Missing in action: Opposition fights shy of taking on bulldozer drive in UP

The SP, with 111 legislators in a House of 403, is the largest entity in the Opposition

Haji Fazlur Rehman, Saharanpur MP elected from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), decided that things had come to a head in his town when on June 12 the administration rolled in bulldozers and razed the properties — deemed as “illegal” — belonging to Muzammil and Abdul Wakeer. Muzammil and Wakeer have been accused of spearheading the June 10 protests outside a Saharanpur mosque, after the Friday prayers, against former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s remarks on the Prophet.

Rehman reached out to the local Samajwadi Party (SP), Rash­triya Lok Dal (RLD), and Congress members to forge a coalition of