Muslims clearly appear to have emerged as the kingmaker in UP. While the SP bagged majority on its own for the first time, the party appeared to have bagged the support of the Muslims in a big way.
The SP’s massive victory also appeared to be due to the fact that the upper castes too swung in favour of the party to get rid of the Mayawati-led BSP government in the state.
“The SP’s promise to ensure 18 per cent reservation for the Muslims in jobs along with farm loan waiver up to `50,000, which will benefit a large number of peasants from the minority community in the Poorvanchal, turned out to be the winning factors,” said Athar Mehandi, a key political enthusiast from the Muslim-dominated Behraich district in UP.
Though the Congress tried hard to sell 4.5 per cent minority reservation within the OBC quota, the SP’s state unit chief and mascot of the party Akhilesh Yadav also succeeded in puncturing the Congress’ bid to win the Muslim support. The young Yadav appear to have succeeded in conveying to the Muslims, that they will benefit the least from the 4.5 per cent minority quota as better-offs Jains, Sikhs and Christians will pocket most of the minority quota benefits.
The SP’s clear hold on Muslims could be seen from the fact the party swept the Poorvanchal and western UP where the community is numerically strong. Despite the RLD-Congress making a strong pitch for Jat-Muslim consolidation in the western UP, it appears that the SP swept the region, while the BSP won second largest seats there.
SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, who had been also called a Maulana earlier, also appeared to have impressed upon the Muslims that the Sachchar Committee and Rangnath Commission reports would be implemented if the party won.