Uttar Pradesh: Congress Urges Muslim Community To Choose Them Over SP And BSP, Says We Can Defeat BJP

The Congress aims to convey to the Muslim community that they can be an alternative to the BJP at the national level through a statewide campaign. They suggest that supporting the SP or BSP has only resulted in strengthening the BJP, and the Congress can be a reliable alternative.

The old political party is employing previous election data to bolster its message in minority-heavy areas, specifically in western UP.

Congress' political situation in UP has worsened in recent years as they remain in political isolation in the state.

“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.”

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.

The state Congress is focusing on identifying villages in western UP with high population of communities such as Tyagis, Rajputs, Jats and Gujjars, belonging to Hindu and Muslim communities. This trend is observed in districts like Bulandshahr, Meerut, Hapur etc. The party plans to reach out to these communities, unite them and hold panchayats for communal harmony, as stated by Alam.

The Congress minority cell created pamphlets with nine points to discourage the Muslim community from voting for BSP or SP, as it would benefit BJP in Parliament, as part of their efforts to reach out to minorities.

The pamphlet seeks to address Muslims, advising them that their voting patterns have inadvertently strengthened the BJP. “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,” he said.

The pamphlet cautions of Akhilesh or Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal forming a third front to divert the minority community's focus.

It highlights the delay in clearing Rajasthan's Congress-led government's anti-lynching bill, which was introduced in August 2019 and has yet to be approved by the Centre.

The pamphlet pledges to enact a law against communal violence proposed by the Congress-led government in 2013.