Congress connecting with Muslims during ongoing ‘UP Jodo Yatra’

With a view to winning back the support of the Muslim community ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Congress leaders are connecting clerics, religious leaders, heads of various religious sects and influential members of the community in a meticulous manner during the ongoing ‘UP Jodo Yatra’.

The party leaders are holding dialogues with clerics and religious leaders during the yatra that is traversing through Muslim-dominated areas of the Rohilkhand region.

The 20-day yatra in which the Muslim connect effort has been named ‘Tehrik Bidari Millat’ (awakening of the community) started from Saharanpur on December 20. It will cover 11 districts and 16 Lok Sabha constituencies that have a large consolidation of Muslim population.

The Lok Sabha constituencies in Rohilkhand region, including Saharanpur, Bijnor, Nagina, Moradabad, Sambhal, Amroha, Rampur, Bareilly and Budaun, have 35% to 40% Muslim voters. The Congress’s strategy to make inroads into the Muslim community is led by Imran Masood, a Congress leader who has influence over the Muslim community in western Uttar Pradesh.

“We are reaching out to spiritual leaders of the community from Deobandi, Sufi and Barelvi sects as well as Shia community. We are urging the religious leaders to convince the community to support the Congress in the upcoming Lok Sabha election,” Imran Masood said.

We called upon the religious leaders that Muslims should stop fearing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and rally behind the Congress. In the earlier Lok Sabha and assembly elections, the Muslim community supported the rival political parties. Now, they should give a chance to the Congress, he added.

We held talks with religious heads of Kaliyar Sharif dargah, Dargah Alia, Shah Alam Quddusi, Muqqal Shah Dargah and Dargah-e-Aala Hazrat. The Sjjadanashin (one who sits at the prayer mat) of various dargahs extended support to the Congress Muslim outreach initiative, Masood said.

“The Congress leaders and workers are also holding meetings with traditional craftsmen, including wood craftsmen of Saharanpur, brass workers of Moradabad, ‘zari zardozi’ workers and bamboo craftsmen of Bareilly and metal craftsmen of Rampur,” he added.

“Rather than holding talks on the political alliance. the focus is on regaining the ground in west UP. The Muslim constitutes around 20% of Uttar Pradesh’s population. If they support the Congress, other communities including Dalits, OBC and upper castes will also shift to us,” Masood said.

Congress state general secretary (organisation) Anil Yaadav said, “Along with the Muslim community, the Congress is also reaching out to sugarcane farmers, caste groups ‘Gujjars’ and ‘Tyagis’, youths, women and traders. The party organised a general knowledge competition among the students in Moradabad. The winners were felicitated . We distributed books among children on former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.”

Political observer SK Srivastava said, “With the successful holding of ‘UP Jodo Yatra’, the Congress plans to send a message to the INDIA alliance partners—the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal— regarding the tilt of Muslims towards the grand old party.”

During the seat sharing talks, the alliance partners will not be able to ignore the Congress’s claims on seats despite its dismal show in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha election, he said.