The BSP emerged out of the BAMCEF movement. The aim of the BAMCEF is to establish true democracy in India where every section of Indian population will be represented proportionally.

Since its inception, the BSP tried to keep this proportionality is the core principle in political organization. This is also reflected in the tickets distribution. In the past, the BSP is the only national party that has given proportionate representation to the Muslims.

The Muslims in India are politically weak, except the emergence of AIMIM led by Barrister Owaisi, the independent voice of the Muslims in India is missing. Barrister Owaisi is one of the most learned and articulate members of Parliament in India. His voice is logical and his intentions are laden with Justice, peace, and harmony. He recently talked about triple talaq to three political parties in the UP elections: the Congress, the BJP, and the SP. Barrister Owaisi always lauded the efforts of BAMCEF, Kanshiram, and BSP to democratize India.

Like the Dalits, the Muslims are often given negative space in the press. As a matter of routine, their efforts are painted as anti-national by the right wing organizations. So as a principle of proportionate representation practiced in BSP, Mayawati allocated over 100 seats to the Muslims and since then the biased media is claiming that Mayavati is playing the Muslim card. In fact, the BJP gave no ticket to the Muslims showing that it doesn’t regard internal democracy within its party structure.

It is very shameful that the BJP is displaying shameful disdain for India’s largest minority (18%).

The Samajwadi Party is the regional party with Yadavs (9 percent of UP population) and Muslims behind it. Azam Khan is the Muslim face of the SP. He is a great leader of Muslims, but he has no foresight. He doesn’t realize that the SP is only a regional party, while the BSP is the national party. He ridiculously tried to downplay Mayawati’s efforts to bring Muslims into the mainstream and jokingly said that if Mayawati allocated 300 seats to Muslims, he would join the BSP.

It raises many questions regarding the credibility of Azam Khan and his sincerity to support the Muslims in India. The Muslims in India can only benefit going with the BSP all over India because the Muslims are spread all over India and the BSP is the national party. The Muslims in UP will be committing communal suicide if they go along with the SP in UP elections. There are two options for the Muslim community: either they organize politically as one force nationally or ally with the most trusted ally in India.

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Both of them are workable strategies for the Muslims in India. Coming to UP elections, the Muslims must vote for the BSP. In fact, the Muslims voting for the BSP will be following the exact line of social justice movement because 80 percent of the Muslims in India are converted from the backward castes. Azam Khan is committing worst kind of treachery to his own people for his personal gains.

Author – Mangesh Dhaiwale, social and human rights activist