Mulayam rubs hard to erase ‘maulana’ tag

Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav seems busy trying out a new Jat-Rajput-Yadav (JRY) equation — riding the sympathy wave generated by ...

Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav seems busy trying out a new Jat-Rajput-Yadav (JRY) equation — riding the sympathy wave generated by POTA ‘‘victim’’ Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya and with a little push from Ajit Singh — abandoning his time-tested Muslim-Yadav (MY) formula.

That Mulayam is slowly distancing himself from the minority community was abundantly clear when he did not turn up for a gathering of Muslim scholars and heads of madarsas at the Ganna Sansthan Hall in Lucknow on Tuesday.

He is also avoiding a meeting with delegates of the All India Milli Council — a joint forum of four Muslim organisations. The forum had sent a fax to the CM’s secretariat three days ago, asking for an appointment, but is yet to receive a reply. ‘‘Now that time is over and we are free to choose our future political course,’’ said a member of the forum.

It is another matter that Mulayam himself had assured time to the forum members in a letter dispatched on March 13. ‘‘At a time when communal forces are raising their heads, the onus is on the Milli Council to help maintain communal harmony. I am not finding time to attend the Council’s convention (in New Delhi on March 15 and 16) but I will personally meet you,’’ reads Mulayam’s letter to Manjoor Alam, the convenor of the council’s political committee.

The shift in the political strategy of the CM, once christened ‘‘Maulana Mulayam’’, is also baffling his party leaders. So far, Mulayam has spared 10 seats for Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal in western UP as a token of his appreciation of the Jat community. His party is also ready to launch a campaign to focus on how former CM Mayawati had ‘‘victimised’’ Raja Bhaiyya and humiliated the Thakurs. As many as 30 vans have already been sent to constituencies with cassettes playing songs in praise of Raja Bhaiyya and of the SP’s efforts to release him.

With Ajit Singh already in league with Mulayam and party general secretary Amar Singh doing his bit to win over the powerful Rajput (Thakur) lobby, the SP is all set for the strategic transformation from MY to JRY in its vote bank.