About a year back, India witnessed some extraordinary phenomena. For the first time in three decades, a single party crossed the halfway mark in the lok Sabha in the general elections. But the legacy of Gujarat behind the “spearhead” who ensured the BJP registers a spectacular victory resurrected the irrational fear among minorities, particularly Muslims. Even as the Narendra Modi Government celebrates a year in governance, it is time we assessed whether the bogey exists, has diminished or perhaps vanished.
When the BJP formed a Government at the Centre with a complete majority, there were fears that Muslims would be cornered and marginalised, it is what many “secularists” had been peddling for years. Minor incidents have taken place but they are just aberrations. There were heated polemics on Muslim ethnic cleansing warning against a BJP-led NDA at the Centre. But the last one year has been an eye-opener. The phobia, fomented deliciously by armchair secularists, has gone, or at least diminished. Modi’s 365 days has been crucial in shedding many of the apprehensions about a party, greatly misunderstood and at one time, having sadly earned the infamous sobriquet as Muslim enemy No. 1.
The last one year has shifted the tide in favour of the BJP. Muslims are showing a proclivity towards the BJP and joining its ranks in the knowledge that the fear injected into them by “secular” rivals was only to sweet-talk them into not voting for the saffron party. If the BJP intended to pull the wool over Muslims’ eyes, would External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj have got 40 Muslims released from Saudi ArabiaIJ Would the Government have ably handled rescue operations in war-torn YemenIJ Time and again, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured Muslims that wrongdoers would not be spared.
Hark back to the PM’s August 15 address from the ramparts of Red Fort wherein he made it clear that the Constitution was the only holy book on the basis of which the Government would function. The PM’s initiatives of Jan Dhan Yojana and other schemes were interlinked and fulfilled the Government’s larger goal of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’.
The BJP-led NDA Government announced a higher outlay of Rs3,734.01 crore for the Ministry of Minority Affairs. It is also announced schemes for skill upgradation of minorities and Rs100 crore for modernisation of madrasas. This is 5.75 per cent higher than the Rs3,530.98 crore announced by the previous Congress-led UPA Government in the last Budget as testified to by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
Carrying forward its promise of equal opportunities for minorities during elections, the BJP has continued to ensure a peaceful and secure environment and eager to castigate those trying to discriminate in the name of religion. Efforts have been made to introduce a national madrasa modernisation programme. The FM said in his speech: “A programme for the upgradation of skills and training in ancestral arts for development for the minorities. Upgradation of traditional skills in arts, resources and goods would be launched to preserve the traditional arts and crafts. An additional amount of Rs100 crore for modernisation of madarsas has been provided to the Department of School Education.”
It is time for Muslims to reciprocate and give up the apprehension that BJP is a party that is going to harm their interests. More and more Muslims should join the party and be part of the mainstream so that under the leadership of Modi, India can grow further. The dream of making India a superpower can be fulfilled only when Muslims and other minorities work in tandem with the majority. Madrasa modernisation is the need of the hour. Even though only 4 per cent of school-going Muslims attend madrasas, that number merits serious attention. It is a known fact how crores of rupees are being spent on madrasa education. It is time money was also spent on modernising them.
This Government is willing to bring in changes. Muslims should not let this opportunity go by. They should work hard so that progress takes place in the community that even after six decades of Independence continues to wallow in poverty. India under the BJP Government is a land of equal opportunity. A transparent system will help the minorities, particularly Muslims, who are currently deprived.
Modern education and scientific temperament can bring in changes. For this to happen, it is important that community leaders work in tandem with the current Government at the Centre and see to it that more and more deprived Muslims benefit from Government schemes.
(The author is a political activist and member of BJP)