Only through development can we achieve true secularism and integration
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The Telegraph: BJP bid to reach out to Muslims
Jamshed Ashraf and Mangal Pandey at Bedaari Yatra
The state unit of the BJP on Sunday flagged off its Bedari Yatra to reach out to Muslims.
Bedari in Urdu means creating awareness. The yatra of the party aims to send the message to the Muslims that the BJP is not untouchable and that the real issue for the minority community was development.
Former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, BJP state unit president Mangal Pandey and former JDU minister in the erstwhile Nitish Kumar cabinet Jamshed Ashraf flagged off the yatra.
Ashraf, a former excise minister and former JDU MLA from Sahebpur Kamal, joined the BJP this year. He said: “The so-called pseudo secular parties (Congress, RJD, JDU) have been talking about secularism and communalism, but today the real issue for Muslims is development.”
Ashraf said that during the time of Independence around 15 per cent of Muslims were below the poverty line but the same figure had gone up to 45 per cent now. “If the secular parties are the real well-wishers of Muslims, why the condition of the minority community has not improved?” asked Ashraf.
Reaching out to the Muslim community BJP state unit chief Pandey said: “We have been hearing complaints from Muslims that the party does not give enough representation to minority communities during ticket distribution in Assembly and general elections, but the real issue is that we are not getting enough potential minority leaders.”
The BJP’s yatra will cover the entire state. It will reach Katihar on December 14 and Arwal on December 22.
The venue of the function was not big as it was held at Vidyapati Bhavan having a capacity of around 1000 people, but senior BJP leaders attended the event postponing their engagements to prove it was a significant event. Modi did not board the 12.30pm flight to New Delhi, as planned earlier, to attend the event in which 300 people joined the BJP with Sarwar Abdin, who runs a private school at Rajendra Nagar. The former deputy chief minister later flew to Delhi at 2pm.
According to sources in the BJP, the state unit of the party has been asked by the central high command to include more members from the minority community. There are even talks of setting targets to ensure that at least 10 per cent of the members are Muslims and from other minority groups.