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Lost our voice, Muslims had immense faith in MSY, say Islamic scholars, leaders
Mulayam Singh had never shied from taking up the cause of the Muslim community. With his demise, the Muslim community feels they have lost their most credible ‘voice’.
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The saffron politics was at its peak during the Ram Mandir movement, leaving the Muslim community at a crossroads as no political leader was willing to lend them their voice. It was then the Samajwadi Party patriarch, Mulayam Singh Yadav, who became the community’s voice.
Mulayam Singh had never shied from taking up the cause of the Muslim community. With his demise, the Muslim community feels they have lost their most credible ‘voice’.
“The demise of Mulayam Singh Yadav is a great loss for the entire country. He always took a stand and was a great socialist leader,” said Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahili, an Islamic scholar.
Maulana Yasoob Abbas, general secretary of All India Shia Personal Law Board and a prominent Shia leader, said: “Mulayam Singh always stood for the downtrodden and the underprivileged section of the society.”
Ayodhya resident Iqbal Ansari, who was one of the litigants in the Ram Janmabhoomi–Babri Masjid title suit in the Supreme Court, said Mulayam Singh was one such politician who could be relied on blindly. “He was a mass leader and the Muslim community had immense faith in him.”
The demise of the former chief minister has also deeply saddened people from Gorakhpur, Azamgarh and Basti who are currently in the Gulf countries for work and other purposes.
Speaking to HT over the phone, former minister of state and former MLA Dr Mohsin Raza, who was in Mecca for Umrah, described the SP patriarch’s death as an ‘irreparable loss’. “We have lost a secular leader. It is an irreplaceable loss not just for the party, but also for the weaker sections of the society.”
Shahab Ameen, who hails from Khokhar Tola and works in Riyadh, said the news of MSY’s death saddened him, and his friends and colleagues Alamgir and Surendra Yadav, who belong to Saifai in Azamgarh district, were also deeply upset.
Recalling Mulayam Singh’s strong connection with Azamgarh, scholar Dr Iliyas Azmi said people regretted voting against the Samajwadi candidate in the by-election to the MP seat. “The entire eastern Uttar Pradesh, especially Azamgarh, had a strong emotional bond with Mulayam Singh Yadav,” he observed.
