In a public display of their “milan”, the two members of the Samajwadi Party, were seen garlanding each other as the locals who had flooded in through the gates applauded, some exclaiming that they had not expected to see such scenes in their lifetime.
As the Sambhal Lok Sabha constituency heads to polls in the third phase of general elections, the move, locals claim, is set to work in favour of the party. The Muslim vote in Sambhal has long been divided between the Barq family, mainly supported by the Turk Muslim community and Nawab Iqbal Mehmood’s family supported by other Muslim castes.
The rivalry between the two families dates back almost five decades, during which neither had set foot on the other's property. While Shafiqur Rahman Barq has previously claimed that the Nawabs have divided the Muslim vote by going against the party, Iqbal Mehmood alleges that Barq has not allowed any other leader to establish themselves and has repeatedly attempted to field his son and grandson as candidates for the Sambhal seats.
Even though Mehmood is not a direct part of the Lok Sabha 2024 contest, his supporters who had remained loyal over the years may not have been ready to vote for Zia Ur Rahman Barq (Sambhal candidate) as the latter's relationship with their beloved leader remained strained. However, now the situation is different.
“(aaj yahan) do sitaron ka milan ho raha hai,” (Two stars are meeting here today) Nawab Iqbal Mehmood said in a conversation with Outlook.
“We were both from the same party but had some political disputes which have been going on for years. So us and our workers were both divided. Now we are one, our party workers, our voters, me and Zia Ur Rahman and now we will focus on Sambhal. We will raise the voice of Sambhal in the parliament and the Vidhan Sabha,” he added.
In the past, Mehmood and Barq have not hidden their animosity towards each other. Last year jibes were thrown at the young Barq with him being called an accidental MLA, to which he responded in equally bitter terms.
In May last year, then sitting MP Shafiqur Rahman Barq opposed the nomination of Iqbal Mehmood’s wife Ruksana Mehmood for the Municipal Council chairperson position. Party sources said Barq wasn’t consulted when choosing the candidates, which angered him. He instead chose to support independent candidate Farhana Saifi.
“Along with Mulayam Singh Yadav, I formed this Samajwadi Party. No one else can claim it. The others joined the party later…I am not scared of the party (leadership). They can remove me and it won’t matter to me, “ Barq had said, according to The Indian Express.
Over the years, there have been several other disagreements which have come to the fore whether over seat tickets or other party decisions.
Referring to the INDIA bloc “mahagathbandhan”, Mehmood - the seven-time MLA - on Thursday said if all the opposition parties could come together then the two Sambhal leaders could put aside their differences for the people.
Zia Ur Rahman, the current MLA of the Kundarki legislative assembly constituency, is looking to make his Lok Sabha debut from Sambhal, a seat which has been a stronghold of his now deceased grandfather Shafiqur Rahman Barq.
“I am confident that the Sambhal lok sabha seat win for Samajwadi Party will be a historic one,” Zia Ur Rahman said,” we have received the support of not only the Muslims but people from different communities as well.”
“Right now, the public is suffering because of inflation, the BJP had promised solutions but backtracked on their promise. There’s consistent extortion in police stations and tehsils. Our farmers don't get the respect that they deserve, and they should have been given MSP but weren’t. We are against this,” he added.
The young leader said he’d also work for employment if elected, something, he claims, that the ruling party has promised but not fulfilled.
“And the two-crore people who were promised employment, the government’s work for employment has been in name only, all they’ve done is spread hatred,” he added.
BJP Sambhal district president Harendra Singh Rinku claims it is not the Bharatiya Janata Party that divides voters but the SP veteran Shafiqur Rahman Barq who had been doing it for years.
“We are going strong this election and we are sure we are getting the vote of every caste and every religion,” Rinku said in a conversation with Outlook.
Commenting on the coming together of the two Sambhal families, the BJP leader said the move was an internal matter and wasn’t going to affect BJP’s chances in the slightest.
“When bigger parties are coming into alliance, they are just two members of the same party, it doesn’t affect us at all,” he said.
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The district president said one of the saffron party’s main poll promises for Sambhal was the construction of a railway line.
“If our candidate Parmeshwar Lal Saini wins, then we will definitely try to get it (railway line) built as is the need of the region,” he said.
“The distance to Delhi is 160 km but whoever the MP has been so far, they haven’t tried to get a railway line for Sambhal. In 2014 when our MP (Satyapal Singh Saini) won, he raised it in the Parliament, and it was also considered in the budget but for some reason it wasn’t passed.
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The Sambhal Lok Sabha constituency goes to polls on May 7.
