Imran Masood

Imran Masood To Join Cong On October 7

Imran Masood, who was expelled from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in August, will join the Congress party on October 7 at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) office in Delhi.

Speaking to ANI, Imran Masood said “It is a matter of happiness for me that I am joining the party. Rahul and Priyanka Ji are with us. I have worked together with them before and now there is a need for everyone to work together. I will join the party at AICC headquarters in Delhi.”

Speaking on his expulsion from BSP, Masood said “My thinking in BSP was that everyone should work together, I don’t know who explained it to Behan Ji (Mayawati) in what way. I just said that it is the need of the hour that you should come into the alliance. Because of this, they expelled me and as of now I am not in any party.”

Masood left the Congress Party in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections and joined the Samajwadi Party and later he joined BSP.

Citing the reason for leaving Congress, he said, “Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have given me respect but in the current political scenario, the party does not have any vote share in Uttar Pradesh. Akhilesh ji can bring development to the state.” (ANI)

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We'll Vote To Defeat BJP

Rally Report – ‘We'll Vote To Defeat BJP’

Although Mohammad Israr, 49, attended the Congress rally at Saharanpur on April 8, he calls himself an observer than a party supporter. He believes Muslims must see which way the wind is blowing and vote tactically to defeat the communal forces. And he has valid reasons to back his belief:

I am just an observer to this rally (Congress public meeting on April 8) since I happened to be in the vicinity. I can judge the support of Muslim community to Imran Masood. He is a very popular leader in the community because of his fierce comments against (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi. Mazloomo ki aawaz hain (he is the voice of the oppressed).

In my opinion, Imran sahib is likely to win, even though the joint candidate from the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj is also Hazi (Fazulrahman) sahib. A day or two before, there was gathbandhan (the SP-BSP alliance) rally which was also attended by many Muslim voters. And I was worried a little that two Muslim candidates would mean division of votes. The Muslim voter must not allow its voter strength to be wasted. Taqseem nahi hona hai, taqseem karne waali taaqaton ko harana hai (we must not get divided; instead we have to defeat the divisive forces).

Community leaders must guide the votes not to get carried away by punchy slogans and promises made in a rally. Once the results come, these leaders will forget what they had promised before the public. Similarly, a voter or a quom (community) also has to keep its self-interest in mind. BJP rule in the last five years have instilled a feeling of fear among the minority community.

Never before were so many cases of cow vigilante had come. Muslims and many low-caste Hindu brothers lost their jobs after a crackdown on abattoirs in Uttar Pradesh. There were so many incidents of lynching on false pretext. Such incidents send a wrong signal to the minority community. We get worried when our children travel to other states on their own.

Even in Vajpayee ki sarakar and Kalyan Singh ki sarkar, this fear never visited our minds. But the last five years have been traumatic. And with Yogi sarkar in UP now, things have only got worse. You should see the bike rallies by men wearing saffron headgears. They deliberately shout slogans whenever a mosque comes en route. Their sole purpose is to humiliate Muslims. Ask anyone. This is a universal feeling and a regular point of discussion in our community.

I understand Muslims are used as votebanks. But do we have any other option than not to unitedly help a candidate who would listen to us, help us in getting our police complaints registered, give us protection or at least a sense of protection. Self-interest is back in the game. That is why you are not hearing the slogan sabka saath, sabka vikas this year. Are you?

(Name of the narrator was changed and his face blurred on request)

Congress Rally In Saharanpur

WATCH – Congress Rally In Saharanpur

Team LokMarg reached Saharanpur to attend Rahul-Priyanka rally on April 8 in Saharanpur, western UP. While bad weather forced the Gandhi scions to cancel their public meeting, our team interacted with the crowd to gauge the public mood.

Watch our video capsule