By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
New Delhi: In a statement issued on January 5, Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) said, it is extending its support to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), in the ensuing elections for the Delhi Legislative Assembly with the exception of five assembly seats, namely Babarpur, Mustafabad, Seelampur, Matia Mahel and Okhla.
SDPI national general secretary Afsar Pasha in a statement earnestly hoped that victory for Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP will surely benefit the people of Delhi and convey a message to the secular forces of the country. Kejriwal may become a pivot for all the non-Congress parties to form a united front to fight back BJP-led NDA government which is out to change the secular character of the country as enshrined in the Indian Constitution, he added.
The statement, however, is misleading to say the least for in reality SDPI, which anyways, have few thousand cadres in whole of Delhi is not supporting AAP in the five Muslim dominated constituencies of Babarpur, Mustafabad, Seelampur, Matia Mahel and Okhla.
SDPI has most of its cadres in these Muslim pockets, except few here and there. But in these constituencies, the statement did not make it clear who will they support.
When TwoCircles.net contacted SDPI national general secretary Afsar Pasha over phone, he explained that the decision to support AAP was taken at the state level, adding that in these five seats they are supporting other candidates, who have been working for the ‘community’.
All these five candidates happen to be from the Congress. So the little support SDPI could have is actually going to the Congress, but the statement issued nowhere mentions the grand old party, but wants to grab the headline saying their support is for the AAP.
SDPI is not the only one; today Jama Masjid Imam Bukhari too extended unsolicited support to the AAP, and urged the community members to defeat the communal forces.
Few days ago, Welfare Party of India(WPI) too had decided to support AAP. With not many Muslim-led parties contesting in the Delhi election, choice for Muslim voters is limited to AAP and the Congress.
Peace Party is contesting in only one seat at Babarpur, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) is contesting from Chandni Chowk and Matia Mahal seats.
Last week Delhi unit of Peace Party of India who had contested the 2013 assembly elections of Delhi have pledged their support to the AAP candidates, particularly in East and North-East Delhi, which has large pockets of Muslim dominated neighbourhoods.
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