Kolkata: ‘BJP is your friend, not enemy’ – the RSS’s minority wing Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MSM) will take this message to all the Muslim-dominated districts in West Bengal in massive rallies ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Apart from the message, another interesting facet of the rallies will be the man leading then - a former Leftist leader of the All India Forward Bloc, Partha Pratim Dutta Majumdar, who has been given the responsibility to popularise BJP among Muslims in the state.

Speaking to News18, Majumdar said he was given the task by state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh last week. “I accepted this challenge and added 18,000 new Muslim members in MRM in Bengal. All of them were my supporters and now joined MRM.”

When asked why he switched from the left to right-wing, he said he is a true follower of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. “My uncle was his legal advisor in 1939. He was a nationalist and RSS also believes in nationalism. Therefore I have decided to join MRM,” he said.

He said the rallies would start after Durga Puja gets over. “There is a misconception among Muslims that BJP is against them. We want to break this misconception.”

MRM convener in Bengal Enamul Haque said before the yatra, the organization will invite Muslim intellectuals at the Bijoya Samilini in Kolkata to take their opinion on the current political climate.

He said, “Apart from popularizing BJP among Muslims, our target will be to make people aware about the central government schemes for minorities and poor people of the society.”

BJP president Amit Shah has canceled Durga Puja and Diwali leaves of all party workers in West Bengal and asked them to work hard in strengthening the party base ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. BJP is targeting 22 parliamentary seats out of 42 in Bengal, up from the two it has currently.