Analysis | Owaisi tries to dismantle Muslim-Yadav combination to make inroads in U.P.

The Muslim-Yadav combination is the bedrock of the Samajwadi Party’s traditional electoral arithmetic in Uttar Pradesh.

All India Majlis-e-Ithehadul-Muslimeen president Asaduddin Owaisi is trying to dismantle the Muslim-Yadav combination, the bedrock of the Samajwadi Party’s traditional electoral arithmetic in Uttar Pradesh, in his bid to tap into the discontent among the minority for playing “ second-fiddle” in the equation over the last few decades. While Muslims are around one-fifth of the state’s population, the Yadavs (OBC) are estimated to be much less at around 9-10%. For any success in 2022, the Samajwadi Party (SP) would need to consolidate these two communities in addition to winning support from others. To woo Muslims to his party ahead of the 2022 U.P. Assembly election, Mr. Owaisi is not only questioning the record and silence of the non-BJP parties on issues critical to the community and their security but specifically trying to break the 'M-Y' combination by creating distrust among Muslims towards the SP. He is doing this by questioning the loyalty of the SP's core support base of the Hindu Yadav community, to which SP chief Akhilesh Yadav belongs.