No one can take away Muslims' voting rights: BJP

'The BJP strongly believes that we are all Indians, and everyone enjoys the same rights.'

The Shiv Sena has waded into another controversy by declaring that the 'voting rights of Muslims must be revoked.'

An editorial in the Sena daily newspaper Saamna on Sunday, April 12, said 'Vote-bank politics was being played in the name of fighting against injustice meted out to Muslims. They would never develop as long as they were being used for vote-bank politics. Muslims would have no future as long as this happened and thus Balasaheb (Thackeray) had once suggested that voting rights of Muslims be withdrawn and he was right.'

The Bharatiya Janata Party is an ally of the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and at the Centre.

Reacting to the Sena demand, BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain told Rediff.com, "In 1947 when Partition happened, Muslims were given an option to stay in India or go to the newly formed Pakistan. Those that stayed back chose India as their motherland. Nobody has the right to test their patriotism or question their rights to vote."

"The BJP believes that they are all citizens of India," Hussain, one of its prominent Muslim faces, said. "They have all the rights that everyone else has. You have heard Prime Minister Narendra Modiji saying 'Sabka saath, sabka vikas' which means inclusive growth for everybody."

"Nobody can take away the voting rights or any other rights that Muslims enjoy as citizens," Hussain said.

Asked about vote-bank politics, Hussain said, "Some parties must be doing that, but we don't. Vote-bank politics may have worked in the past, it does not work now. Muslims know what is good for them and also who is good for them. The BJP strongly believes that we are all Indians, and everyone enjoys the same rights."

Hussain was categorical that the BJP does not support or endorse the Shiv Sena view.