New Delhi/ Lucknow, July 8 : Today, while committing his party’s support to the Congress-led UPA government in the Capital after the Left pull out, Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh claimed that the Muslims across Uttar Pradesh had welcomed the Indo-US nuclear deal and that they were not against it.

He claimed that Muslims from Deoband, Barelvi, Kanpur, Lucknow and Muzaffarnagar had welcomed the deal in “national interest”, thereby contradicting media reports over the past few days suggesting that the deal was being opposed by the Muslims because it were to be inked with the ‘hegemonic’ US.

Pointing towards his party MPs Saleem Iqbal Shervani, Shafiq-ur Rehman, and Rubab Sayda, standing besides him while he addressed the media persons at the end of Samajwadi Party’s parliamentary party meeting, Amar Singh said that all of them were in support of the Indo-US nuclear deal in “national interest”.

Amar Singh’s claim was well-founded by Muslim leaders having influence over a considerable chunk of Muslims in the country.

According to newspaper reports, the Deobandi and the Barelvi sects of Sunni Muslims have come out openly in support of the deal. Taking an exception to Mayawati and the Leftists’ recent statements claiming that the deal was anti-Muslims, Naib Mohatamin of the well-known Islamic seminary Dar-ul Uloom Deoband, said that her
(Mayawati’s) contention was not well-taken by the Muslims. He said in his opinion, both Mayawati and the Communists “don’t have sympathy for the Muslims”.

Similarly, president of the All India Ittehad-e-Millat Council Maulana Tauqueer Raza holds the same view. The Maulana, who is considered as an influential leader of the Barelvi sect said, “it is wrong to link the deal with the Muslims and Islam. By saying that the deal is anti-Mulim, Mayawati is only trying to mislead the Muslims for her narrow political interests.”

President of the Jamait-e-Ulema Hind, Maulana Arshad Madni also said that it was incorrect to say that the Muslims in the country were against the deal. “It is incorrect to link the deal with Islam. I have no objection with the nuclear deal, provided India continues to pursue an independent foreign policy as wad done during the days of Nehru,” he said. (ANI)