Lucknow, Nov 12 (PTI) AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and Azad Samaj Party (Kanshiram) president Chandrashekhar Aazad on Thursday announced a new alliance for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections and invited Samajwadi Party, Congress and other parties willing to join hands to prevent the BJP from returning to power for a third consecutive term.
At a press conference here, the two leaders said the Samajik Parivartan Morcha (SPM) would provide an independent political platform to deprived, oppressed and marginalised communities.
Owaisi named Aazad as the coalition’s chief ministerial face, asserting that it had the “political and intellectual honesty” to take on the BJP and the RSS.
Describing the alliance as “large-hearted”, Aazad said any party, including the SP and Congress, was welcome to contest the elections in its support if it wanted to stop the BJP from coming to power again. Rejecting its description as a third front, he said, “If you understand its depth, you will realise that it is the first front.”
The electoral impact of the two-party front is yet to be assessed, though it has managed to grab considerable media space and dominate the political narrative at least for now.
The alliance brings together two leaders with distinct social constituencies — Aazad, a Jatav who has emerged as a prominent face among young Dalits, and Owaisi, a controversial but popular Muslim leader known for his oratory. Together, they are looking to mobilise the nearly 40 per cent Dalit-Muslim vote base in the state.
The contours of their seat-sharing arrangement are yet to be announced. The invitation to other parties indicates an attempt to broaden the alliance beyond the Dalit-Muslim combination and bring OBCs and other communities into a larger social coalition.
A wider alliance could also strengthen its bargaining position in a favourable post-poll scenario, leaders admit.
Dismissing the coalition, BJP state president Pankaj Chaudhary told PTI that opposition parties treated Dalits, backward classes and deprived sections merely as vote banks and said people will vote for development in 2027.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav welcomed the formation of the Morcha, saying it “could cost the BJP 2-3 per cent of votes”.
In a post on X, Yadav noted the alliance could provide an additional option to people who had earlier voted for communal forces and said his party would extend cooperation in taking the “honest voice” of those fighting communal forces for the welfare of PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak).
The SP-Congress combination, which won 37 and six Lok Sabha seats respectively in Uttar Pradesh in the 2024 general elections, is also being closely watched, with the contours of their possible 2027 arrangement yet to be made public.
Owaisi’s efforts to secure a place in the INDIA bloc in the state had been rejected, with Yadav making it clear that he would contest the elections with the Congress.
The SPM’s biggest challenge will be to counter allegations that it is the BJP’s ‘B team’ and could divide opposition votes to the ruling party’s advantage.
A SP leader, questioning the Morcha’s relevance, told PTI, “Look at the places where Owaisi has held rallies so far, places like Kairana, Suar, Moradabad, all areas of strength for SP.”
Congress leader Asim Waqar, who recently switched from the AIMIM to the Congress, alleged that the alliance had been formed at the BJP’s behest.
“Some leaders work from time to time to help the BJP,” he said, urging voters, particularly Muslims, to prevent BJP from securing a third consecutive term.
Rejecting allegations that his party was the BJP’s “B team”, Aazad questioned the opposition’s double standards over parties contesting elections independently.
“If contesting elections independently makes a party the BJP’s B team, why did the Samajwadi Party contest 70 seats in Madhya Pradesh, 54 in Uttarakhand and 20 in Jammu,” he asked.
In a separate post in X, Waqar questioned why a Muslim had not been named the coalition’s chief ministerial face.
Aazad also questioned why the Congress and Trinamool Congress contested against each other in West Bengal and why the Congress and AAP fought separately in Delhi and Haryana, despite being INDIA bloc partners in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Delhi.
Invoking Dalit icons BR Ambedkar and Kanshiram in his remarks, Aazad recalled that the SP had contested the 2023 local body elections in alliance with his party.
The two leaders had been building their political presence in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the announcement, with Owaisi holding rallies across the state and Aazad organising ‘Satta Parivartan Yatras’. Both parties had also begun naming candidates. The November 26 (Constitution Day) rally in Lucknow is now expected to serve as a show of strength for the new front, with seat announcements and adjustments based on the parties’ respective strengths likely to follow. The same day SP will unveil its poll manifesto.
Owaisi, meanwhile, launched a sharp attack on Yadav, accusing him of practising “entitlement politics” and keeping marginalised communities confined to vote-bank politics.
“Akhilesh Yadav is a former chief minister and, Inshallah, will remain one,” he said, questioning whether the SP chief had faced a bullet attack like Azad, who was shot at in 2023, or an attack on his car like the one Owaisi faced in 2022.
“The issue is now about equality and participation. Independent leadership will emerge,” Owaisi said, adding that Muslims could no longer be expected to merely “lay carpets” and sacrifice their youth for political leaders.
Taking another swipe at Yadav over his proposed December 12 visit to Ayodhya to offer prayers at the Ram temple, Owaisi recited a couplet by poet Amir Minai, “Sarakti jaaye hai rukh se naqaab aahista aahista, nikalta aa raha hai tera chehra aahista aahista” (The veil slowly slips away from the face, and your face gradually emerges).
He also questioned the SP over the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, claiming around 50,000 people were displaced and alleging that seven women withdrew sexual assault cases under pressure, while another woman who refused to do so did not receive government security.
Referring to SP leader Shivpal Singh Yadav’s meeting with Mohammad Azam Khan in jail, Owaisi said his party had consistently raised its voice in support of Khan.
The alliance is not the first such experiment by Owaisi in poll-bound states.
In the Bihar elections, the AIMIM had won five seats after joining hands with the ASP (Kanshiram) and former minister Swami Prasad Maurya’s Apni Janata Party, although the ASP failed to win any.
In the 2022 Uttar Pradesh elections, Owaisi had floated the Bhagidari Parivartan Morcha with former minister Babu Singh Kushwaha’s Jan Adhikar Party, but the alliance lost its deposit in all 95 seats it contested.
Aazad, meanwhile, had suffered a comprehensive defeat against Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath from the Gorakhpur Urban seat in the 2022 Assembly elections but bounced back by winning the Nagina Lok Sabha seat in 2024. PTI MAN KIS ABN ZMN
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.