After Abdullah’s disqualification, BJP eyes expanding base in Rampur

The disqualification of Samajwadi Party lawmaker Abdullah Azam Khan from Suar assembly segment of Rampur is a case of perfect timing for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which is now seeking to rejig conventional political understanding by wooing Muslims, the biggest minority group mostly dubbed anti-BJP, ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The development in Suar in Rampur is in line with a series of attempts that BJP has been making since June 2022 to weaken the hold of influential Khan family, whose members have been politically dominant for over four decades in the Muslim-majority constituency.

The BJP held a meeting at its party headquarters on Thursday to decide the strategies for the civic polls, likely after the Backward Commission decides backward quota in these urban polls by March 31—the SC set deadline.

“In these polls, it would not be any surprise if the BJP fields several Muslim candidates, especially in areas like Rampur where the minority community is present in a sizeable number,” said Irshad Ilmi, a political expert.

“Muslims were always made to fear the BJP by political parties that thrived on this phobia of BJP they had whipped up in their minds against the party. But, today as the poorest of the poor Muslims are benefitting, the tide is turning and whether it is Suar or anywhere else, we are confident that BJP will win all polls,” said BJP leader Javed Malik, the chief of Akhil Bharatiya Pasmanda Muslim Manch.

Abdullah, disqualified for two back-to-back terms, is the son of SP’s Muslim face Azam Khan whose record tenth stint as lawmaker from Rampur (Sadar) was cut short post his disqualification following his conviction and three-year jail term in a 2019 hate speech case last year.

The BJP promptly won the by-poll on Rampur (Sadar) seat with party candidate Akash Saxena defeating Azam’s nominee Asim Raza in the December by-poll. That was BJP’s first ever win in Rampur (Sadar) and Akash Saxena said BJP will win Suar too. On Thursday, Saxena also wrote to the election commission demanding that post-conviction, Abdullah Azam’s name be struck off the electoral rolls. He had earlier ensured Azam Khan’s name was removed from the voter list after his conviction.

Akash’s father Shiv Bahadur Saxena had won the Suar seat continuously from 1989 till 2002 before Kazim Ali Khan from Rampur’s royal family started winning the seat (2002 till 2017). Then Abdullah Azam won the seat for the SP in 2017. Despite being disqualified by the Allahabad high court on December 16, 2019, due to discrepancy in an election affidavit, Abdullah again won the Suar seat in 2022 UP polls, convincingly defeating Kazim Ali’s son Haidar Ali, the lone Muslim candidate fielded by BJP-led-NDA.

However, his consecutive disqualification, this time by an MP/MLA court in a 15-year-old case of blocking road in Chhajlet area of Moradabad, has now provided the BJP yet another occasion to firm up its people connect not just in Suar but in Rampur where it had won a Lok Sabha by-poll in June 2022.

The BJP even made peace with Rampur royal family to make things difficult for Khan and some party leaders suggested that Haidar Ali, Kazim Ali’s son who contested unsuccessfully against Abdullah, could again contest the by-polls if Abdullah didn’t secure stay on MP/MLA court’s order from a higher court.

The BJP, which held a series of Pasmanda (backward) Muslim meets in Rampur in the run-up to Rampur (Sadar) by-poll in December 2022, got several Azam Khan aides to defect and played up how welfare schemes of “double engine” BJP government had helped the poor across all castes, including Muslims.

It is now eyeing a similar build up ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The Yogi 2.0 government that recently held a Global Investors’ Summit in Lucknow said Rampur too has received 184 investment proposals worth ₹4,757 crore which will also help offer gainful employment to 12,000 local youth.

The BJP campaign thus has a two-pronged approach in Rampur—political one aimed at weakening Azam Khan family’s massive political clout in Rampur and to connect with Muslims through a plethora of initiatives.

“The people have seen how things were earlier and how the big picture is changing now that they have elected a BJP MP in June by-polls and a BJP MLA in December 5 by-polls,” said Danish Azad Ansari, the junior minority welfare minister in Yogi 2.0 government.

“The BJP is conspiring against all prominent leaders of opposition parties who have stayed loyal and refused to respond to the BJP’s overtures. They have thrown all norms, decencies and courtesies to wind in their maddening desire to rule. Hopefully, the people would show this party its rightful place soon. And, if they don’t then democracy would become meaningless,” an SP leader said.