The BJP will be running an outreach programme to attract Muslims belonging to the backward classes.
This comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi exhorted party members to do so during the party’s national executive meet in Bhubaneswar last month.
Former Rajya Sabha MP Sabir Ali organised the first of such conferences under the aegis of the Bharatiya Muslim Pichchda Warga Sammelan at Delhi’s Talkatora stadium on Tuesday.
Mr. Ali, formerly with the Janata Dal (U), had run such outreach programmes for Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar too, in the past.
Religion no bar
“After Prime Minister Modi spoke about the Other Backward Classes (123rd Constitution Amendment) Bill in Bhubaneswar, the only reservation available to the backward Muslims, I thought that these conferences should be held to make sure people know how the Bill is being blocked by the Opposition. I will be doing at least 100 such outreach programmes, and two big rallies, one in Lucknow and one in Patna over the issue,” said Mr. Ali, speaking to The Hindu .
“No doubt Nitish Kumar started to do something for the Passmanda Muslims (backward class Muslims), but he didn’t take it further and not a single person from any of the 39 Passmanda castes in Bihar have received a single advantageous position because of him,” he added.
Prime Minister Modi had, in an intervention during a debate on a resolution on the OBC Bill in Bhubaneswar, spoken out about the Bill as being applicable to backward communities across religions and that this should be understood by all.
This was seen as taking a subtle dig at parties that claim the OBC and Muslim votes to explain their Opposition to the Bill that seeks to give constitutional status to the backward classes commission on the lines of the Scheduled Caste Commission.
Idea of secularism
“Those who consider themselves the flag bearers of secularism should explain why the meaning of secularism is so different in India. These parties have not done justice with the idea of secularism nor the 39 Passmanda castes in Bihar or the 84 such castes in Uttar Pradesh, and blocking this Bill is part of it,” Mr. Ali said.
The Bill (the Constitution 123rd Amendment Bill) was cleared by the Lok Sabha and now lies with a Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha.
Significantly, the meeting in New Delhi was addressed by Minister for Minority Affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who had earlier opposed Mr. Ali’s entry into the BJP.
Leader praised
On Tuesday he heaped fulsome praise on Mr. Ali, terming him as someone who was “diligently working for the poor in the community”.
He added that there were 84 such groups, like Qureshi, Momin and weavers, among Muslims who would get help from his government's development push for the poor and backward.
