In U.P. rallies, Shah slams Akhilesh’s rule with acronyms

Describes it as NIZAM (administration) of Muslim leaders

Combining his attack on the Samajwadi Party’s perceived soft corner for minorities with his acronyms, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday described the rule of SP president Akhilesh Yadav as NIZAM (administration) of Muslim leaders and pitted it against the vikas (development) and the Ram temple delivered by the Bharatiya Janata Party. Mr. Shah has so far addressed 10 rallies as part of the Jan Vishwas Yatra.

Addressing rallies in Moradabad and Aligarh, constituencies that have a significant Muslim population and leadership, Mr Shah said Mr Yadav’s administration stood for NIZAM which he elaborated as Naseemuddin (Siddiqui), Imran Masood, Azam Khan, and Mukhtar Ansari.

Notably, out of the four, only Mr. Khan is a front line SP leader from the neighbouring Rampur district. Mr. Siddiqui has been with the Bahujan Samaj Party before shifting to the Congress. Mr. Masood is a prominent Congress leader in west Uttar Pradesh and Mr. Ansari has been with the BSP for a long time. In Aligarh, he changed Naseemuddin to Naseeruddin. Perhaps, he was referring to Naseer Ahmad Khan, the SP MLA from Chamraua constituency in Rampur.