The Samajwadi Party (SP) has dismissed the allegations levelled by the ruling BJP camp that the violence in Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh was the outcome of a caste conflict between the SP's Sambhal MP Zia-ur-Rehman Barq and its Sambhal MLA Iqbal Mehmood. Some BJP leaders have alleged that the "tussle" between the two Sambhal SP leaders was on the lines of “Turks versus Pathans” with Zia and Mehmood belonging to the Turk and Pathan communities respectively. The SP leaders have rejected these allegations, even as they pointed out that there has been a political rivalry between the families of the two leaders for about four decades. In its FIRs lodged in connection with the violence in Sambhal on Sunday over a court-ordered survey of the local Shahi Jama Masjid – in which four people were killed and several police personnel injured – the police have named Zia and Mehmood's son Sohail Iqbal as accused among many others. Both Zia and the SP have dismissed the police case, maintaining that the former was not even in UP last Sunday. The Sambhal district in western UP has been a stronghold of the SP for about three decades. Since the 1980s, both the Barq and Mehmood families have been contesting elections against each other on the tickets of different parties, although they have remained mainly associated with the SP since the 1990s. The SP's Sambhal district president Asghar Ali said, “Both the families buried their political differences during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections after the demise of Shafiqur Rehman Barq sahab. Now both sides are together working with the party and there are no differences. The allegations of a clash between Turks and Pathans over influence in Sambhal are baseless.” Zia, 35, is the grandson of former SP stalwart late Shafiqur Rehman Barq, who passed away at the age of 94 in February this year. He was the oldest member of the previous Lok Sabha. Shafiqur Rehman was a four-time MLA from Sambhal and five-time Lok Sabha MP – twice from Sambhal and thrice from neighbouring Moradabad. Mehmood, 71, is a seven-term MLA from Sambhal and ex-minister, who has been winning the seat on the SP ticket continuously since 1996. In 1991, he had won the seat as the Janata Dal nominee. Zia and Sohail, Mehmood's son, have been booked by the police for allegedly provoking protesters near the Sambhal mosque Sunday when its second survey was conducted. Shafiqur Rehman passed away days after the SP announced his candidature from Sambhal for the Lok Sabha polls. His death led to the SP fielding Zia from the constituency, who was then the party MLA from Kundarki. Kundarki is part of the Sambhal Lok Sabha seat, although it falls in the Moradabad district. Zia's 2022 win from Kundarki was largely owing to his grandfather's popularity. Zia won the Sambhal parliamentary constituency by defeating the BJP's Parmeshwar Lal Saini by over 1.21 lakh votes. In the recent bypolls, however, the BJP won the Kundarki seat vacated by Zia, where its candidate Ramveer Singh trounced the SP's Mohammad Rizwan, an ex-MLA, by over 1.44 lakh votes. Zia had contested his first Assembly election from Sambhal as the AIMIM candidate in the 2017 UP polls when the SP had denied him ticket and preferred to field sitting party MLA Mehmood. While Mahmood retained the seat, Zia finished third. In the 2007 polls, Zia's father Mamlook-ur-Rehman had contested from the Sambhal Assembly seat as the RLD nominee but finished fourth in the election won by Mehmood. In the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, Shafiqur Rehman had clinched the Sambhal constituency on the BSP ticket, defeating Mehmood who had contested as the SP candidate. In the 2002 Assembly polls, Mehmood had trounced Shafiqur Rehman in Sambhal, when the latter was contesting on the Rashtriya Parivartan Dal (RPD)'s ticket. In 1989, Shafiqur Rehman, contesting as a Janata Dal candidate, had won the Sambhal Assembly seat by defeating Mehmood, who was then with the Congress. In the 1985 polls too, he had won the same seat as a Lok Dal candidate by defeating Mehmood's father Mahmud Hasan Khan, who had fought as an Independent. “There had been a face-off between the families of Iqbal Mehmood and Shafiqur Rehman Barq over political influence in Sambhal for over three decades. They contested against each in Sambhal Assembly and Lok Sabha seats several times. While Mehmood maintained his influence in Sambhal Assembly seat, Barq retained hold on Sambhal Lok Sabha seat,” said an SP leader. During the recent Lok Sabha polls, Zia was booked by the police for allegedly making objectionable comments during his campaign and seeking votes in the name of the “sacrifices” of gangsters-turned-politicians Mohammad Shahabuddin, Mukhtar Ansari and Atiq Ahmed, who died while in prison. Zia has denied these police charges. His campaign was said to have largely showcased the legacy of his grandfather. A day after violence erupted in Sambhal, UP excise minister Nitin Agarwal first made the allegation about a battle of one-upmanship between Zia and Mehmood and their supporters on the “Turks versus Pathans” lines. In a post on X then, Agarwal said, “The arson and violence in Sambhal is result of the politics of supremacy. The Turk-Pathan dispute not only disrupted peace but also raised questions about the safety of common people.” The SP immediately debunked it, accusing the BJP of allegedly “trying to drive a wedge between Muslim sub-castes after creating a Hindu-Muslim divide”. “BJP is trying to divert attention. We are hearing it for the first time about this Turk and Pathan matter. The issue is Jama Masjid and all Muslims are united over it,” Iqbal Mehmood told The Indian Express, adding that “there is no fight for supremacy in Sambhal”.
