Govt set to go on overdrive to push Modi’s outreach to OBC Muslims

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Updated: Apr 21, 2017 18:39 IST

The Central government is planning to hold about 100 conferences across the country to woo OBCs among Muslims as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s outreach to backwards among the country’s largest minority group.

One of these conferences which the ruling BJP trying to push as a mega event, will be in Delhi.

“A large number of backwards among Muslims are deprived of the benefits they should get. We want to inform and empower them about their rights,” minority affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told HT. The senior BJP leader said more than 50% of communities among Muslims fall within OBC category and their population would be more than 12 crore.

“We will inform the backwards among minority communities how the constitutional status to backward classes commission with benefit them. Only a few castes have benefitted so far,” Naqvi added.

The Modi government has proposed constitutional status to National Commission of Backward Classes, arguing it will be accrue benefits to the backward communities. The bill has been cleared by the Lok Sabha, but the Opposition refused to play ball in the Rajya Sabha Tuesday, forcing the government to refer it to a select committee.

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The BJP has been making a determined push to woo the OBC communities over the past three years and PM Modi has tried to widen the efforts by reaching out to Muslims.

At the recent meeting of the BJP’s national executive meeting in Bhubaneswar, Modi asked the party to reach out to the backward communities among the minorities, arguing they have been left behind.

“Will Syed and Pathans continue to provide leadership to Muslim?

Backwards among them also need to benefit,” a BJP leader quoted him saying at the BJP meet. Syed and Pathans are regarded as forward classes among Muslims.