The notion that Muslims held the veto in Indian politics has been demolished by the Lok Sabha election results and a new ground has been created for their engagement with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), its general secretary P. Muralidhar Rao has said.
“Our opponents have used the argument that the BJP cannot win a majority without the support of the Muslims, making it look like one particular community has a veto power. This argument had been proven wrong in this election, and the BJP did win a majority. Now there is a new ground for the BJP and Muslims to associate with each other, not driven by ideas of vote bank politics,” Mr. Rao said. He said the onus was always put on the BJP to reach out to the Muslims, but the new political realities made it essential for the Muslims also to see the BJP in the light of the new realities.
“The BJP is not opposed to secularism as our opponents allege. Under the BJP, constitutional secularism, which means all religions are considered equal by the state, will face no threat. But vote bank secularism as practiced by parties such as the Congress cannot sustain now. That has been defeated,” Mr. Rao said.
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The BJP general secretary said there was no problem between the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the government as portrayed in a section of the media. ”