After the poor performance of the ruling Samajwadi Party in the recent Assembly byelection in which the party lost two of the three seats it held, the party leadership is rethinking its strategy for t
After the poor performance of the ruling Samajwadi Party in the recent Assembly byelection in which the party lost two of the three seats it held, the party leadership is rethinking its strategy for the upcoming assembly elections next year.
The results of the byelection clearly indicate that there has been a division of Muslim votes and the Samajwadi Party is no longer the sole beneficiary of these votes.
The party lost in Muzaffarnagar and Deoband — both of which have a sizeable Muslim population. In these byelection, the BSP did not contest which means that the presence of BSP would have further divided the anti-BJP vote.
“The byelection results prove that the shadow of Muzaffarnagar riots looms large over western UP and Muslims continue to blame the Samajwadi government for their sufferings. It is obvious that Muslims feel that our government has not been able to protect some adequately. Besides, there have been recurring communal clashes in the region since the past two and a half years and Muslims remain at the receiving end,” said a Muslim minister in the Akhilesh government.
Another major factor that has gone against the SP government is the acquittal of the accused persons in some of the major cases related to the riots.
“This has hurt the sentiments of the riot victims and they blame the government for this,” the minister said.
Party sources said that SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav has decided to make a fresh assessment of the reasons that led to the party’s defeat and change the strategy, if needed.
Mr Yadav will soon summon the ministers who had been deputed to work for the party in these by-elections. “None of the minister had told the party leaders about the possibility of SP losing in Muzaffarnagar and Deoband. It is obvious that the ministers were not clued in to ground realities and could not gauge the public mood,” a party functionary said.
The SP leadership is further upset by the entry of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) in state politics. Though the AIMIM candidate lost the Bikapur by-elections, he got merely 76 votes less than the BJP candidate. The AIMIM had fielded a Dalit candidate on this seat and would have got more votes if it had put up a Muslim candidate. The resurgence of the Congress in UP (Congress won the Deoband seat) is another cause for worry since it would mean a further division of anti-BJP votes and a direct loss to SP.
