Was well-known film actress-turned social activist Nafisa Ali -- who was on Sunday declared as Samajwadi Party's nominee for the prestigious Lucknow parliamentary seat -- hijacked by SP's political juggler Amar Singh or did she switch loyalties from the Congress on the advise of prominent Islamic clerics of Lucknow?
The question came up in the wake of her 'secret; visit to Lucknow exactly 10 days back, when she approached Maulana Khalid Rasheed, Lucknow's Naib Imam and head of 300-year old Islamic seminary Darul-Uloom Firangi Mahal, Idgah, and another leading Maulana of the city.
Nafisa was in Lucknow on March 28 and her mission was plain and simple -- to assess whether she would get the 'blessings' of Lucknow's leading Maulanas, whose support could swing a large chunk of the city's dominant Muslim vote in her favour. She was accompanied by a prominent Congress leader, who enjoys close proximity to the two Maulanas.
The Maulanas were told that Nafisa's name was being actively considered by the Congress in the event that Samajwadi Party nominee actor Sanjay Dutt would not get the apex court's clearance to contest the Lok Sabha election following his pending conviction in a criminal case.
Subsequently on March 31, UP Congress in charge Digvijay Singh and state Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi too called on Maulana Khalid Rasheed.
Sure enough, there was no talk of her being even remotely associated with the Samajwadi Party, whose general secretary Amar Singh was understood to have literally hijacked her, in exactly the same manner as Sanjay Dutt was understood to have been snatched away from the Congress about a month ago.
While the Congress high command was dilly-dallying with its decision, Nafisa was flown in to Lucknow along with Sanjay Dutt on Sunday afternoon. They drove straight from the airport to the state Samajwadi Party headquarters, where Amar Singh spinned-off a long story before asking Dutt to formally announce Nafisa's official candidature from the city.
Sure enough, the idea was to give Sanjay some importance after he was suddenly named as the party's national general secretary.
The whole tenor of Amar Singh's press conference was directed towards denigrating the Congress leadership for being indifferent towards Nafisa, whose active role as a staunch Congress supporter had also got her a Cabinet minister's rank by none other than party president Sonia Gandhi. Nafisa was appointed as chairperson of the National Children's Film Society.
On her part, Nafisa gave a long speech on how the 'true secular credentials' of the Samajwadi Party had attracted her into that fold. However, she was at her wit's end when a scribe sought to known if she regarded Congress as 'less secular' than the Samajwadi Party.
"I do not mean that; I have always had full faith in Sonia Gandhi's secular credentials, but I got suspicious about some people in the Congress party," she sought to clarify after Amar Singh whispered something to her.
Dutt made it a point to add, "It was my wife Manyata, who suggested the name of Nafisa Ali, and I am grateful to the Samajwadi Party leadership for accepting our proposal to field her. Nafisa is like a sister to me and I wish to assure her that I will remain behind her like a shadow in the entire election campaign."
In a quick reciprocation, Nafisa pointed out, "I have known Sanjay for 30 years and felt really pained that while someone like Jagdish Tytler could get a clean chit for his involvement in the Sikh killings during the 1984 riots, Sanjay Dut could not even get permission to contest the polls."
Both Amar Singh and Nafisa made it a point to drive home the point that her husband was a Sikh.
That she was heavily tutored by her new found political mentor Amar Singh was repeatedly visible. She made it a point to praise the recent bonhomie between SP chief Mulayam Singh, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan, which she termed as 'another demonstration of a united war against communal forces'.
However, when some scribes sought to know how would she react to Mulayam's hand shake with BJP rebel Kalyan Singh, who was pointedly responsible for the demolition of the Babri Masjid, Nafisa's spontaneous retort was, "I do not think Mulayam has joined hands with Kalyan Singh; I am told he is running as an independent."
But when her attention as drawn to Mulayam's own announcement that Kalyan would campaign for the Samajwadi Party, she made it loud and clear, "No, I will not want him to campaign for me."
