Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Wednesday urged the Muslim community to extend "direct support" to her party instead of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Congress to effectively counter the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) "destructive politics". Speaking at a state-level meeting of the party's revived 'Muslim Samaj Bhaichara Sangathan' at the BSP headquarters in Lucknow, she accused SP and Congress of pursuing "anti-Dalit, anti-backward, and anti-Muslim" politics historically. The gathering, attended by office-bearers, the Uttar Pradesh unit president, district heads, and zonal coordinators from all 18 divisions, also featured briefings on the Election Commission's special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Mayawati highlighted repeated electoral failures of SP and Congress despite "overwhelming emotional, physical, and financial" backing from Muslims, citing the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections and prior polls where BJP remained undefeated. In stark contrast, she pointed to BSP's 2007 triumph, forming a majority government in the state even with limited Muslim support, underscoring the party's proven ability to defeat BJP. During her tenure as chief minister, BSP ensured Muslims' "safety, security, and fair representation at every level," she recalled, issuing directives to cadres to bolster grassroots outreach among the community.

The initiative signals BSP's strategic revival of Dalit-Muslim unity through 'bhaichara' (brotherhood) committees, shelved post-2022 but now reenergised with divisional coordinators—one Dalit and one Muslim per unit—for assembly-level meetings and membership drives. This follows Mayawati's earlier criticisms of Muslims for favouring SP-Congress alliances in the 2022 and 2024 Lok Sabha polls, despite BSP fielding the highest number of Muslim candidates (37 nationwide, 19 in UP), none of whom won.

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With Uttar Pradesh's 2027 Assembly elections on the horizon, Mayawati's outreach—coupled with planned OBC bhaichara committees—aims to reclaim BSP's relevance after securing just one seat in 2022. Party leaders like national coordinator Akash Anand were present, emphasising organisational fortification to challenge BJP's dominance and SP's PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) narrative.

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