The Congress’ attempt “to polarise” Muslim voters brought it face to face with the BJP, which charged it on Wednesday with engaging in “communal politics” and “insulting” the community by assuming that they vote as one bloc.
Accusing the Congress of indulging in “gross communalism”, the BJP urged the Election Commission to take note of Sonia Gandhi’s reported appeal to the Muslim community that they should not let their votes split in lok Sabha elections. Gandhi had met a Muslim delegation led by Jama Masjid Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari on Tuesday here at her residence.
The matter turned controversial after BJP leader Prakash Javadekar quoted Bukhari as saying that the Congress president appealed to the Muslims not to “split their votes”. Reacting to the development, BJP president Rajnath Singh said, “Seeking support of somebody is not wrong. But the Congress is a political party which has divided people.” Senior party leader Arun Jaitley said, “I think it is a matter of desperation. I have no difficulty in people going to all segments to ask for votes.
But to indirectly impute that the majority vote in India is not a secular vote, that’s the impression I got when I read the news item.” The Congress president, however, rejected suggestions that the party was involved in a game of polarisation of votes ahead of the lok Sabha polls. “We are not in the game or business of polarisation (of votes),” she told newspersons at Rae Bareli on Wednesday
when asked about her meeting with Shahi Imam at her residence in Delhi. “It (meeting clerics) has been a tradition followed since the days of Feroze Gandhi and Indira Gandhi,” she said. “We challenge the Congress to define secularism and will prove on every count that the Congress is the most communal party and plays communal politics all over the country. This is an insult to the Muslim community as such,” Javadekar said. Giving details of the meeting of Imam with Gandhi, Jama Masjid spokesperson Rahat Mehmood Chaudhary said various issues concerning Muslims figured when the two leaders met.
“During the meeting, issues like innocent Muslim youths being arrested in terror cases, reservation in education, communal riots and security, implementation of Sachar Committee and Ranganath Misra Commission recommendations and anti-communal violence Bill were discussed,” Chaudhary said.
The BJP spokesperson said Gandhi’s appeal was “an insult to Muslims” as the Congress leader’s appeal assumes that Muslim community votes en block which was not the case as each member in the community votes according to its preference and intelligence “The Congress is appealing to Muslims to vote on communal and religious grounds. What kind of secularism is thisIJ This is vote bank politics. The EC should take suo motu cognisance of this,” he said. Democracy, Javadekar said, is all about voters casting their votes independently according to their conscience as he accused Gandhi of violating the Model Code of Conduct.
“You (Gandhi) are practising communal politics and accusing others of being communal,” he said. He regretted that the BJP is dubbed as communal when it solicits vote “in the name of India” whereas those seeking vote on the line of religion or caste are described “secular parties”. “The Congress was the most communal party in the country,” he alleged.