Riot relief camps full of beggars, Samajwadi Party leader Atiq Ahmed says

LUCKNOW: Mafia-turned-Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Atiq Ahmed has shot his mouth off once again. On Saturday, he said that "all those holed up in relief camps in Muzaffarnagar are professional beggars found in every class and community". Atiq had on an earlier visit to Lucknow made another such reckless remark denying shortage of power and drinking water in Uttar Pradesh. "It is just that people are stealing power through illegal connections," he had said.

"The real victims were helped and rehabilitated by the state government. They were given Rs 15 lakh each and jobs. But people being shown in the camps are professional beggars," Atiq told reporters in Shrawasti on Saturday.

As expected, Atiq's comment has triggered sharp reactions not only from political parties but even from his own party. Former SP leader Shahid Siddiqui saw Atiq's comment as the "perception of the party towards riot victims". "Atiq is saying this only to please the SP leadership," Siddiqui said.

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP) leader Vinay Katiyar too condemned the statement but refused to talk about it. "Atiq is no such leader whose comment merits response," Katiyar said in Delhi.

Atiq's latest utterance is being seen as another of his attempts to re-establish himself as someone close to SP's top leadership. SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, who had reportedly described those at relief camps in Muzaffarnagar as "agents of the opposition parties", had to face a lot of flak from political adversaries as well as from the common Muslim. It seems in his desperation to find a slot in SP's top leadership, Atiq has gone a step further and has now described riot victims as beggars, irrespective of the fact that neither he nor any of his representatives bothered to visit Muzaffarnagar after the riots to enquire about victims who were mostly Muslims -- the factor that fetches Atiq Muslim vote during his elections, said a political commentator.

This time, however, Atiq seems to have struck the wrong chord and his comments were unlikely to find an echo among the party top leadership. At least two senior leaders of the party -- both of whom are considered close to the top party leadership -- are believed to have displayed their displeasure over Atiq's "beggar" comments. "No one would appreciate such remarks. No one has the right to ridicule anyone in such a manner," said a sitting SP MP who is also seen as a no-nonsense man in the party and is one of its key strategist as well.

Ironically, this is the same Atiq, whose name had hit the headlines at the fag-end of the previous SP regime that ended in early 2007. The incident was related to rape of Muslim minors at a madrassa in Kareli and the accused were reportedly related to Atiq who was then the sitting SP MP. The motive for rape was allegedly to scare away occupants of the madrassa which was occupying a 200-feet-wide road leading to Alina City and Al Amra residential colonies being built by Atiq and his brothers-in-law.

The incident had incensed Muslims of the region to the extent that neither Atiq nor his brothers could win a single election till date even after all the five accused arrested in the case were acquitted for lack of evidence. A year after the Kareli rape case, he was expelled from the party after he voted against the UPA during the January 8, 2008, trust vote in Parliament over the nuclear deal in contrast to the SP's official whip.

Re-inducted into the party on December 16, 2013, Atiq was nominated party candidate for Sultanpur parliamentary constituency for the general elections. This was described by some in the party as desperation of the SP leadership in view of the general elections. Mulayam finally gave in to mounting pressure in the party and shunted the mafia-turned-politician to Shrawasti a fortnight back.

source - TOI