By TwoCircles.net staff reporter
New Delhi : In an analysis of recent Uttar Pradesh Assembly election results, Urdu daily Hindustan Express eulogised Sunday Muslims' mature and united political consciousness and decision making skill in electoral politics.
In the election for 402-member Assembly, the paper says, Muslims left no stone unturned in making the communal and fascist forces lick the dust.
"It is for the first time in the history of Uttar Pradesh that Muslim voters have succeeded in sending as many as 56 Muslim representatives in the Assembly while the number of BJP candidates winning the poll came at only 50. This shows Muslims' political maturity and their ability to prove that they are a force to reckon with," it observes.
As for fielding Muslim candidates in the election fray, the Bahujan Samaj Party exhibited considerable broad-mindedness and naturally it reaped the reward. The party gave tickets to 64 Muslim candidates and 30 of them won the elections.
The number of Muslim candidates winning on Samajwadi Party tickets is only 20 while no Muslim candidate fielded by two important political parties viz. Indian National Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party could succeed.
"Keeping in view the anti-Muslim stance, it was quite expected that no Muslim candidate fielded by BJP would be able to succeed. But it is indeed surprising that no Muslim candidate of Congress has succeeded," the paper comments.
"The Congress Muslim candidates' failure to win the elections shows that Muslim public opinion did not consider the party worth relying. It also brings into light that Congress would have to face electoral drubbings countrywide if the party does not effect considerable changes in its policy towards Muslims," the paper adds.