Rift widens in Samajwadi Party; Muslim leaders question Akhilesh Yadav’s ‘strategic’ silence

Like CM Yogi Adityanath, Akhilesh Yadav was contesting state assembly elections for the first time. (File image)

The Samajwadi Party (SP) seems to be facing an internal crisis of sorts with many leaders openly speaking against the party brass after its recent defeat in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. Akhilesh Yadav-led SP is now the principal opposition party in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led House.

While there has been speculation over Azam Khan leaving the party, there have been reports regarding Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia (PSP-L) chief and Akhilesh’s uncle Shivpal Yadav’s rift with his alliance partner SP and his possible shift to the ruling BJP.

READ | 'Bulldozer Baba' on duty, top officers suspended, Ministers on field as CM Yogi vows to make UP 'Swachh'

On April 10, Rampur MLA Azam Khan’s media in-charge Fasahat Ali Khan said Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was right that Akhilesh Yadav doesn’t want Azam Khan to be out of jail. The 73-year-old Khan is in Sitapur jail from where he fought the Assembly polls and won the Rampur seat for the tenth time.

“On the indication of Azam Khan saheb, the Muslims not only in Rampur, but also in several districts around it voted for the SP. But our national president (Akhilesh Yadav) did not take the side of Muslims. Azam Khan is in jail for more than two years, but the SP president only once went to meet him in jail. Not just this, he was also not made the leader of opposition, nor are Muslims being given importance in the party,” Fasahat had said in the run-up to the polls.

Sources said former Cabinet minister Azam Khan is upset with Akhilesh for not visiting him in jail where he is lodged since February 2020. There have been reports that he may leave the SP and form his own party.

Azam Khan was expelled from SP for a year in May 2009. He re-joined the party in December 2010.

Also, read | Twitter handle of UP CMO hacked for nearly 30 minutes, case registered

Amid the rumours, Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi's All India Majlis-e-Ittehad Muslimeen (AIMIM) on April 17 urged Azam Khan to join the party. "You are requested to join the AIMIM so that the BJP and the SP could be eliminated from Uttar Pradesh," news agency PTI quoted a letter by AIMIM state spokesperson Mohammad Farhan sent to Khan.

SP spokesperson and national secretary Rajendra Chaudhary, however, downplayed the reports of a rift. “Azam Khan is with the SP and the SP is with him,” he said.

The speculation about Azam Khan was stoked by the reports of Shivpal Yadav’s widening rift with SP and his possible drift to the BJP camp.

Attempts to resolve the Akhilesh-Shivpal rift are underway with Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar, an SP ally, playing mediator between the two leaders. Yet, some some reports from Lucknow suggested that Shivpal may ally with the BJP, which would send him to the Rajya Sabha.

Also, read | The $1-trillion economy target for Uttar Pradesh and how state plans to achieve it

The BJP scripted an unprecedented victory by winning a second term bagging 273 seats, along with it alliance partners, in the elections to the 403-member UP Assembly held in February-March. The SP won 111 seats as against 47 in 2017. Its allies Rashtriya Lok Dal and Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) won 14 seats.

There has been a growing resentment among the Muslim rank and file in  the SP over party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s silence over issues related to the community. Many SP leaders, including Samajwadi Party MP from Sambhal Shafiqur Rehman Barq, have accused the SP of not working for Muslims.

In a video, that emerged a day before Azam Khan aide’s outbursts, Barq is heard saying that “the entire party was not working for Muslims”. Last week, Mohammad Kasim Raeen an SP leader from Sultanpur in UP tendered his resignation citing “no action” by Akhilesh Yadav against “rising incidents of atrocities meted out to Muslims” in Uttar Pradesh.

Of the 125 MLAs in the SP-led alliance, 33 are Muslims. No Muslim candidate from any other party won the election indicating the support from the community for the Akhilesh Yadav-led party.

Also, read | UP Elections 2022: Faster growth key to easing pressure on state's finances 

Many leaders in the SP have termed Akhilesh Yadav’s “silence” a “strategic” move adopted ahead of UP assembly elections to prevent the polarisation and also retain the support of other social groups. The leaders, however, said the strategy failed to yield any dividends and the party should speak up on issues concerning Muslims.