Lok Sabha elections 2019: UP Muslims play safe and silent on eve of polling

There have been no edicts from religious heads, or announcements from mosques, or public allusions to ban on beef consumption

As the north-western districts of Uttar Pradesh with a high Muslim population vote on Tuesday, the minorities decided that staying away from controversies and maintaining silence should decree the electorate’s behaviour. Accordingly, the past few weeks have not heard edicts coming from the clergy or announcements from the mosques.  Even a person as influential as Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan, who helms the Barelvi religious sect of Sunni Muslims and is the great-grandson of Ahmed Raza Khan, the founder of the Barelvi movement, said nothing. Based in Bareilly that votes today, Khan did not use the veto power that he exercised