The party’s minority wing has been actively interacting with minority voters in over 66 Lok Sabha seats where the minority vote is more than 30% for the past two years.
Abdul Bari Masoud | Clarion India
NEW DELHI – IT is somewhat ironic that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is attempting to win over minority voters while persisting with its rhetoric against them. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself directly targeted the second-largest religious community at an election rally in Rajasthan recently. Other leaders are also following in his footsteps. The other day, Hyderabad BJP candidate Madhavai Latha aimed an imaginary arrow towards a mosque during an election rally in the city. Despite all this, the party plans to zero in on 66 parliamentary seats where the minority vote represents over 30% of the total electorate. The minority front of the party has been tasked with pursuing this segment of the electorate.
According to Jamal Siddiqui, the leader of the party’s minority wing, the party has been actively interacting with minority voters in over 66 Lok Sabha seats where the minority vote is more than 30% for the past two years. To reach out to minority voters, the BJP has targeted these seats, 14 of which are in Uttar Pradesh, including Kairana, Nagina, Saharanpur, Bareilly, and Meerut. Seven seats from Assam have also been identified; these include Karimganj, Dhubri, Nagaon, and Kaliabor. The party is also concentrating on minority outreach in 13 West Bengal seats, including Birbhum, Jadavpur, Murshidabad, and the Diamond Harbour constituency of Abhishek Banerjee, the nephew of Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee.
Among Kerala’s eight seats, the BJP focuses on Malappuram and Idukki, in addition to Rahul Gandhi’s seat in Wayanad. Chandni Chowk and Northeast Delhi constituencies are the main emphasis in the national capital. Purnia, Araria, Kishanganj, and Katihar are among the targeted seats in Bihar. The two Goa and Ladakh seats, along with all five of Jammu and Kashmir’s seats, are included in the list of constituencies where the BJP is actively courting minority voters. The list also includes Bhiwandi and Aurangabad (Maharashtra), Secunderabad and Hyderabad (Telangana), Bhopal and Mandsaur (Madhya Pradesh), Gurgaon and Faridabad (Haryana), and Ramanathapuram (Tamil Nadu).
The BJP has focused its efforts on these seats, which are distributed across almost 200 assembly segments, by regularly interacting with religious leaders. An in-charge was assigned by the minority morcha and each of its state units to oversee these exercises. “Sufi Samvaad” (meetings with Sufi leaders) were arranged, in addition to discussions with church leaders in the designated constituencies and leaders of notable gurdwaras in these areas.
As part of the outreach initiatives to interact with minority voters, Siddiqui claimed that a total of 16,000 such sessions were held. In an attempt to increase its visibility ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the morcha assigned 20 individuals to each of the 66 seats, giving them the responsibility of coordinating two baithaks (sit-ins) with voters each day.
Reaching out to minority women voters and educating them about efforts on developmental factors for them is the primary duty of these individuals. Siddiqui added: “The second segment consists of young, first-time voters who are informed about the distinctions between the Modi government and the UPA government. Furthermore, they are also making contact with the recipients of the programs in minority populations. He also claimed that the minority morcha has also reached out to 10 lakh minority voters through over 4,000 meetings in 34 states and Union Territories covering 1,524 assembly divisions in the remaining seats in the entire country.
In addition, the BJP introduced a “Modi Mitr” program in June of last year, which involved the issuance of certificates to Modi’s minority supporters. “Up to this point, there are 22 lakh Modi Mitrs who will independently persuade people to support the BJP,” Siddiqui claimed.
Talking about the Modi government’s 10-year minority report card, Siddiqui asserted that there was no discrimination against minorities and that they too benefited from the government’s welfare programs. When reminded of the persecution of minorities and mob lynching cases during the last ten years, Siddiqui tried to sidetrack the issue by claiming that there were hundreds of incidents of communal violence during the Congress rule as well.
The Morcha president had no answer when he was reminded of the 2002 Gujarat genocidal riots.
Clarion India also reminded Siddiqui of the constant persecution of Muslims and Christians ever since the Modi government took over in 2014. The minority morcha chief lost his temper when told about the instances of Prime Minister Modi indulging in anti-minority rhetoric. He got agitated when asked about any remorse or discomfort in approaching the members of the minority communities.
Siddiqui chose to lambast the journalists who questioned the Modi government and its policies and actions. “You people are chatukars (sycophants) of Congress and the Samajwadi Party.”
Another minority leader from the BJP, Firasat Baquri, tried to defend the party candidate in Hyderabad. Baquri, a former spokesperson of the Telangana BJP, said he has talked to Madhavi Latha on the issue. She told him that it was “unintentional” and apologised.
Meanwhile, minority leaders have reacted to the BJP’s efforts to woo minority communities. They said the Modi government did nothing for the minorities during its rule, and they were the worst sufferers among other sections of society. They said nobody would fall for their bait.
“If the BJP wants to bring the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and abolish Muslim Personal Law; if it wants to conduct NRC and thereby deprive their citizenship rights and make them second-class citizens; if it wants to abolish their madrasas and take away their mosques on false propaganda and by creating a fake narrative of history; if they encourage Hindutva goons to attack minorities, how can they expect minorities to vote for them,” asked Dr. S.Q.R. Ilyas, president of the Welfare Party of India (WPI).
“Hindutva gangs lynch their people and restrict their daughters from entering schools if they wear scarves. Hindutva gangs are giving open calls to boycott Muslim businesses. They are openly calling for the genocide of Muslims; in such circumstances why should a Muslim support the BJP and how does the BJP expect Muslim support,” he asked.
The WPI chief said the Pasmanda Muslim card of the BJP has proved an utter failure. The triple talaq act is doing more harm to Muslim women than benefiting them, he said.
Dr. John Dayal, an author and activist, stated that the BJP does not need the votes of Muslims and Christians for its survival or to win elections. “It thinks it has the best possible vote bank among Hindus, particularly the upper three castes of the Varna system, which it has been trying very hard to radicalise since 1977, reaching its first peak in the demolition of the Babri Masjid.”
He said Prime Minister Modi feels he has taken “this radicalisation to its final peak with the inauguration of a still-incomplete Ram Temple on the ruins of the Babri Masjid.”
He underlined that minorities do not figure in the party’s election manifesto. “This was expected. Muslims and Christians do not figure in even a minor perceptible way in their choice of candidates,” he said.
Dr. Dayal described the BJP’s outreach program as creating rifts among minority communities. Muslim and Christian communities, he said, have been increasingly apprehensive since Modi’s second government in 2019. “This government is enacting laws that can launch strikes against constitutional guarantees that have so far protected the rights of religious minorities,” he said.
Dr. Dayal said the BJP was attempting to divide different communities. “The party’s overtures to some sects and social groups among Muslims and Catholics are apparent. The most visible example was the Christmas tea party the BJP hosted. It was attended not only by senior bishops but by some of the richest men in Kerala.”
Religious communities, he said, have seen through these hypocritical efforts. “Memories of violence in Manipur, Karnataka, and many other regions remain etched in their memory, as do the threats made by religious leaders in the BJP and RSS in the Dharm Sansads in Haridwar and Raipur,” he added.
Sikh leader Sardar Daya Singh said the BJP’s outreach program is a futile exercise to hoodwink the world about its love for minority communities. He said Muslims and Christians are totally with the INDIA bloc, and he is trying to create awareness in the Sikh community.