right feelers by fielding 61 Muslim candidates. The Congress, on the other hand, is trying to deliver the message to Muslims that the party has taken first initiative on the Sachar report and trying to cash in minority dominated areas in western UP.
The split in the Muslim votes, that make the largest block of votes in western UP, may make the task easy for the BJP. To the advantage of the Bharatiya Janata Party,<b> the Hindus cutting across caste lines are pitching for the saffron party, particularly in the urban centres. The BJP is depending heavily on its committed cadre support to take benefit of Hindu sentiments.</b>
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Pioneer.com
Rajesh Kumar | Deoband (Saharanpur)
Around 15 km off the Delhi-Dehradun highway is Deoband, the seat of an orthodox Islamic seminary. The Deoband Vidhan Sabha seat has over one lakh Muslim voters. However, it's always a Thakur who has been winning this seat. Such results are possible due to the overwhelming ambitions of regional Muslim satraps.Â
Between Meerut, Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur, there are 24 Assembly constituencies. On more than three-fourth seats, Muslims have substantial presence. The poll agenda of the area perfectly mirrors the policy of Muslim appeasement. <b>A few days back, Congress's star campaigner Rahul Gandhi visited the seminary here and tried to convince the ulemas to help the Congress. But the Muslim clerics did not oblige and demanded that Gandhi should offer an apology for Babri Masjid demolition. </b> <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo--> <span style='color:red'>Rahul Gandhi's attempt to win over Muslims by blaming former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao for Babri Masjid demolition has not really worked. They expected Rahul Gandhi to apologise the way his mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi apologised to the Sikhs for operation Blue Star. </span>
Appeasement, patronage and flourishing agrarian economy have ensured mushrooming of several ambitious Muslim satraps in the region. In Meerut city alone, there is serious contest between various Muslim leaders for establishing supremacy. While still a Minister in the Mulayam Singh Yadav Government, local MLA Haji Yakub Qureshi is fighting on Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) symbol. His bete noire Akhlaq Ahmed, who till recently was Mayor of Meerut on Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket, is supporting the Samajwadi Party (SP). Ahmed recently switched over to the SP.
<b>And of course, there is the party of Muslim ulemas backed by Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid, the United Democratic Front (UDF). Qureshi is expected to cause trouble for Mulayam Singh Yadav on several seats. There are several other small Muslim outfits in the fray. There is the Parcham Party of India led by one Saleem Peerzada, the Momeen Conference, the Muslim Majlis and the National League. These small parties enjoy the patronage of the UP Jamat-e-Islami led by Maulana Mohammed Ahmed.</b>
In addition, the prominent secular parties have fielded a good number of Muslim candidates on over a dozen seats, where elections would be held on April 13. In such a scenario, the electorate stands polarised. Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) headed by Choudhury Ajit Singh has tried to dent the Muslim vote-bank of Mulayam Singh by working up Kishan-Muslim unity with the help of former SP leader Munnawar Hasan. Despite the mushrooming of the Muslim outfits, the BSP and SP are still set to grab the lion's share of the minority votes. Mayawati has sent the right feelers by fielding 61 Muslim candidates. The Congress, on the other hand, is trying to deliver the message to Muslims that the party has taken first initiative on the Sachar report and trying to cash in minority dominated areas in western UP.
The split in the Muslim votes, that make the largest block of votes in western UP, may make the task easy for the BJP. To the advantage of the Bharatiya Janata Party,<b> the Hindus cutting across caste lines are pitching for the saffron party, particularly in the urban centres. The BJP is depending heavily on its committed cadre support to take benefit of Hindu sentiments.</b>
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