Owaisi frowns upon parties' Brahmin outreach; rues 'Muslim votes have no importance'

Speaking to the media on Monday, AIMIM supremo Asaduddin Owaisi frowned upon the efforts of other political parties to woo Brahmins ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. Claiming that mainstream parties like BJP, BSP and Samajwadi Party do not care for the welfare of Muslims who account for nearly 19% of the state's population, he stressed the need to develop leadership within the community. According to the Hyderabad MP, this new leadership can represent the interests of Muslims in an effective manner. 

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi remarked, "Akhilesh Yadav, BJP and BSP are trying their best to secure Brahmin votes. There is one common factor- they are working hard on all castes and communities except Muslims who account for 19% population. All these parties have left 19% Muslims orphaned and poor. Their vote has no importance."

He added, "This is what we are telling the Muslim minority of Uttar Pradesh. You should develop your leadership. People will understand the importance of your vote when you develop your leadership. These political parties will never accept this nor will take efforts in ensuring that 19% Muslims of Uttar Pradesh get their due share and many leaders emerge who can work for the justice of Muslim minorities." 

Brahmin outreach

In July, BSP commenced its outreach to the Brahmin community which constitutes approximately 10% of UP's population by organizing Prabuddha Varg Sammelans. This was perceived as a bid to emulate its social engineering formula which led to the victory of the Mayawati-led party in 2007. BSP General Secretary SC Mishra has played a key role in bringing Brahmins close to the party as he held a series of rallies projecting BSP's poll symbol 'elephant' as Lord Ganesh. Similarly, even SP has been conducting Brahmin summits across the state.

BJP too is keen on wooing this community and has constituted a committee that will oversee the party's campaign in this regard. On Monday, BJP president JP Nadda chaired a meeting in which the party's UP election in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan, Mahesh Sharma, Shrikant Sharma, Sunil Bansal and other leaders participated to discuss the strategy to win the support of Brahmin voters. Speaking to the media later, UP Minister Shrikant Sharma remarked, “BJP is the party that values Brahmins the most. We have ministers and leaders from the community. But the BJP does not do politics based on caste but on basis of development". 

UP polls

In the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, BJP had won a whopping 312 seats in the 403-member House, whereas BSP could win only 19 seats. On the other hand, the SP-Congress alliance failed to bear fruit as it could win in only 54 constituencies. While this was seen as a mandate for PM Modi as BJP had not declared any CM candidate, Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath was a surprise pick for the post. 

While the Asaduddin Owaisi-led party initially joined the Om Prakash Rajbhar-led 'Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha', it was left in the lurch after Rajbhar's Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party forged a pre-poll alliance with SP. As of now, AIMIM has revealed its intention to contest 100 seats in UP. Other opposition parties have often accused AIMIM of being a B-team of BJP, an allegation vociferously denied by Owaisi.