2009 Poll Prospects And Alignments-2

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http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/St...on+a+power+trip

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Muslim clerics of Azamgarh, an alleged nursery of terror some 800 km southeast of New Delhi, are raising new emotions and money over a 2008 shootout, an emotive issue for the town’s two-lakh residents.     

<b>The Ulama Express, a train hired for Rs 13 lakh</b>, is proof of how well their plan has worked. Clerics from the Ulama Council pressed people for donations to get justice for three slain sons of the soil - the terror suspects gunned down in a shootout in a flat in a building called Batla House in South Delhi on September 19 last year.

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The train to Azamgarh is being watched closely in Muslim settlements and political offices across Uttar Pradesh. If it does succeed in becoming an independent Muslim political movement -- none of which has ever seen significant success in independent India —- it will upset the electoral balance in UP.

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Rashadi minces no words. <b>His favourite slogan: “Hamein lalkaroge to pachtaoge (Dare not provoke us. You will regret it.)”</b>

Among the applauding crowds is a young boy, Arshad Abdullah, who claimed he was slain terror suspect Atif Amin's sparring partner, his rival in school. He called Amin “a martyr”, as does everyone else.

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At Lucknow station, the situation threatens to flare up. “Mayawati get lost. Death to ATS,” Rashadi's supporters shout, as policemen look on nervously.  ATS is the acronym for UP's Anti-Terrorism Squad. Passengers at the platform, sensing trouble, run helter-skelter, as the clerics sound increasingly more menacing. Police finally rein them in.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->