UP 2022 Elections: Salman Nadwi Asks AIMPLB To Support Owaisi In UP Polls, Analysts Say It Will Polarise Voters

Syed Khalique Ahmed

NEW DELHI—Lucknow-based Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulema’s senior faculty member Maulana Syed Salman Husaini Nadwi has asked the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) to issue an appeal to the Muslim community to extend its support to All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) in February 2022 UP Assembly elections.

Nadwi had courted a controversy in 2018 for his stand that the Babri Masjid site be handed over for building a Ram Temple. This became the reason for his expulsion from the board headed by Rabey Hasani Nadwi, his close relative. 

After AIMIM recently announced that it would contest polls on 100 seats in UP assembly elections in February 2022 in alliance with other parties and party supremo Asaduddin Owaisi visited Lucknow a few weeks ago, Nadwi issued an appeal in a video statement first on July 16 and subsequently, on July 21. 

In the two appeals uploaded on Youtube, he has asked the AIMPLB president to declare support of the board in favour of Owaisi’s party in the forthcoming assembly elections.

One of the reasons the controversial cleric sought support for Owaisi is that the Hyderabad MP had hosted AIMPLB’s conference in Hyderabad in 2018 and provided accommodation to board members in five-star hotels, apart from donating Rs. 1.5 crore to the board. However, Owaisi had called Nadwi a BJP agent while addressing the same conference, albeit without naming him.

“It has now become incumbent on AIMPLB president to return the favour to Owaisi by declaring board’s support to his party in UP assembly elections,” Nadwi says in his video statement.

“I appeal to the Board president to declare support of the organization in favour of Owaisi’s party as Owaisi has a right over the Board,” he argues in his unique style. 

“The Nadwa (Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulema) should also hold a reception for Owaisi as the Islamic seminary in the past had hosted Akhilesh Yadav,” he has appealed to AIMPLB president, who also happens to be the Chancellor of the Nadwa. A world-renowned scholar, Rabey Hasani Nadwi is also vice-president of the Aalami Rabita Adab-e-Islami, Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) and a founding member of the Muslim World League as well as Rabita Aalam-e-Islami, Makkah (Saudi Arabia).

Nadwi has also, in his personal capacity, appealed to the Muslim community to support Owaisi’s party in UP elections.

“Sabhi secular partiyan munafiq hain. SP yadavon ke liye hai. Aap wahan chaprasi, chhote mulazim, zalil aur Ghulam rahnenge. BSP chamron ke liye hain. Wahan bhi aap chamaron se badtar rahenge aur unki jootiyan seedhi karenge. Jahan tak mamla Owaisi ka hai, un ko qubool kijiye. Wo poori millat ki numaindagi Parliament mein karte aaye hain, karte rahte hain. Aap unhin ko maan lijiye. (All secular parties practice double standards. SP is a party of Yadavas. Your position there will be that of a peon, a petty servant; you will be humiliated and treated as a slave. BSP is a party for Dalits. Your position there will be worse than Dalits, and you will have to serve there as a slave. As far as Owaisi is concerned, it would be best if you accept his leadership. He has been representing the Muslim community in the Parliament and will continue to do so. So, you should accept him as your leader and support him”, said Nadwi.

Nadwi has every right to issue an appeal for support to any political party or an individual on his behalf? But what right does he have to drag AIMPLB into the political controversy? Who is he to ask AIMPLB to support or not to help a political party? These questions arise because AIMPLB is a non-political organization comprising groups representing various schools of Islamic thought, with an objective to protect Muslim personal laws in India. It is not a political body to support or oppose any particular party. And Nadwi, himself an Islamic scholar, has been a member of AIMPLB for quite a long time and knows full well the aims and objectives behind the setting up of AIMPLB. 

Despite several efforts, neither Nadwi nor Maulana Rabey Hasani Nadwi could be contacted.

According to political analysts, Nadwi’s statements circulating on social media could be used by right-wing political parties like BJP to polarize Hindu votes in their favour. That is why many Muslim leaders interpret his statements as having been issued at the behest of some right-wing political outfits.

As for Owaisi, his entry into UP politics has caused panic among parties like SP, BSP, and Congress. All of them have been beneficiaries of the Muslim votes and captured power in the state at different times. And it is also true that none of these parties favoured the Muslims by giving them a fair share of the state’s power structure and government jobs. This is being felt by every section of the Muslim community in UP: from illiterate to highly educated, from poor to wealthy people, from highly backwards to the elite Muslim class.

Owaisi, accused of working hand in glove with the BJP for reasons known to him only, has well realized the disillusionment among the UP Muslims about various political parties. As an experienced politician, Owaisi is very carefully trying to politically exploit the sentiments of the Muslims, having developed disaffection with so-called secular parties. By carefully cultivating the Muslim voters, he is trying to polarize them in favour of his party. According to political observers, it will be a cakewalk for BJP in UP elections if Owaisi succeeds in polarizing the Muslim voters in support of his party. SP, BSP, and Congress that depend on Muslim votes cannot defeat BJP in such a situation as BJP is reported to have the most extensive following of Hindu voters even after the BJP government’s total failure in tackling Covid-19, price rise, and unemployment. This may be the reason why UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath called Owaisi as a “big national leader” with his own “janadhar” (voter base), perhaps in a sarcastic manner, when Owaisi recently said that his party would not allow BJP to win UP elections and Yogi Adityanath will not be CM again. Such statements from a Muslim leader are likely to send a wrong message and only end in polarization favoring BJP. BJP and Yogi will be the happiest person.

Muslim share in UP population

Muslims account for about 20 percent of the state’s population. According to reports, there are 110 constituencies in the UP where the Muslim population is from 30 to 40 percent, and in 44 other seats, their population is roughly from 40 to 49 percent, and in 11 other constituencies, they account for 50 to 65 percent. This means that Muslims can influence the outcome of election results in 110 constituencies. But they will undoubtedly become politically ineffective and irrelevant in constituencies where their population is between 30 to 50 percent in case of polarization.

According to political observers, while Owaisi’s candidates may win in a few constituencies as it happened in Bihar, it will cause huge loss to secular parties in many other constituencies and indirectly benefit BJP. 

AIMIM contested UP elections in 2017 but did not win a single seat

In the 2017 assembly elections in UP, AIMIM had fielded 38 candidates, all of whom had lost badly. While some of them polled 2 to 3 percent votes, many lost their deposits. In 2017, BJP had won 312 seats out of a total of 403 seats, and the SP had won 47 seats, BSP 19, and Congress seven.

No alliance with SP: AIMIM

Meanwhile, AIMIM has denied that it is going to have a political alliance with the SP. AIMIM UP president Shaukat Ali said the party leadership had not issued any such statement.