Lok sabha polls 2014: Mulayam Singh Yadav swimming against tide in Azamgarh?

AZAMGARH: It's tough to be Mulayam Singh Yadav these days. The Muslims are upset with him for the way the Samajwadi Party handled the Muzaffarnagar riots, the Hindus are angry that he's ignored them in his mad rush to please the minorities, the dalits in any case were never too excited about the prospect of Yadav chieftains lording over them, and the general public seems to be revolting against an unresponsive administrative machinery and its inability to rein in a spiralling law and order situation. Everywhere one goes, there is a sense of listlessness.

When Mulayam chose Azamgarh, with its substantial Muslim population, apart from the latent symbolism of fighting from a place long vilified for its alleged terror networks, both real and imagined, the message he wanted to give out was that he's still with the community.

The question that is asked most often in Azamgarh these days is, are Muslims with their messiah? And if so, will it be enough to pull him through what is probably one of the toughest tests of his political life?

Sudhakar Pandey, a lawyer and himself a former Lok Sabha candidate, takes about a second to say that the Muslim votes are getting divided between MSY and the BSP's Shah Alam Jamali, a prosperous builder who is also the MLA from Mubarakpur. "It's a straight battle here," he says. "Between the BSP and the BJP."

The BJP, which has fielded sitting MP Ramakant Yadav, is hoping that while some of the Muslims desert Mulayam, his clansmen, too, will split between him and Ramakant. Then there is a perceived saffron wave in Poorvanchal that the party feels will aid their man. If Mulayam thought that his candidature from Azamgarh would counter the Modi effect from nearby Varanasi, there's no real indication of it on the ground.

"It is a close call," says Prahlad Gupta, a local trader. "The slogan you hear in Azamgarh is ek dabao, do bhagao. Press one button to get rid of two Yadavs. Also, Rajputs are quite openly supporting the BSP."

Many, of course, say the Muslim engagement with MSY can be dismissed only at one's own risk. They have a point. Though Mulayam was refused entry in Aligarh Muslim University in March this year by enraged teachers and students, a pointer to their disillusionment with him, the SP boss has gone all out to placate the community.

Three Muslim ministers, all from western UP, the areas adjoining Muzaffarnagar, were given cabinet berths in a January reshuffle, taking the total count to 10. Twelve leaders were bestowed with state minister ranks. While Rizvan Ahmed was made the DGP, after apparently superseding four senior officers, Jawed Usmani was already chief secretary earlier. Then a directive went out that in all police stations there should be at least one Muslim sub-inspector. The sops came by the bagful -- development schemes for Muslim-majority villages, allocation of work to them, promise to create education hubs, grants for poor fathers to marry off their daughters.

"All that is there, but I think people are underestimating the disenchantment of Muslims with this government. With Akhilesh Yadav's hands tied, blame must go to his father," says Firoz Hussain, a teacher. "While it may be true that a lot of us might eventually go with the Samajwadi Party, it is also a fact that Guddu (Jamali) has his followers."

At the bustling SP office, with dozens of cars lined up for duty, a canteen supplying unending cups of tea to workers and visitors, and election paraphernalia stacked around, Munir Ahmed Khan, the minority cell head, is pleasantly gung-ho. "Take it from me, the BJP will wrap up under 20, we will get 40 seats and the rest will go to the others," he smiles. "Call me when the results are out."

Step outside and Khan's optimism feels strange, with the first person stopping by to give an on-the-spot assessment, Ram Palat, a security personnel, saying, "Haathi, kamal, cycle. That's the talk in the market place."

It's up to Mulayam now to kill the bazaar gossip.