UP CM's working hard to woo Muslims

New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav is giving a serious thought to winning back his his core vote bank - the Muslims.

Yadav, apparently disturbed over a reported shift in Muslim votes during recent civic body elections, called on the All India Muslim Personal Law Board Chairman and noted Islamic Scholar Maulana Rabe Hasan Nadwi on Friday and discussed various issues concerning the Muslim community.

So while, nothing was disclosed officially on the meeting, news agency PTI quoted sources as saying that Nadwi “expressed serious displeasure over delay in the issuance of a fresh notification by the state government transferring the Ayodhya trial from the district court in Rae Bareli to the special CBI court in Lucknow.”

And whether or not Yadav gave any assurance to the Board on this issue was not known immediately.

Meanwhile, senior board member Zafaryab Jilani said there were several issues concerning Muslims over which the state government had adopted an "indifferent" attitude.

Apart from the demand for a fresh notification, the Board had also sought amendment in the Zamindari Abolition Act, which grants inheritance rights to the Muslim widows, and girls in ancestral property.

Jilani said they had been asking the government to bring about an amendment in the Act but it was yet to take any action.

The Board had also expressed serious resentment over the reported state government proposal to augment security at the makeshift Ram temple at Ayodhya by bullet proofing the disputed site.

The Board has been demanding withdrawal of the proposal saying that it is in violation of the status quo ordered by the Supreme Court.

All these issues would come up for discussion at the Board's annual general meeting slated for Jaunary 11 to 13 at Chennai, he said.

Uttar Pradesh Minister for Family Welfare Ahmed Hasan, who along with some other Muslim leaders of the Samajwadi Party, were in regular touch with the Board members, said the state government was committed to welfare of Muslims.

However, this wasn’t the first time that Yadav has held meetings with several Muslim clerics, including the noted Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Sadiq, to discuss issues of Muslim welfare.

Sources say that with the Assembly elections round the corner, Yadav will not like to risk alienation of Muslims from his party.

The marked shift in Muslim votes during the recent civic bodies polls was an issue of serious concern for the SP as the Congress was able to make handsome gains in Muslim majority areas.

With the BJP set to return to the Hindutva plank once again, SP's attempt to check erosion of its core vote bank will assume top priority, observers said.