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Milli Council's appeal to Muslims jolts BJP

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

The appeal by All India Milli Council urging Muslims to vote against the Bhartiya Janata Party has jolted the ruling party in Uttar Pradesh.

Reacting sharply to the appeal, which has gone to the extent of specifying which party Muslims should favour in various constituencies going to the poll in the first round on February 14, Chief Minister Rajnath Singh and state BJP chief Kalraj Misra expressed their chagrin before mediapersons on Monday evening.

Both termed the unprecedented move as 'unfortunate'.

Misra said, "Such a move was not expected from an organisation that was meant to be promoting the well being of the Muslim community in the country."

Predictably, on top of the Milli Council list was Samajwadi Party, which is favoured in 48 constituencies, followed by Bahujan Samaj Party in 21 constituencies, with the Congress party trailing in the preference list at 11 constituencies.

It has even expressed its inclination for an independent candidate in one particular constituency.

A record number of 557 Muslims are in the fray. BSP leads the way having fielded as many as 83 Muslims, followed by the Congress with 59 and Samajwadi Party with 51.

Milli Council political committee chief Zafaryab Jilani, who is also the convenor of the Babri Masjid Action Committee, however, termed the appeal as 'just another step to remind the voters in general and Muslims in particular that they must vote only for a secular party'.

He said, "Strategic voting by exercising one's franchise in favour of the strongest candidate against the BJP would ensure formation of a secular government."

Chief Minister Rajnath Singh, however, fumed at this.

"If there is any truly secular party in this country, it is Bhartiya Janata Party," he said, while dubbing the Congress, Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party as the 'most communal of parties in India'.

He sought to substantiate his argument by explaining how the BJP had provided 'good governance' in the last five years 'without any kind of discrimination either on caste or religious lines'.

The chief minister said, "Let Milli Council give us one example of our discriminatory attitude towards a single member of the minority community over these years."

Terming the Milli Council's appeal as a fatwa, he said, "Such fatwas are dangerous to the social harmony of the state and would only forge a communal divide."

He suspected the role of some political party behind this whole exercise. He made a fervent appeal to Muslims to not get misguided by such fatwas.

"I am sure common Muslims would be able to see the petty politics behind the whole move and exercise their franchise with an independent and unbiased mind," he said.

Kalraj Misra listed out the measures undertaken by the BJP government for the 'welfare and well being of Muslims'.

"I fail to understand how an organisation like Milli Council could conveniently overlook that it was the BJP government that created an independent ministry of minorities welfare; it was none other than the BJP government that brought an end of the several decade old Shia-Sunni dispute and ensured peaceful religious processions of both the sects that were banned during the Congress regime and not resumed even during Mulayam Singh Yadav's two stints as chief minister," Misra said.

The state BJP chief also chose to highlight how the BJP government alone took the initiative to start direct flights for Haj pilgrims from Lucknow.

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