Majority of Muslim leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from the state stayed away from the 20-day Maha-Jansampark Abhiyan (mass public contact drive) of the party started last month with the purpose of reaching masses to appraise them with public-oriented programmes of the state government. The drive comes to end on Wednesday.
Not only the Muslim leaders stayed away from the drive but the party office bearers and elected representatives also ignored the Muslim populated areas during the twenty day drive despite that fact that in the November 2008 Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh 17 per cent of the Muslims voted in favour of the BJP while the percentage of Muslim votes rose dramatically to 30 per cent in the 2009 Parliamentary polls. The figures of Muslims voting in favour of BJP were revealed in the findings of a study conducted by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS). The study conclusions were published in the Economic and Political Weekly in 2010.
BJP Minorities Cell state president Hidayatullah Sheikh while talking to ‘The Pioneer’ over the issue said, “The drive was not aimed to lure any particular community or religion, it was meant for all the sections of the society, therefore our cell did not run any special campaign for this, instead the cell office bearers and workers participated in the drive with the senior leaders of their respective areas.”
Sheikh however agreed that only two-three Muslim leaders participated in the drive on his instructions including Madhya Pradesh Madarsa Board Chairman Rashid Khan and Madhya Pradesh Urdu Academy chairman Saleem Qureshi who participated in the drive in Burhanpur for two days. No other leaders of the party belonging to the community have informed me about their participation in the drive, he added.
The residents of the Muslim populated areas are also ignorant of any such drive of the saffron party.
Mahmood Khan, a builder and resident of Koh-e-Fiza locality of the state capital said, “No one from the BJP visited our locality, and why should they come at this point of time when there are no elections. They would definitely come to us when the elections would come like they did during the last assembly and parliamentary elections.”
Maulana Azmat Shah Makki, a resident of Shahjehanabad said, “Nobody from the BJP visited our locality since the last elections. We are a neglected lot here and no one cares for us.”