Amid talks of its efforts to prove majority in the assembly, the BJP has registered a big victory in winning over minorities. Prominent Muslim groups from Maharashtra have extended their "wholehearted" support to the Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government.
The decision to support the saffron party came soon after a recent meeting between leaders of the community and Fadnavis at Hotel Trident. Both sides discussed the broader discourse of BJP's development model and its poll-plank "Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas".
Attended by over half a dozen Muslim leaders who represent organisations like the All India Milli Association, All India Muslim OBC organization, Khula Manch, Hindu-Muslim Ekta manch, Movement for Human Welfare, the first-ever meeting with the RSS-rooted CM can potentially kick-start a new chapter in the state politics.
These groups had been supporting the Congress since decades. Days before assembly polls, they had expressed their desire to support the Shiv Sena or the BJP whichever came to power (dna was the first to report about it).
Justifying the saffron switch, MA Khalid, general secretary of All India Milli Association, who was part of the discussion, said, "We have realised that the Congress deliberately kept the Muslim community away from the BJP by dubbing it "communal" all these years, especially since the Babri-masjid demolition. This helped the Congress stick to power, but the community remained in extreme poverty. Our members are crying for good education, better health care and jobs and we hope that the BJP government will fulfill their dreams."
Khalid said religious identity and prayer are personal issues which shouldn't be mixed with the social issues. "What the community needs today is development. BJP must also get a chance to prove itself and do better for the community."
The leaders told Fadavis to work towards the uplift of all backward communities. They have also readied a seven-point agenda that would be submitted to the CM next week. This includes mandatory construction of schools by builders for all SRA buildings having more than 500 flats, recognition of 222 schools that are pending for a long time, setting up of a branch of Aligarh Muslim University in Aurangabad as promised by the previous government, establishment of Waqf corporation, improvement in drinking water facilities and fast-track courts for Muslims jailed suspected terror links.
The BJP already claims to have won a significant chunk of Muslim votes in this election though none among 122 party MLAs is a Muslim. To woo the community further, it extended the invites for the swearing-in ceremony of Fadnavis to a large number of Muslim intellectuals, religious and community leaders.
Salim Alware, president of Khula Manch, a conglomeration of a dozen Muslim NGOS who too met Fadnavis, said, "The BJP must also share power with the Muslims rather than treating them as showpieces."
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