BJP out to woo Muslims ahead of polls

India's ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) president Venkaiah Naidu (2-L) and general secretary Pramod Mahajan (2-R) pose with leaders who joined BJP Laxman Singh (L) and former Congress leader Arif Mohammad Khan (R) at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi yesterday. The BJP admitted five more leaders, including Arif Mohammad Khan and former chief minister of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh Digvijay Singh's brother Laxman Singh.. PHOTO: AFP

The party is gladdened by the utterances of two prominent Muslim politicians Arif Mohd Khan and Najma Heptualla who on Monday accused the main opposition Congress leadership of "communalising" politics and moving away from the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.

There is recognition in BJP circles that the party's inability to reach out to Muslims, who are a deciding factor in at least 100 of 542 seats in Lok Sabha, was one of its most glaring shortcomings in its bid to capture new social base.

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The BJP's attempt to win over the Muslims is nothing new. In 1999, the party's national executive, the highest decision-making forum, had asked its cadres to win over the minority community members and a year later former BJP chief Bangaru Laxman had reiterated the same message in a more emphatic manner.

However, the riots in Gujarat in 2002 had dealt a major blow to BJP's efforts to woo the Muslims but the party leaders say they hope to make a fresh beginning with the community.

Keeping this in mind, the BJP is making moves, which it hopes to go down well with the Muslim community.

When BJP President M Venkaiah Naidu visited Srinagar, the summer capital of Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir state recently, he became the first party chief to undertake a trip to the place. He made the right noises there to woo the Muslims.

Naidu sought to play down BJP's stand on abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, a core ideological issue of the party, which grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and said a broad consensus was necessary on the issue.

He also listed a number of steps which the government of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has taken in the last five years of its rule including introducing a direct flight to carry Hajj pilgrims from Srinagar to Jeddah and starting computer courses in madrassahs and increasing Hajj subsidy to a record Rs 250 crore.

The BJP chief also made it a point to point out in Srinagar that it was from this place that Vajpayee had in April last year announced a fresh peace initiative with Pakistan that has not only held on but become stronger.

BJP general secretary and Indian Law and Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley claimed last Sunday that there is a "discernible change" in the mindset of Muslims towards his party.

The BJP has in its ranks two of its most visible Muslim faces in Shahnawaz Hussain, a Cabinet Minister, and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, the party's general secretary and spokesman.

But it wants to more members from the community and seems to have succeeded in roping Arif Mohd Khan, a former MP who had quit Congress while there is speculation that Najma Heptulla, senior Congress leader and Deputy Chairperson of Rajya Sabha, might also join the BJP.