A section of Muslims in Firozabad slave of Saifai family: BSP candidate
The voting in Firozabad was held on May 7.
4 min read
Choudhary Basheer, BSP Firozabad candidate and former Uttar Pradesh minister (File Photo)Bahujan Samaj Party’s Firozabad candidate and former Uttar Pradesh minister Choudhary Basheer claimed that a section of the Muslim community from the Lok Sabha constituency is slave of a family (Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s) from Saifai whom they are scared of.
A purported video of Choudhary is doing rounds on social media wherein he is heard saying that members of the community tried hard that votes were not cast in his favour and that they lost a “golden chance” of an individual among them becoming their MP.
The voting in Firozabad was held on May 7.
While the BJP has fielded Vishwadeep Singh from the seat, Akshaya Yadav is contesting on SP ticket. Akshaya is cousin of Akhilesh and
son of senior SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Akshaya finished as a runner-up with 4,67038 votes. Basheer unsuccessfully contested as Independent candidate.The seat was won by the BJP.
In the video, Choudhary said, “Badey afsos key saath mujhey yeh kehna pad raha hai ki Firozabad key Musalman samaaj key logon ko mainey jahan tak ho sakta tha mehanat karkey samjhaney ki bahut koshish ki ke Bahujan Samaj Party ka jo base vote hai woh hamarey saath hai. Is baar agar aap lok mera saath de dengey toh aapke beech sey MP ho jayega. Lekin Firozabad key Muslim samaj key log joSamajwadi Party key karyakarta hain..unhoney mahaul ko bigadney ki bahut koshish ki aur vote Chaudhary Basheer yaani BSP ko nahi padne diya. (I have to say with regret that I made every effort to engage with the Muslim community of Firozabad, emphasising that the BSP’s base vote is with me. I conveyed that if they supported me, an individual from among them could become the MP. However, members of Firozabad’s Muslim community, who are affiliated with the Samajwadi Party, actively worked to prevent votes from being cast in favor of me).”
He added, “I am very sorry to say that you will not get such an opportunity in the years to come. You will regret this because a golden chance was in your hands that you have let it go. You have proved that the Muslims of Firozabad are slaves of the Saifai family and have got accustomed to slavery. That is why they are not emerging. You are unable to free yourself from the Saifai family.”
“By not voting for me, they (Muslims) have shown that they are more fearful of the Saifai family than Allah. The Muslims of Firozabad will gain nothing from it. When the election results are announced on June 4, they will realise what they did. I want to thank them that you defeated your brother by not casting vote (for him).”
When reached for comments, Basheer asserted that there was a considerable chance of him securing a victory since he received support from people across communities.
The former minister claimed to have carried out a good campaign during the elections, and that there was a strong anti-incumbency sentiment against the sitting MP and the Samajwadi Party.
He alleged that leaders of the Samajwadi Party spent crores of rupees on their campaign at the last moment, thus swaying the election in their favour.
Of a total 19 lakh votes in the constituency, 3.5 lakh votes each are from the Muslim and Dalit communities. “I made the video after the polling concluded. My statement is transparent and clear,” said Basheer, a native of Agra, who previously won the 2002 assembly election on a BSP ticket from Agra Cantonment.
“In my statement, I specifically referred to the Muslim community in Samajwadi Party strongholds like Firozabad. I questioned my own community for not voting for me,” he clarified.
BSP’s state president Vishwanath Pal said he was not aware of such a video. Party’s district president Brajesh Kumar Varun did not respond to calls.
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