Mulayam Singh Yadav set to revive ‘Maulana’ image

Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav is preparing to return to his yesteryear image of “Maulana Mulayam” — an image that he earned when he adopted a fierce pro-Muslim stand during the Ayodhya movement.

Mr Yadav has apparently realized that development alone cannot ensure his party’s return to power and the growing disenchantment of the Muslims with the Samajwadi Party could cost him dear.

Twenty-six years after Mr Yadav, then UP chief minister, ordered firing on “kar sevaks” in Ayodhya in November 1990 in which 16 people were killed, the former chief minister has said that this was necessary to save the faith of Muslims in the country.

Trying to walk the tight rope between Hindus and Muslims, the SP leader said that the decision was “painful, but essential”.

“The idea is mainly to remind Muslims of how he ordered fire on Hindus to save their mosque and, thereby, re-cultivate his ‘Maulana Mulayam’ image. His regret on joining hands with Kalyan Singh, who was a prominent leader of the Ayodhya movement, is also a part of this strategy,” said a senior political analyst.

Interestingly, after a point in time, Mr Yadav had started resenting the title of “Maulana Mulayam” and had even blamed the media for giving him this title.

The Samajwadi Party, under the leadership of Akhilesh Yadav, has been making concerted efforts to cultivate a Hindu friendly image by initiating schemes like the Samajwadi Shravan Yatra that takes senior citizens on pilgrimage and the development and beautification of Hindu pilgrim centres including Varanasi, Mathura and Ayodhya.

However, recent surveys conducted by the Samajwadi Party indicate that Muslims are looking for options and are not too happy with the ruling party, particularly after the Muzaffarnagar riots.

The advent of parties like the AIMIM and the efforts of the Congress to revive itself in UP are already threatening to make a dent in the Muslim vote base of the SP.

“We are aware that Muslims are upset with us and some rival parties are trying to add insult to the injury. We have been unable to fulfil our promise of releasing Muslim youth framed in false terror cases and also reservation to the community, but there are legal hurdles in this. Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav is only trying to remind Muslims all that he did for them during the Ayodhya movement. This is essential because the new generation Muslim is not aware of the events taht took place then,” said a Muslim minister.