Mayawati's Muslim outreach to undo damage due to BSPs stand on Article 370 & Triple Talaq

NEW DELHI: Mayawati appointing Muslim leaders to the senior posts in the party, Danish Ali again as Leader of the party in Lok Sabha and Munquad Ali as the state party president, seems an outreach to the Muslim community after the perception took root that BSP had let down Muslims on the issues of Triple Talaq and Article 370.

The desertion of the Muslim vote is seen as a strong reason for the party’s disastrous performance in the recent by-polls in the state where BSP failed to win a single seat. Though this was the first time that Mayawati decided to contest by-polls, the verdict is seen by observers in the state as a vote of no-confidence in the BSP after the party abstained from voting during the passage of the Triple Talaq law in Rajya Sabha and went on to vote in favour of the government on the issue of abrogating Article 370.

The Samajwadi party, which took up cudgels against the government on both issues in the Parliament, has cornered BSP on the issue and projected itself on the ground as the true representative of the Muslim interests, a senior Samajawadi party leader told ET.

A person closely involved with the BSP told ET that Mayawati is now impressing upon her cadres to take the message to people that she did not act under BJP’s pressure or direction on the issues of Triple Talaq or Article 370 and that the vote in favour of the latter was in line with Bhim Rao Ambedkar’s vision and the decision went in favour of the Buddhists of Ladakh. This however does not explain why the party’s AmrohaMP, Danish Ali, was removed abruptly in August by Mayawati as the LOP in Lok Sabha and now re-instated again in the post on Thursday. Ali was said to be against the party’s approach on issues of Triple Talaq and Article 370 and wanted the party to vote against the Article 370 move like Samajwadi Party and Congress did.

Ali’s appointment along with Munquad Ali as the state party president who was appointed in August now presents a rare scenario where two key posts in the BSP are being held by Muslim leaders. Ali, a former two-time Rajya Sabha MP, is a leader from the minority-dominated Meerut region which has been a stronghold of the BSP. Ali is also an MP from Amroha in West UP – pointing to the focus of BSP in this region now which in the past has seen Muslims voting for Mayawati in a big way. BSP fared badly on all three by-poll seats in West UP – Gangoh, Rampur and Iglas.