New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is planning to launch a massive programme to reach out to Muslims voters—a sizeable constituency not considered a stronghold of the party—with less than two months for the start of the Lok Sabha election.

The main party of opposition plans to hold at least 1,000 meetings with Muslims to assure them that they have nothing to fear from the BJP if it comes to power.

“We have held around 6-7 meetings with members of the minority community and one of the major concerns that have been raised is that members of the minority community want to feel secure as they fear alienation," said Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, vice-president of the BJP, who is leading efforts to draw up a so-called vision document on minorities.

This document is aimed at all minorities, but focuses on Muslims—the nation’s largest religious minority who do not normally vote for BJP. The document is expected to be ready before the elections.

“Another major concern raised by the members was on education. Members wanted more schools for their children and better health facilities," he said.

The meetings have been held in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. This is not the first time that the BJP is using an outreach initiative for Muslims.

During the recently concluded assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, it organized similar public meetings. Muslims attending those meetings were told by BJP chief ministers or chief ministerial aspirants, including Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), Vasundhara Raje (Rajasthan) and Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh), that the party will not make them feel alienated.

The BJP’s senior-most leader, L.K. Advani, and its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi are both keen to enlist the support of Muslims in the national election.

During a meeting of the election campaign committee in August last year, Modi told the BJP leadership that he could get 20-25% Muslim votes in his state, Gujarat, and that the party must try to achieve a similar goal in other states too.

The support of Muslims is crucial for all political parties in the poll fray, particularly in the populous states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. However, the Hindu nationalist BJP is not favoured by Muslims because of the party’s campaign to build a Ram Janma Bhoomi temple in place of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, and the 2002 riots in BJP-ruled Gujarat, in which some 1,000 people—mainly Muslims—were killed.

Muslim representatives at these BJP meetings also complained that there is not much representation of minorities in government services both at the Centre and in states. Although BJP leaders have not made any promises the party leadership is confident that it will work towards resolving the issues raised by Muslims.

“There is one recommendation that the government should join hands with madrassas (Muslim seminaries) to identify students who are good at studies, so that these students could be further promoted and prepared to compete in civil services exams. We will discuss this recommendation with Rajnath Singh while preparing the vision document," said Tanveer Haider Usmani, member of the BJP’s minority cell.

Senior leaders of the party said the BJP will also try to find ways to start vocational training for Muslim youths so that they can start their own businesses or find private sector jobs. “People want greater number of schools in their neighbourhood so that children can attend schools," said Usmani.

But N.A. Farooqui, national executive member of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, the leading Islamic scholarly group in India, said: “This kind of lip-service by BJP just before the elections will not yield results. BJP will have to change its policies towards minorities. The basic issues still remain. Has the BJP leadership changed its opinion towards minorities? BJP has always indulged in communal divide, have they changed their views? Will the BJP allow minorities to follow their personal laws? Minorities have not been given reservations, will the BJP allow it?"

Muslims are being wooed by other parties too. With an eye possibly on the votes of religious minorities, mainly Muslims, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government last week gave its go-ahead to the establishment of an Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC), a statutory body aimed at checking discrimination in jobs and education. At the time, the BJP criticised the Congress party, with Abdul Rasheed Ansari, chief of the BJP’s minority cell, saying: “The Congress wants to send a message to the minorities of this country that the government really cares for them but if that was true UPA could have done a lot for minorities in the last 10 years. This is only for elections."

Political analysts point out that the BJP is unlikely to benefit much from such initiatives.

“The BJP will be doing these meetings because the party has been instructed by (its ideological parent) the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to carry out such initiatives. I don’t see the BJP gaining much from such outreach programmes. Members of the minority community have not formed their opinion on which party to vote for in the general election but they have certainly decided not to vote for BJP," said Badri Narayan, an Allahabad-based political analyst.

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