Feb. 24: Azam Khan, senior Uttar Pradesh minister and the Samajwadi Party's "minority face", was just two minutes into his election speech at Ayodhya yesterday when he lost his cool.
The reason for his anger was the sight of the Bahujan Samaj Party's blue flags fluttering atop Muslim homes in the town's Narendranagar area.
"Better vote for the BJP, then. Maybe the BJP would prove better than the Bahujan Samaj Party for you," the urban development minister admonished the minority community, refusing to continue his speech.
It took some time for the stunned Samajwadi politicians on the dais and the crowd below to grasp the reason behind his indignation. Tej Pratap Pandey, local MLA and junior forest minister, pleaded with Azam to continue his speech.
Sources said Azam then told Pandey, who is seeking re-election, that he had seen the blue flags atop Muslim homes in the town's Reedganj area too, which used to be a Samajwadi stronghold.
Reedganj and Narendranagar will account for more than 40,000 minority votes when Ayodhya goes to the polls on February 27. Bahujan Samaj Party candidate Mohammad Bazmi Siddiqui lives in Reedganj.
Azam eventually agreed to resume his speech. "Don't forget that Kanshi Ram, the Bahujan Samaj Party founder, had said he wanted to build a toilet where the Babri Masjid stood," he told the crowd. "You should feel ashamed to carry the blue flag."
Kanshi Ram's comment had come after the demolition of the Babri Masjid, amid contending calls for a temple and a rebuilt mosque at the site, and meant to convey his conviction that the public good was more important than religion.
In the latter part of his speech, Azam attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"He is trying to divide communities in the name of cremation and burial grounds. He needs to know that I have given Rs 126 crore for cremation grounds in the past five years," he said.
Modi had said on Sunday that a cremation ground should also be constructed if a graveyard was built in a village.
Azam has been with Mulayam Singh Yadav for over three decades. They had together founded the Samajwadi Party in October 1992 during the height of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad-BJP's Ram temple movement.
In October 1990, Mulayam, then Janata Dal chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, had ordered police to fire on the kar sevaks when they tried to move towards the Babri Masjid to demolish it.
Mulayam later promised the minority community that "even a bird will not be allowed to fly over the mosque".
But the Congress withdrew support to Mulayam in June 1991, and the BJP won the mid-term polls. Kalyan Singh became chief minister, and the kar sevaks eventually demolished the Babri Masjid in December 1992.
Mulayam, who had become a hero to Muslims, won the 1993 Assembly elections held under President's rule. Since then, the Samajwadis have been banking heavily on minority votes.
"Netaji (Mulayam) and I tried everything we could to save the mosque," Azam said yesterday, trying to prevent any split in Muslim votes in Ayodhya.
Anil Kumar Singh, associate professor of Hindi literature at Saket Degree College, Ayodhya, said there were two main reasons why many local Muslims were switching loyalties to the Bahujan Samaj Party.
One, the Samajwadis had in the past five years gone all out to woo Brahmins, with Pandey spearheading the effort and emerging as the party's "Brahmin face". Two, Mayawati had picked a Muslim candidate for Ayodhya this time.
"Initially, BJP candidate Ved Prakash Gupta was lagging behind in the race because of infighting," Singh said.
"Then we heard that the Sangh had stepped in and warned the local BJP parliamentarian, Lallu Singh, to either help Gupta or get ready to face the consequences after the polls."
• Ayodhya votes on February 27
