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In recent days, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has severed ties with the Haryana Janhit Congress and the Shiv Sena, its pre-poll allies. Now, trouble seems to be brewing between the party and another of its allies - the Ram Vilas Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (LJP).
On Saturday, the LJP, which holds six Lok Sabha seats from Bihar, backed party secretary-general Abdul Khaliq for his criticism of BJP leaders such as central minister Maneka Gandhi and Lok Sabha MPs Sakshi Maharaj and Yogi Adityanath for hate-mongering against Muslims.
In a piece in The Indian Express, Khaliq wrote how "like never before, the Muslim is viewed not just as the other, but as the root cause of the nation's problems".
Talking to Business Standard, Khaliq said he stood by his views, adding these were "personal". The former additional secretary in the railways ministry said it was tragic that Muslims, who were as backward as Dalits, were being constructed as villains, not just by those such as Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Praveen Togadia, but also by mainstream leaders. "My comments are a reflection of what I have felt as a Muslim," he said, adding all parties, whether the Mulayam Singh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party or the Congress, had fooled Muslims by assuring them reservation in jobs, despite knowing this wasn't constitutionally feasible. "I believe all political parties are the same. Now is the time for academicians, intellectuals and social activists to come together to combat this hate-mongering against Muslims," he said.
LJP spokesperson AK Bajpayi said the party hadn't taken any disciplinary action against him yet and suggested it didn't plan to, either. "What he has said are his personal views. In any case, what he has said are facts in the public domain, facts that are undeniable," Bajpayi said.
Khaliq, a retired bureaucrat, is one of the Paswan's closest confidants. When Prime minister Narendra Modi had spoken of the patriotism of Indian Muslims in an interview to CNN last week, Khaliq had lauded Modi's comments. He, however, said "the fact that the PM has thought it necessary to underline the patriotism of Muslims is deeply disturbing" and "implicit in the statement is the frightening reality of how the Muslim is viewed in today's India".
He told Business Standard the Modi government needed to focus its slogan of "Sabka saath, sabka vikas". This, he said, should be made a reality; else, the hate-mongering would fray the foundations of Indian society. "Every government wants progress. This can only be realised if there is peace in society," he said.
Khaliq, who is said to have played a major role in persuading Paswan to walk out of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance government after the 2002 riots in Gujarat, disagreed that the LJP was planning to walk out of the government this time, too. "I do not know what the future has in store. But why talk of something that hasn't come about?" he asked, adding the BJP-LJP alliance was intact.
Assembly elections in Bihar are scheduled for November 2015. The LJP was part of the BJP-led three-party alliance during the Lok Sabha elections, part of a pre-poll alliance. However, in the by-elections to Bihar's 10 Assembly seats in August, the LJP lost the Parbatta seat, its pocket borough and the lone one it contested, by a huge margin to the Janata Dal (United).
The Janata Dal (United), the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress had fought the elections as part of a pre-poll alliance.
LJP leaders say hate-mongering by BJP leaders such as Adityanath will hurt the party in the 2015 Assembly elections in Bihar. They feel the unity of the RJD-JD (U)-Congress alliance would find support from backward categories, as well as Muslims. Traditionally, Paswan has commanded significant support from the Muslims, as well as from Dalits.
The LJP has welcomed BJP Bihar leader Sushil Modi's comments disapproving of the 'love jihad' campaign of BJP leaders such as Adityanath.
Earlier this month, the Haryana Janhit Congress had walked out of its alliance with the BJP. This was followed by the BJP and the Shiv Sena ending their 25-year-old alliance. However, smaller parties in Maharashtra such as Swabhimani Shetkari Sangathana have stuck with the BJP.
