Sufis vs Deobandis in the Gandhi stronghold

The Barelvi upsurge against Deobandis, for all its theological underpinnings, has engulfed all contestants for UP’s Muslim vote. The party that finds itself in the most awkward position is the Congress, whose silken patchwork of arrangements with UP’s sub-sects is threatening to come apart. The AIUMB holds the Congress responsible for patronising Deobandis but keeping most Muslims in a state of backwardness. “The Congress listens to hardliners,” says Syed Babar Ashraf of the AIUMB, “It has propped up hardline organisations like the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind and has patronised Deobandis at the cost of Barelvis.”

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