Is SP playing 'dangerous' politics with Muslims?

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his father, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, have time and again expressed their indebtedness to Muslims for voting them to power in the assembly elections earlier this year.

"Many innocent Muslim youths have been framed in cooked up cases. We will always help such people," Mulayam Singh told IANS recently. Muslims comprise about 19 percent of the 200 million population of the country's most populous state and are hence wooed by all parties.

The father-son duo have said in the past that cases against "innocent" Muslims arrested in "false" terrorism cases would be dropped. The government thereafter moved Oct 31 a notification seeking withdrawal of cases against the accused in the March 7, 2006, serial bombing cases that ripped through Varanasi and killed 20 people.

The government's move, other than inviting criticism from parties like the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has also been resented by the bureaucracy. "This is a dangerous precedent that we are setting," said a government official, adding that not only would this divide the state on strong communal lines but would also encourage terrorism.