BJP makes fresh minority outreach with rallies, Mann ki Baat’s Urdu book & Sneh Milan in U.P.
After the month of Ramzan, the BJP has planned ‘Sneh Milan – one country, one DNA’ events in west U.P. that are aimed at highlighting the RSS view of Hindus and Muslims sharing the ‘same ancestry.’
LUCKNOW With an eye on the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Uttar Pradesh unit of BJP has started a fresh outreach to minority communities with a renewed vigour. After holding rallies for Pasmanda Muslims in the state, the saffron party now plans to distribute the Urdu version of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s radio talk show ‘Mann ki Baat’ to the community in madrasas during the month of Ramzan, which starts from Friday.
After the month of Ramzan, the BJP has also planned ‘Sneh Milan – one country, one DNA’ events in west U.P. that are aimed at highlighting the RSS view of Hindus and Muslims sharing the ‘same ancestry.’
“The community’s approach towards the BJP has been changing as is evident from the recent victories registered by the party in Lok Sabha and assembly seats that were earlier considered as ‘anti-BJP’ due to the sizeable presence of Muslims there. So, we are approaching the community in a variety of ways. Apart from holding rallies in minority-dominated constituencies to explain how the community has prospered under the BJP, the minority wing also plans to distribute Urdu version of PM’s Mann Ki Baat compilations in madrasas,” said Javed Malik, the chief of Akhil Bharatiya Pasmanda Manch and a senior functionary of party’s minority wing in west UP.
Earlier, on Wednesday, Javed Malik, along with his supporters, had reached outside the Pakistan High Court Commission with a book on the teachings by RSS. He said the book was meant for Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif, who compared the country’s former PM Imran Khan with the RSS while criticising him.
“There are a lot of misgivings about the RSS. We want Pakistan’s PM and Muslims to know what all the RSS stands for,” said Malik, whose compilation of Mann ki Baat in 11 languages -- including Urdu -- was released in 2018 by the then U.P. BJP general secretary (organisation) Sunil Bansal in Lucknow.
Back in June 2022, the BJP had won the Azamgarh and Rampur Lok Sabha by-polls. This was followed by an even impressive first-ever election win in Rampur (Sadar) assembly segment. For the soon-expected civic polls too, the BJP is likely to name several Muslim candidates, especially in Muslim-dominated localities, said party leaders. BJP’s minority wing chief Kunwar Basit Ali has also compiled 12 episodes of PM’s Mann ki Baat.
“These compilations would be published in the form of a book and distributed to the community members in madrasas during Ramzan, which starts from Friday,” said Ali. The book will carry remarks praising the effort to carry PM’s talk in Urdu by scholars from prominent Islamic seminaries like Darul Uloom in Deoband and Nadwatul Ulema in Lucknow. Ali said the community will benefit from PM’s Mann ki Baat as many-a-time, it carries details of several schemes and initiatives.
