After using Muslims, Mulayam Singh Yadav encashing 'Hindu card': Jama Masjid Syed Ahmed Bukhari

Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid Syed Ahmed Bukhari today termed Samajwadi Party government as "anti-Muslims" saying the party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav rode to power on the shoulders of Muslim community only to abandon them.

On a private visit here, Bukhari said, "Mulayam Singh Yadav rode to power on the shoulders of the Muslim community and today he has completely abandoned the community in the state."

The cleric, who had appealed the Muslim community to vote for SP during the UP polls, alleged that the party's call for providing reservation to Muslims was a "crude political stunt", which has no substance whatsoever.

Having earlier capitalised on the "Muslim card", Yadav is now playing the "Hindu card" by attempting to whip up support of the upper castes by opposing the recent bill for quota in promotions in government jobs, the fire-brand cleric claimed.

"If India is to progress then the practice of Hindu card or Muslim card has to end and all sections should be meted out equal justice," he stressed.

On Akhilesh Yadav government's record on the issue of maintaining communal amity in the state, he said it was "dismal".

If a high-power inquiry is ordered into the recent communal riots in UP, especially in Faizabad, Ghaziabad and Pratapgarh, all the skeletons in the SP's cupboard will come tumbling out, Bukhari alleged. "That is why no enquiry is being ordered into these incidents," he said.

Bukhari said that instead of offering sops to riot affected Muslims, Yadav should ensure that "true justice is meted out both to the victims and the perpetrators of all communal violence".

He claimed that when communal tension was building up in Faizabad, "I tried in vain to contact top officials in the state government but no one bothered even to respond to my calls".

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