'During Eid Muslims get Eidi, but Opposition parties never gave that to them.'
'When PM Modi is giving Eidi to Muslims Opposition leaders are getting upset.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party's Saugat e Modi scheme is likely to benefit 3.2 million under-privileged Muslims before Eid ul Fitr.
The scheme's announcement has drawn criticism from Opposition parties who say Modi is trying to woo Muslim voters before the Bihar assembly elections later this year.
The programme was launched from Nizamuddin in Delhi by BJP President Jagat Prakash Nadda.
BJP Minority Morcha national President Jamal Siddiqui, who heads this initiative across India, tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com what Saugat e Modi is all about and why it is not appeasement of Muslims as the Opposition claims it is.
What is Saugat e Modi?
Right now the festive season is going on in India. And we want to participate with the people of India in their festivals so we are distributing this Saugat e Modi (gift kit from Modi) to the minority community.
This is not restricted to the Muslim community alone, but other minority communities too. Before Eid we are distributing this Saugat e Modi gift to Muslims, before Baisakhi on April 14 we are distributing the same gift to our Sikh brothers, and on April 21 we will distribute to our poor Christian brothers for Easter.
We are representing ourselves as PM Modi's representatives.
It has been reported that the BJP is distributing Saugat e Modi only to Muslims during the Ramzan month. Is it not true?
No, it is not true. We are distributing it to every minority community. The media is portraying the news in a wrong manner. The media needs masala and therefore they are adding wrong information. They are giving the twist that Saugat e Modi is only for Muslims, which is not true.
What is in this kit?
There are food items like rava, suji (purified wheat flour) and sugar.
It was reported that you are distributing pyjamas too in the Saugat e Modi kit.
It is salwar suits for the female head of the family to whom we are distributing this kit.
Is this not appeasement of minorities as the Opposition parties allege?
Opposition parties never did seva of minorities with a clean heart. Their leaders only wore topi to fool Muslims. And some of them like Mamata Banerjee went one step further by offering namaaz at Muslim community events.
But they never gave back anything to the Muslim community in return. During Eid Muslims get Eidi, but Opposition parties never gave that to them.
And now when PM Modi is giving Eidi to Muslims these Opposition leaders are getting upset.
The BJP believes in appeasement of none and justice for all. Sab Ka Saath Sab Ka Vikas.
But if Rahul Gandhi had done the same thing you would have called it appeasement. And the media would have gone hammer and tongs at him.
Again I am telling you, Saugat e Modi is not appeasement, it is seva.
If I am going to a Muslim man on his festival, then you don't expect me to go empty-handed. It is not in Indian culture to go to someone's home without any gift.
Opposition leaders attend iftar parties only to eat whereas PM Modi gives Saugat e Modi as Eidi to Muslims.
This is the difference between him and other Opposition leaders.
Saugat e Modi is bhaichara (brotherhood).
How many Muslims, Sikhs and Christians are in these 32 lakh families you are targeting?
We are giving it to the poor people from every minority community.
There are 32,000 BJP volunteers working on Saugat e Modi gifts.
Each volunteer is distributing 100 gifts each to different minority community members.
Is there a number for poor Muslims?
It depends on the list which we get at the time of distribution.
Right now we are going to different mosques and distributing Saugat e Modi, and we will continue doing so during Baisakhi too where we will distribute Saugat e Modi to our poor Sikh brothers.
Your opponents claim the BJP is distributing Saugat e Modi only to Muslims with an eye on the Bihar elections.
The Opposition parties are worried and don't know what hit them.
Opposition parties are in a state of disbelief that PM Modi is giving Muslims Saugat e Modi.
There was a false rumour spread across India that Muslims will be butchered after PM Modi came to power in 2014. It is 11 years now since he has come to power and no such thing has happened.
On the contrary Muslims are getting all government welfare schemes without any discrimination.
What is the cost per kit of Saugat e Modi?
Saugat is a gift. And one must not question the intentions or value of the gift.
But who is paying for it?
It is from a head of the family to the poor people of minority communities. The cost is borne by the BJP.
Why this thought after 11 years of being in power?
We have been doing these things for so many years.
If you recall, when the BJP was formed on April 6, 1980, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Haji Sikandar Bakht were the founding members of the BJP.
In other words, the BJP always had a minority ethos and PM Modi too followed it in his tenure.
In the last 10 years he has regularly sent chadar to Ajmer Sharif. I have personally taken those chadars from PM Modi for the last three years.
Rahul Gandhi or Akhilesh Yadav never took chadar to Ajmer. Arvind Kejriwal too never went with chadar to Ajmer.
Only those political leaders who paid lip service to the Muslim community are getting pained to see Saugat e Modi being distributed among the poor.
But PM Modi never wore the Muslim skull cap.
Jo topi pehnta hai voh topi pehnata hai (the one who wears topi, he fools the public).
I as a Muslim never put tikka on my forehead. My religion Islam forbids me to do so and therefore I don't see anything wrong if PM Modi does not wear a topi (Muslim skull cap).
Secularism means we need to respect each other's religion rather than doing dhong (drama).
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said, 'If there are 100 Muslim families then 50 Hindu families will not be safe but if there are 100 Hindu families then one Muslim family will be safe'.
Don't such statements send the wrong message to Muslims?
I have not heard him saying this, but let me tell you, if Muslims in any corner of the world are safe it is in India.
They are not safe in Pakistan, Iran, Iraq or Syria.
Muslims have a great future in India. There is Sab Ka Saath Sab Ka Vikas.
In Yogi's Uttar Pradesh there is law and order and everyone is safe. No one feels unsafe.
Nighat Abbas quit the BJP to join the Congress.
She told me that the BJP only speaks of Sab Ka Saath Sab Ka Vikas, but in reality they believe in the 'batenge toh katenge' philosophy.
It means you should not get divided. Muslims decided to divide before Partition and got Pakistan and later Bangladesh. Now, they are getting cut into pieces in those two countries.
Even here Muslims cannot get divided from Hindus.
But Yogi only speaks of Hindus getting divided and not anything about the Muslim community, isn't it?
Yogi says that all the people in our county should be united. Ek hai toh safe hai (if we are one then we all are safe).
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