“PDA Under Stress? A Disputed Fort In Uttar Pradesh Is Testing The SP’s Dalit-Muslim Coalition”, Swarajya, June 02, 2026

“The Dalit-Muslim coalition that helped the Samajwadi Party (SP) become the third-largest party in the 2024 Lok Sabha election may not hold for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

At the centre of this fracture is a disputed site in Kasmandi village in Malihabad, about 30 kilometres west from Lucknow. Pasi community leaders claim it was the ancient fort of Maharaja Kans, a Nagvanshi king and included a Shiv temple.

The Muslim community counters that the structure is a mosque and a mausoleum, recorded as such in government revenue documents and registered as Waqf property, with no historical connection to any Pasi king. The structure, they say, was built by one of Awadh’s nawabs — making it part of the region’s Islamic heritage…….” 

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