BJP’s festive initiative decried as a hollow gesture amid years of neglect and hostility
Mohammad bin Ismail | Clarion India
NEW DELHI — The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has rolled out its much-hyped ‘Saughat Modi’ campaign, promising to deliver festive gift kits to Muslim, Sikh, and Christian households ahead of Eid, Baisakhi, and Good Friday. But for many Muslims, particularly in Bihar — where assembly elections are fast approaching — the move is less a gesture of goodwill and more a slap in the face after years of what they call systematic persecution under BJP rule.
The campaign, launched with fanfare from Delhi’s Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya Dargah, involves distributing ‘Modi Kits’ packed with flour, gram, dry fruits, milk, and a suit for women to 32 lakh families nationwide. BJP Minority Front chief Jamal Siddiqui hailed it as a step towards unity, saying, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi cares for all 140 crore Indians. This is a gift to help the poor celebrate Eid with joy.”
Yet, across the country’s Muslim communities, the response has been one of anger, distrust, and outright rejection. For them, the kits symbolise not generosity but a cynical bid to paper over a decade of BJP policies they say have fuelled division, violence, and despair.
In the national capital’s Jamia Nagar, 45-year-old tailor Mohammed Asif tossed the kit he received back onto the street. “They think a bag of flour will make us forget the lynchings, the bulldozers, the hate?” he said, his voice trembling with frustration. “My brother was beaten by a mob in 2019 for ‘looking Muslim’. Where was Modi then?”
Asif’s story is not unique. From Uttar Pradesh to Gujarat, Muslims recount a litany of grievances: mob attacks over beef rumours, businesses ruined by boycotts, homes razed under dubious ‘encroachment’ drives, and a Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) they see as a deliberate attempt to brand them as second-class citizens.
“This isn’t charity — it’s an insult,” said Ayesha Begum, a schoolteacher from Patna. “They’ve spent years tearing us down, and now they throw crumbs at us before an election.”
Official data backs their claims. Hate crimes against minorities have soared by 62% since 2014, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Muslim youth face unemployment rates of 17.8%, more than double the national average of 7.6%.
“The BJP wants our votes but not our dignity,” said Imran Khan, a shopkeeper in Bihar’s Kishanganj. “We’re not beggars to be bought with dry fruits.”
The campaign’s focus on Bihar, where Muslims make up 17% of the electorate and could sway 40 seats, has only deepened suspicions. “It’s a shameless vote-grab,” said RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav. “After polarising Hindus and Muslims for years, they’re scared of losing, so they play this cheap trick.”
Local Muslim leaders agree. “We’ve seen their true face,” said Maulana Khalid Rashid, an imam in Seemanchal. “During riots, their workers cheered the mobs. Now they knock on our doors with gifts? We’re not fools.” Even those who accepted the kits did so grudgingly. “I took it because I’m poor, not because I trust them,” admitted Razia Khatoon, a widow from Muzaffarpur. “My son’s still jobless — will Modi fix that?”
Critics argue the BJP’s Hindu-first agenda lies bare beneath the campaign’s veneer. “This is the same party that calls welfare for Muslims ‘appeasement’ but hands out kits when it suits them,” said Congress leader Pawan Khera. “Their hypocrisy stinks.”
Activists point to a pattern of double standards. In 2022, BJP leaders backed calls to boycott Muslim vendors during Hindu festivals, yet now they tout interfaith harmony. “They’ve built their empire on hating us,” said Delhi-based writer Zainab Fatima. “These kits are just a prop to fool the world.”
Hindutva hardliners within the BJP have even grumbled about the outreach. “Why waste resources on them?” asked Sanjay Pandey, a Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) member in Lucknow. “Muslims will never vote for us — they’re anti-Hindu by nature.” Such remarks, widely circulated on social media, have only fuelled Muslim outrage, exposing the rift between the party’s base and its sudden minority-friendly façade.
For the country’s 200 million Muslims, the BJP’s track record overshadows any festive handout. The scars oof the 2019 anti-CAA protests, met with brutal police crackdowns, are still fresh. “My cousin lost an eye to a pellet gun,” said student Noor Jahan from Aligarh. “Now they expect me to applaud their kits?”
In Gujarat, Mohammad Yusuf recalls the 2002 riots under Modi’s watch as chief minister. “Hundreds of Muslims died and thousands of them suffered while he looked the other way,” he said. “No amount of gram can wash that blood off his hands.” The Sachar Committee’s 2006 report, which detailed Muslim socio-economic exclusion, gathers dust as successive BJP governments ignore its calls for reform. “They don’t want us to rise,” Yusuf added. “They want us grateful for scraps.”
Opposition leaders have seized on the discontent. “This is election-year tokenism at its worst,” said AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi. “The BJP’s love for Muslims lasts only till the ballots are counted.” Analyst Yogendra Yadav agreed: “Voters see through this. It’s not generosity — it’s panic.”
Muslim women, often the face of resistance, are especially vocal. “They think a suit will silence us?” asked activist Shabnam Hashmi. “We’ve marched against their laws, buried our dead from their riots. We won’t bow for a handout.”
In Bihar’s Araria, a group of women burned the kits in protest, chanting, “No vote for hate.”
As the kits trickle into homes, their reception is tepid at best. “It’s a bribe, plain and simple,” said economist Jean Drèze. “But trust isn’t so cheap.” For many, the campaign highlights not the BJP’s goodwill but its desperation. “They’re losing their grip, and they know it,” said columnist Tavleen Singh. “This might just remind Muslims why they’ve opposed them all along.”
In the shadow of Eid, the country’s Muslims stand firm: no festive gift can erase a decade of wounds — or sway a community that’s learned to see through the BJP’s hollow promises. As Bihar heads to the polls, the real question looms: will this gambit win votes, or will it expose the party’s cynicism to a nation watching closely?
