Jamia, a reality check to cash in on vote bank

Ahead of Assembly Elections in five states, the competition among political parties to tap into the unease in the Muslim community over the Jamia Nagar encounter has intensified.

Late on Friday night, Samajwadi Party’s Amar Singh and Trinamool leader Mamata Bannerjee joined hands and demanded a probe into the encounter in which Delhi police lost their decorated officer MC Sharma.

Even the Congress doesn’t want to be left behind. On Saturday, the party's minority cell met the Prime Minister asking for a re-look into the incident.

“We are not doing competition for vote-bank politics, we are in competition for human rights,” said Congress leader Salman Khursheed.

Caught in a bind, Congress is playing it safe. Home Minister Shivraj Patil and National Security Advisor MK Narayanan have ruled out a probe. At least as of now.

But with factions like Mayawati’s BSP upping its ante, Congress is seriously looking at saving face.

One solution, sources say could be setting up of a committee to look into whether anything went amiss during the encounter.

This, the Congress leadership hopes will soften the anger of the Muslims who have been seemingly unhappy with the party.

The BJP is playing the wait and watch game as of now. It hopes to counter what it calls minority appeasement with its resurgent Hindutva agenda.

“Why can’t you pick up any other national issue to remain politically relevant?” asked BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad.

According to the Sachar Committee report on the status of Muslims in India - which the government is using as a yardstick to provide facilities for the minority – says Muslims are economically and socially lagging. However, in an election year, development seems to be the last thing on the mind of the politicians.