Ironically, it’s the India-US nuclear deal that is the fuelling the race for Muslim votes in Uttar Pradesh. Mayawati was first off the block, but Mulayam Singh Yadav has former President APJ Abdul Kalam—and the Congress—to fall back on

THE rhetoric over the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal acquires a new shade every day but what it has brought into focus is an old Uttar Pradesh chestnut: the fight for the Muslim vote.

UP chief minister Mayawati appears to have scored first, calling the deal anti-Muslim and withdrawing support from the UPA Government. The move has predictably put Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on the defensive. And Mayawati could well create some uncomfortable moments for the man once called Maulana Mulayam.

The SP, explaining its support to the Congress, is now busy advancing the arguments of APJ Abdul Kalam on the merits of the nuclear agreement. Since the loss of assembly elections to Mayawati last year, Mulayam’s desperation has grown so much that he had to act now to keep his jalwa kayam. His MPs are frustrated after four years of being outside the power circle. And they are chafing not only at their loss of clout but also because they are facing a crackdown.

“In Jaswantnagar alone, from where only six people went to jail during the Emergency, currently about 3,000 people have been implicated in various cases by the BSP,” said Mulayam on the 33rd anniversary of the Emergency in Delhi.

On top of all this is the broader realisation by Mulayam that isolation does not help. The SP lost to Mayawati in the assembly elections despite his party’s vote percentage going up. Mulayam then realised that isolating himself does not help much as the division of votes among the SP, Ajit Singh’s RLD and Congress will only inflict more damage on his party. No wonder, Mulayam is even ready to walk to 10 Janpath to renew ties with the Congress, a move that may not get him cabinet berths but might facilitate a future alliance in UP against Mayawati.

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