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11-11-2023
Bureau Report + Agencies
NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s website states that secularism in India has become “minority appeasement … at the cost of majority”. Some analysts say the party has politicized fault-lines between Hindus and Muslims to such an extent that Modi’s cabinet doesn’t have a single Muslim minister.
The party sporadically sought Muslim support in past regional polls, but this national campaign is the first and most widespread of its kind, according to Siddiqui and Hilal Ahmed, an expert on Muslim politics at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, a Delhi-based think tank.
The BJP, which won about 9% of the Muslim vote in the past two national elections, is targeting between 16% and 17% next year, said Yasser Jilani, spokesperson for its minorities unit.
Two officials said the BJP is focused on 65 seats in the 543-member lower house of parliament that have a Muslim voter population of at least 30%, roughly double their share of the national population. They shared details of internal party strategy on condition of anonymity.
The BJP currently holds about two dozen of the seats, according to party officials, who declined to provide specific details on the exact seats being targeted.
Modi Mitr outreach focuses on spreading the BJP’s economic message especially to “Pasmanda” Muslims, an Urdu term for marginalized members that make up a majority of that religious community.
Ansari, who is Pasmanda, talks to Muslim friends and neighbors at gatherings about new programs such as a 1,250 rupee ($15) monthly handout for underprivileged women from BJP-run state authorities and a 150,000 rupee housing subsidy launched by the central government.
“BJP’s welfare schemes are helping everyone, including Muslims,” he said.
Ujir Hossain, a Modi Mitr businessman in West Bengal, also spreads an economy-focused message when he visits his neighbor Mohammed Qasim’s grocery shop. Hossain said he was attracted to the BJP because there is a “sky and earth difference” between Modi’s accomplishments and those of the previous centre-left government.
“Of course, Muslims don’t like Modi’s party but Hossain Dada tells us at least we should listen to what BJP has to offer too,” said Qasim, using a Bengali honorific for “elder brother”.
“The BJP has never respected and addressed the concerns of this section of society and instead marginalized them systematically,” said KC Venugopal, a senior lawmaker with the opposition Congress party that held power immediately before Modi.
Asked about the allegations of minority appeasement, he said that Congress doesn’t pursue a strategy of divide and rule: “Elections should be fought on economic and development issues, not on the basis of religion and identity.”
