Moradabad (Uttar Pradesh) [India], September 20 (ANI): All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) national spokesperson Shadab Chouhan on Sunday took a sharp dig at the Samajwadi Party (SP), asserted that Akhilesh Yadav’s ‘PDA’ (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) outreach formula remains fundamentally “incomplete without Asaduddin Owaisi”.
Accusing the SP of maintaining a “deafening silence” on minority issues and bulldozer actions despite reaping electoral support for decades, Chouhan urged the Samajwadi leadership to set aside political pride and forge a united front with AIMIM to prevent the division of secular votes and defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh.
He further warned the SP leadership that if they refuse to join hands democratically now, they should not resort to “crying foul” and branding AIMIM as the “B-team” after suffering an electoral defeat.
“The Samajwadi Party secured Muslim votes for 34 years, but stayed completely silent for the last nine years when bulldozers were used, and mosques and khanqahs were demolished. SP has over 100 MLAs and 37 MPs, yet they were nowhere to be seen when the mosque in Saharanpur was targeted,” he remarked.
Chouhan asserted that SP acknowledged Muslims in its PDA pitch only due to the growing pressure from AIMIM’s mass mobilisation.
“Unless ‘A’ in PDA stands for Asaduddin Owaisi, the Muslims and marginalised sections of Uttar Pradesh will not fall for SP’s false promises,” he added.
Renewing his party’s offer for a united front, Chouhan urged Akhilesh Yadav to come together to consolidate anti-BJP votes.
“We are giving an open offer to Akhilesh Yadav: come forward, prevent the division of secular votes, and let us work democratically to defeat the BJP and stop Yogi Adityanath from returning to power. If they reject our alliance now and lose the elections, they should not cry foul later and label AIMIM as the ‘B-team’. AIMIM will emerge as a big player and establish new political equations in UP,” he said.
Chouhan claimed that the SP and BJP are engaging in performative politics.
“Both Yogi Adityanath and Akhilesh Yadav are using content creators and playing ‘reel-reel’. Public issues have been dumped into the trash. While one raises slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram’, the other chants ‘Jai Parshuram’; both are competing over building temples. This is nothing but match-fixing,” Chouhan told ANI.
He further questioned the lack of action regarding past corruption allegations, asking, “Why are there no conclusive probes into the Agra-Lucknow Expressway or the Gomti Riverfront project? Yogi ji talks about job scams during the SP regime, but where is the concrete action against Akhilesh Yadav?”
Backing the concerns raised by former Vice President Hamid Ansari, Chouhan accused the ruling party of targeting minority institutions and religious structures.
“After ‘Operation Lotus’, we are now witnessing ‘Operation Masjid’, where religious structures are being systematically targeted. Whether it is the UCC, the row over Vande Mataram, or the Waqf Bill, the government is not missing any opportunity to treat Muslims as second-class citizens,” he claimed.
Lashing out at the proposed Uniform Civil Code, Chouhan said it violates Articles 14, 25, 26, and 29 of the Constitution. “The UCC is an attempt to impose Hindu civil law on non-Hindus and attack Muslim personal law. There is no uniformity between the UCC models in Goa and Uttarakhand. While Tribals are excluded, Goa allows a second marriage under specific conditions. This exposes the double standards, making it evident that UCC is merely an agenda driven by animosity against Muslims.”
Commenting on recent DUSU elections, the AIMIM spokesperson congratulated the winning candidates and urged them to focus on students’ grievances rather than partisan politics.
He also criticised the Congress-affiliated National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), stating, “Despite palpable anger and anti-incumbency among Gen-Z and youth, the NSUI failed to connect with students on the ground, whereas the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) capitalised on its grassroots organisational efforts.” (ANI)
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