LUCKNOW: Explaining her party’s ideological difference with ally BJP, Apna Dal (S) president Anupriya Patel on Monday said that unlike BJP her party was not averse to fielding Muslim candidates in the polls.
Disassociating the party from the Hindutva narrative, Apna Dal (S) chief and minister in Modi cabinet, Anupriya Patel claimed that Muslim candidates were not untouchable for her party as it stood for social justice.
Notably, Apna Dal (S) had declared the first NDA candidate in Haider Ali Khan from Suar in Rampur against SP MP Azam Khan’s son Abdullah Azam. Haider Ali, the scion of the Rampur royal family and grandson of Congress veteran Begum Noor Bano, was the first candidate announced by the Apna Dal (S) for the current Assembly polls in UP.
"Yes, we are ideologically different from the BJP. My party does not do religious politics. We stand for social justice. That's our ideology,” Patel said while speaking to media persons.
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Anupriya claimed that her party had always worked for marginalized sections of society, whether on the streets or in Parliament. “It is our philosophy and our founding principles and we strictly adhere to them," she added.
The Apna Dal (S) has been in alliance with the BJP for the last three elections in Uttar Pradesh – the 2014 and 2019 general elections and the 2017 assembly polls. In the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Apna Dal (S) had won two seats each while in the 2017 assembly polls, it had fielded candidates on 11 seats and had won none of them. The party has announced 13 candidates so far and is expected to declare five more names for the upcoming state assembly elections.
Patel said her party does not look at candidates from the prism of religion. "I don't know why everybody is looking at a candidate from the perspective of religion. He (Haider Ali Khan) is a promising youth who is well educated," Patel said.
"The first MLA from my party was a Muslim -- Haji Munnah-- who won the Pratapgarh Sadar constituency when the founder of Apna Dal Sonelal Patel was alive. Muslims have even headed the party at the state level. For us, Muslims are not untouchables and I do not look at candidates in light of their religion," said Anupriya, the minister in the Commerce and Industry ministry.
However, speaking about the prospects of her alliance (NDA) in the upcoming elections, Anupriya said the mood in Uttar Pradesh was in favour of the NDA and the BJP-led alliance would again form government in the state.
"The mood is clear and we will return to form the government in Uttar Pradesh. People have witnessed good law and order and inclusive growth in the state and will support us," she said. She dubbed the desertion by three OBC leaders recently from the BJP as a common practice during elections.