2022 Assembly Polls: Peace Party & RUC join hands to ‘stop Muslim votes’ split’

The Peace Party failed to win a single seat in the 2017 elections but won three seats in the 2012 Vidhan Sabha polls.

The Peace Party and the Rashtriya Ulama Council (RUC) on Tuesday announced they would contest the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections together under the banner of United Democratic Alliance.

Making the announcement at a press conference here, Peace Party chief Dr Ayub said even after 74 years since Independence, Muslims had continued to be the “slaves” of secular parties.

“Today, Muslims have nowhere to go and have been left behind, which was made clear by the Sachar Committee report. These secular parties take the votes of those exploited and on the margins like Muslims and form the government but do not want to make them partners. The aim of our alliance is to free Muslims of this slavery and to ensure that other marginalised communities get their due,” said Dr Ayub. The alliance was open to other parties “who fear the division of Muslim votes in the upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections”, he added.

The Peace Party failed to win a single seat in the 2017 elections but won three seats in the 2012 Vidhan Sabha polls. The RUC did not contest the 2017 polls and instead supported the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). It had contested 100 seats in the 2012 polls but did not win any constituency.

RUC chief Maulana Amir Rashadi said, “It was a long-pending demand of people that the two like-minded parties come together. We will include other parties in the alliance in the coming days too who want to work towards the upliftment of marginalised communities so that the voices of such communities is raised.”

Criticising secular parties, he alleged that they had only used Muslims as a vote bank and “politically and socially demoralised” the community.

Lashing out at the BJP without naming it, he said those who came to power after 2014 had demonised Muslims.

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