While party general secretary Amar Singh landed in Deoband — to apparently a cold reception — SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had no better luck at his meeting with over 100 Barelvi Sunni Muslim clerics.

After finding that no prominent Darul Uloom Deoband cleric was willing to entertain him, Amar Singh went to the neighbouring Darul Uloom Waqf madrasa. Addressing students there, he sought Kalyan’s apology and said he would speak to Mulayam over the issue.

He also tried to convince Maulana Ahsan Kazmi, the ustad of the madrasa, that Kalyan had not joined the party and that the SP had tied up with him only to weaken the BJP.

Singh, accompanied by party MP Kazi Rashid Masood and local MLA Imran Masood, arrived in Deoband by a helicopter from Delhi. During his three-hour stay at Deoband, the SP leader also met Maulana Arshad Madni, the president of the Jamait Ulema Hind.

At the over-three-hour meeting of Mulayam with Sunni clerics, barring a few voices of support, the opinion was against “friendship” with Kalyan. Muslims can never forgive Kalyan for his role in the Babri demolition, they said categorically.

They also warned that the relationship would hit the SP in the Lok Sabha elections. “In no way should the SP take assistance of Kalyan Singh or his son Rajveer,” commented a cleric.

Pointing out that Kalyan had even served a day in jail over the Babri demolition, Syeed Shamin Baba, the maulana of a dargah in Amebedkarnagar, said: “How can we forgive him for mere political reasons?” Muslim Convention Convener Yasin Akhtar Misbahi also said the SP would find it hard to convince the community on Kalyan.

The SP has been facing a Muslim backlash ever since the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister declared his support for the party. Its own Muslim leader Azam Khan has raised a banner of revolt, a matter that came up at the meeting.

In his speech that lasted more than one and a half hours, Mulayam repeatedly asserted that Kalyan had not been admitted into the party, and that the “friendship” would only weaken the BJP. He also assured the clerics that the SP would act as per their wishes. Mulayam also reminded the meeting of the measures taken by his government for the uplift of minorities. “I am a true friend of the Muslims and have never ditched them.”