The Congress may be smug about reaching out to the Muslim voter in Uttar Pradesh with its promise of a 4.5 per cent “sub quota for minorities”, but strangely this poll sop has few takers. Even in law minister Salman Khurshid’s constituency, Farrukhabad — from where he made the controversial announcement while canvassing for his wife, Louise Khurshid (contesting the polls on a Congress ticket) — the common man is not sold out on this promise.
The Congress is so convinced of this being an attractive poll sop that despite the Election Commission’s censure of Khurshid, senior party ministers like Beni Prasad Verma continues to harp on the minority quota promise to voters. But evidence from the ground suggests that this political master stoke of minority quota may have backfired.
In Farrukhabad’s Khat-akpura, a predominantly Muslim mohalla where most are ‘zardozi’ workers, Anwar Hussain Rizvi, a zardozi unit owner, says, “If he (Khurshid) was really sincere about it and about doing something to benefit the community, he would have announced it after 2009 when he became our MP. We all understand that he has promised this now in order to lure voters to give their mandate to his wife, Louise. If he had talked about the quota issue six months back we would have been convinced. But now we understand that it is all poll talk.”
In fact, Muslims feel alienated, especially the upper class (Pathans), as also the non-Muslims. Moreover, Louise stands the risk of alienating the Hindu voters; Salman’s victory in the Lok Sabha elections from this region last time was ascribed not just to the Muslim vote but also to a large section of the Brahmin votes.
That Muslims here are not excited about the quota carrot being dangled by the Congress and its Muslim’s face, Khurshid, is apparent from the fact that BSP’s Mohd Umar Khan seems to have a better standing among the locals than Khurshid or his wife. The BSP candidate is seen in a more favourable light as he is a local and not an “outsider like Louise”.
Moreover, while Louise Khurshid has been scouring the Muslim mohallas to woo the voters, the locals are not entertained by her poll rhetoric.
