In bowing to the demands of Shahi Imam Syed Ahmad Bukhari, Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav seems to have opened the floodgates of trouble for himself and his party where Muslim politics is concerned.
Senior Samajwadi minister Mohd Azam khan, on one hand, is seething with rage over the importance being given to the Shahi Imam, with whom he shares a relationship marked with intense hatred, and on the other, renowned Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Sadiq is upset with the Samajwadi Party for “bending backwards to appease Sunni Muslims and ignoring the Shia community altogether”.
After Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav brokered peace with the Shahi Imam on Thursday by agreeing to his demands for greater representation to Muslims and convinced the Shahi Imam to allow his son-in-law Umar Khan to file his nomination for Vidhan Parishad, Mohd Azam Khan was said to be “deeply distressed” over the party leadership’s “surrender” before Bukhari.
“The Shahi Imam came here to demand a license for cannon and has returned with a license for a pen knife. For him, the welfare of the entire Muslim community rests in the welfare of his immediate family and there is nothing more that I can say on this issue and I will not comment on the party leadership,” he said.
Sources close him, however, said that Mohd. Azam Khan was “furious” because Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav had chosen to placate the Shahi Imam who had used unprintable words against Azam Khan. Moreover, Mr Khan had been kept out of the meeting between Mr Yadav and the Shahi Imam.
“Mr Khan is now waiting for the right time to strike back. He has not been able to digest this insult,” the aide said.
Even as the Shahi Imam-Azam Khan-Mulayam Singh war continues to simmer, Maulana Kalbe Sadiq, a well know Shia cleric, has further queered the pitch by writing a letter to the Samajwadi Party president alleging that the Shia community was being neglected by the ruling party.
“When the Shia community voted in large numbers for the Samajwadi Party, why is it that only Sunnis are being included in the ministry and given representation in the Rajya Sabha and Vidhan Parishad? Are Shias not worth of being given participation in power?” he has asked in the letter.
Sources said that the Shia community is angry over the fact that the Samajwadi leadership is going overboard in appeasing the Shahi Imam and other Sunni leaders and is continuously ignoring the claims of the Shia community.
A senior SP leader, while talking on condition of anonymity, admitted that the prevailing situation was a matter of concern in the party. “Instead of focusing on the performance of the government, the party is being written about for the Azam-Bukhari battle and now Kalbe Sadiq had added fuel to the fire. The party leadership should immediately resolve the issues and take a more realistic view of the situation,” he said.