Bukhari snaps ties with SP in Uttar Pradesh

Shahi Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid, Maulana Syed Ahmed Bukhari snaps his year-long turbulent relationship with the Samajwadi Party after he sent in the resignations of his son-in-law and MLC Umar Ali Khan and Civil Defence Council chairman Waseem Ahmad to Mulayam Singh on Saturday. They were the Shahi Imam’s nominees. “The state government has cheated Muslims. It has not fulfilled the promises it had made to the people of the state,” Bukhari, who had actively supported SP in last year's Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, said. He said he had sent a letter to the party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav to apprise him of his decision to sever all the ties with the party.
He launched a scathing attack on the Akhilesh Yadav regime alleging that atrocities had been committed on them during the one year tenure of the government. “The state witnessed several communal riots and in all of them the Muslims lives were lost. They did not receive adequate compensation,” he said. Bukhari virtually ridiculed Mulayam for ‘dreaming of making it big’ in the next Lok Sabha elections. “Mulayam’s dreams will not come true without the Muslim support,” he said. The cleric also made his intention about taking the SP head-on clear after he declared that he will hold a rally of Muslims in the Mulayam stronghold of Etawah in the next few days.