In UP outreach with pamphlets, Congress flags BJP rise in bid to wean Muslims from SP, BSP

The grand old party is using data of the past elections in support of its pitch for this campaign in minority-dominated belts, especially in western UP.

The Congress has continued to be in political wilderness in UP, with its plight appearing to have turned more abysmal in the state in recent years.

“We have covered 1,500 minority-dominated villages to spread our message, which is not superficial but is supported by examples from the past. We are trying to explain to them that when Muslims vote for SP or BSP, there are other castes that do not support them. That how despite a strong alliance between SP and BSP in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Dalits did not vote for SP while backwards did not vote for BSP,” said the UP Congress’s minority cell in-charge Shahnawaz Alam.

“We are giving examples to the minority community as to how despite their alliance in 2019 general elections the SP and BSP could win only from the seats where the Muslim population was relatively higher, such as in Amroha, Sambhal, Bijnore, but ended up losing in Yadav-dominated areas like Kannauj, where the Muslim population was not large.”

Alam claimed that a look at past elections show that “BJP had been weak when Congress was strong at the Centre but aggressive voting in favour of regional parties like SP or BSP only end up making BJP stronger”.

He said, “People know that neither SP nor BSP or RLD is going to make its government at the Centre. Thus when the minority community votes in their favour, it makes it easier for BJP,” adding that the Congress has been known for taking all the caste and communities on board.

Alam also said that the party is going to launch the second phase of the campaign after the current month of Ramzan. “In the second phase we will reach out to people belonging to castes which are common to both the majority and minority communities. We will try to convince them that the Congress is the best choice for them,” he said.

The state Congress is identifying such villages, especially in western UP, which account for more population of such communities. “Western UP is inhabited by Tyagis, Rajputs, Jats and Gujjars among others, who belong to both the Hindu and Muslim communities. This is seen especially in districts like Meerut, Bulandshahr, Hapur etc. We would reach out to these communities. We would try to bring them together and hold panchayats with them” said Alam.

The pamphlet being distributed. (Express Photo)

As part of their minority outreach, the state Congress’s minority cell has also prepared pamphlets for public distribution. It has nine points, telling the Muslim community how their votes for the BSP or the SP would “only make the BJP stronger” in Parliament.

Seeking to address Muslims, the pamphlet tells them, “When you used to vote completely for Congress, then BJP had just two seats from UP in Lok Sabha. As you started maintaining distance from Congress and started voting for SP and BSP to defeat BJP, it (BJP) became much stronger.”

The pamphlet charges that “It has been strategy of SP that till the time BJP remains at the Centre, Muslims would vote for SP out of fear”. It claims that when the minority vote went to the Congress in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, it got 22 seats in UP and that the BJP emerged strong in the 2014 polls – and even in the 2019 polls despite the SP-BSP alliance which was however able to win from several minority-dominated seats including Moradabad, Rampur, Sambhal, Bijnore, Saharanpur, Amroha and Azamgarh while losing in Yadav-dominated Kannauj and Badaun constituencies.

The pamphlet even warns of the probability of Akhilesh or even Delhi Chief Minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal forming a third front to “divert the minority community’s attention”.

It stresses the significance of having a Congress government at the Centre, saying it is crucial for clearing laws in favour of the minorities. It cites the instance of the Congress-ruled Rajasthan government’s move to pass an anti-lynching bill in the Assembly there in August 2019, which has still not been cleared by the Centre.

The pamphlet also promises to bring a law against communal violence as proposed by the Congress-led UPA government in 2013.