Messaging is key as Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav sets up meeting with Mukhtar Ansari’s kin in Ghazipur

April 07, 2024 01:30 am | Updated 11:33 am IST - Ghaziabad

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s meeting with the late Mukhtar Ansari’s family in Ghazipur on Sunday has set off some churning in the party over how to engage with the sentiments of the Muslim community.

A section of party leaders do not see the Sunday visit as a one-off private visit for commiseration. Theysayit can generate counter-polarisation to the Hindutva agenda of the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP), where all segments of society that are against the authoritarian ways of the current regime could join in. Others feel making it part of the campaign could help the BJP in furthering its divisive agenda.

The official cause of Mukhtar’s death in judicial custody was said to be cardiac arrest. However, the Ansari family suspects death due to poisoning. A CJM court of Banda has ordered an inquiry into this.

Spokesperson Ameeque Jamei said the party endorses the family’s charge that Mukhtar was poisoned in prison. He said the party would continue to raise the issue of the safety of prisoners and those undertrials who have been vocal critics of the present regime during the campaign.

Another SP leader said Mukhtar’s “mysterious” death gave an impression of “a State-sponsored murder”. “Mukhtar was facing serious charges but only the courts should have decided his fate,” he said.

He said they would also raise why the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister provided a turncoat like Abhay Singh, once considered to be the right-hand man of Mukhtar, with Y-plus security after he voted for the BJP candidate in the Rajya Sabha polls.

Serious charges

Mr. Singh, a Thakur, is an SP MLA from Gosaiganj Assembly seat in Ayodhya and faces several serious charges. “We will ask why this discrimination: security for Abhay and poison for Mukhtar,” the SP leader said.

He further alleged that BJP-supported bahubali Dhananjay Singh was sent to jail after he evinced interest in switching over to SP when the BJP denied him a ticket.

Another leader from central U.P. however, said though there is an undercurrent of support for the Ansari family among Muslims across the State, the party would not like to go overboard at a time when the Chief Minister is openly taking credit for eliminating incarcerated criminals in his rallies.

“A gangster has no religion but the way he died has created sympathy for him. It was not like this with Atiq Ahmed ’s murder,” he said.