Severing ties with ruling Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid Maulana Syed Ahmed Bukhari has send resignations of his supporters, including his MLC son-in-law, from all positions in the state government.
The Shahi Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid Maulana Ahmed Bukhari has snapped all ties with the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) charging it with ignoring the interests of Muslims. The Maulana has declared that he would start a campaign against the SP with a rally in SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s home town Etawah on Thursday next.
“Mulayam Singh Yadav has cheated the Muslims,” the Imam told reporters in Delhi on Saturday. “I will not let anyone play with the issues of Muslims and take them for granted,” he asserted.
The Imam had appealed to the Muslims to vote for the SP in the 2012 UP Assembly election. He is learnt to be miffed with Mulayam and UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav for not making his son-in-law Umar Ali a minister, However, the Imam says he is fighting for Muslims’ welfare and upliftment.
Both Umar Ali, a SP MLC, and Waseem Khan, who had been made Civil Defence Council chairman on the Imam’s insistence, have resigned. But their resignations have not been accepted by the SP leadership yet.
Bukhari told reporters that a number of SP leaders had approached him to reconsider his decision, but his decision of opposing the SP is “final and irreversible”.
“For one year, I have been asking the SP leadership to honour the promises made to Muslims during the election. But nothing was done. Muslims are disappointed with this government,” he said, adding that the SP will have to pay a big price for this in the Lok Sabha election.
Bukhari pointed out that Muslims had been targeted in the incidents of communal riots which, he said, had become a matter of routine under the SP regime. He also pointed out that the SP had promised reservation to Muslims. “But when I ask Mulayam now, he says it is the Centre which can do it. We are being fooled like this,” he said.
The Imam is also upset over the SP government not offering its promise about release of innocent Muslims who had been framed in terror cases. The recent murder of Deputy SP Zia-ul-Haq in Kunda (Pratapgarh) brought things to a head when the Imam was not allowed to visit the slain official’s widow in Deoria while Akhilesh went to her house with senior minister Azam Khan. The latter is the Imam’s bête noire.
Bukhari has even gone to the extent of saying that Akhilesh should be removed and Mulayam should take over as CM. “The SP’s dreams of capturing power at the centre will never be realized as Muslims will not vote for them now,” he said.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}