NEWS
VIEWS
INTERVIEWS
CAMPAIGN TRAIL
ISSUES '98
MANIFESTOS
OVERHEARD
POLLING BOOTH
INDIA SPEAKS!
YEH HAI INDIA
CHAT

Muslims 'soften' stand as saffron gets secular hue

The Bharatiya Janata Party has finally jumped on the 'woo Muslim vote banks' bandwagon.

'Shedding the Hindu fundamentalist' approach in its desperate bid to capture power at the Centre, the BJP is now trying to overtake the other parties in minority vote-catching.

Thus, if Congress star campaigner Sonia Gandhi is busy tendering an apology for the Babri Masjid demolition and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav assures them of protection from communal forces, the BJP leadership is also not far behind.

Not only BJP's prime ministerial nominee Atal Bihari Vajpayee, considered the party's 'moderate face', but also hardliners like Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh who are out to impress upon the Muslims that the BJP is 'not anti-Muslim'.

If Vajpayee appealed to ''Muslims to give us a chance and see how we work'', Kalyan Singh tried to resurrect his tainted secular credentials -- he was the chief minister when the Ayodhya mosque was demolished -- by thrashing out a solution to the 21-year-old Azadari dispute between the Shia and Sunni Muslim sects.

So excited is the BJP over the achievement that Vajpayee sees it as a feather in its cap and as a major step towards striking a chord with Muslims.

It has reinforced Vajpayee's confidence that a 'negotiated settlement to the Ayodhya issue' could be worked out. ''When we could resolve the long-pending and sensitive Shia-Sunni dispute through dialogue, I am sure we should also be able to ensure a permanent solution to the Ayodhya dispute as well in the same manner.''

The efforts are 'paying off', and the BJP now finds that Muslims have 'softened their stand' towards the saffron brigade. The trend has been ''visible largely among younger Muslims in different parts of Uttar Pradesh, where Muslims form 15 to 20 per cent of the electorate''.

The drift may not be substantial, but there is 'enough evidence' to show that it has set in. A section of the Shias -- who have not been as averse to the BJP as the Sunnis -- have been further endeared to the party because of the Azadari procession issue.

In Lucknow's walled city, young sewing machine dealer Haseeb Ansari did not hesitate to admit, ''Yes, I may not be in favour of the BJP because of what they did in Ayodhya. But, surely, I have nothing against them anymore. For, if they were to be blamed, the Congress, too, is equally responsible.''

Summing up the Kalyan Singh government, he said, ''Contrary to what we expected, there is no particular discrimination against us under the BJP regime.''

Twentyfive-year-old rickshaw-puller Anwar echoes similar views. ''If there is discrimination amongst Hindus on the basis of caste, then there is bound to be some discrimination against Muslims. But you cannot blame the BJP for it as this has been there all along.''

Significantly, some Muslims also seem less impressed by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh's unending diatribe against the BJP. ''By repeatedly calling the BJP communal, we know that efforts are being made to terrorise us. But enough is enough,'' said a Kanpur tannery general manager Parvez Abedin. ''Can't we see the political game behind it, especially when we don't see any trouble on account of a BJP government in Uttar Pradesh?''

Electrician Rafiq feels that political parties have been using Muslims as a vote bank and do not mean any good for the community.

In the temple town of Ayodhya -- where Muslims have been victims of the communal fury that rocked the place on December 6, 1992, following the demolition -- local Muslims seem to be as cut up with the BJP as with the Samajwadi Party which, hitherto, was the minorities's saviour. Even the oldest litigant in the Babri case, Mohammad Hashim, who would once swear by Mulayam Singh's name, flayed the SP leader for paying 'only lip service'.

''He conveniently forgot his assurances to the local Muslims that they would be compensated for the losses suffered during the riots, and doled out donations to a Jain temple during one of his visits,'' he said.

Back in Lucknow, firebrand Shia leader Maulana Kalbe Jawaad, who was at the forefront of the Azadari procession agitation, told Rediff On The NeT, ''We are happy that the Kalyan Singh government has kept its word. But since this was stated to be a temporary measure, we would urge the chief minister to work out a permanent solution. Only then will we be satisfied.''

Young Shia businessman Tooraj Zaidi has virtually joined the BJP ranks along with a large bandwagon of Shia youth to ''serve the party. We are not interested in the past. We must look ahead. And, with Vajpayee as the prime minister, I am sure Muslims in India will get a fairer deal than they have ever received in the past.''

Dismissing the oft-repeated criticism of the BJP as a 'communal party' by the SP and the Congress, he asked, ''Are they aware of the second grade treatment meted out to Shias in Pakistan? I am sure Shias are safer in India than in Pakistan, where several Shia mosques have been pulled down or damaged.''

Even those who see a 'political ploy' behind the move to 'woo Muslim votes' agreed that 'the Kalyan Singh government has surprised us all by lifting the ban'.

Naseem Alam, a shopkeeper in Lucknow's Aminabad market, said, ''There can be no denying that the BJP has been as bad as we were given to believe. However, they have proved that if there is a will, there's a way. By allowing both Sunnis and Shias to take out their respective processions, they have shown that other governments, too, could have done it, if they wee truly sincere to our cause.''

Much of the thus apparent change in the Muslim attitude is attributable largely to the projection of Vajpayee as the prospective prime minister. As watch-repairer Shamim said, ''I do not approve of the BJP as a party. But with a man like Vajpayee at the helm of affairs, I am sure the party will also improve its ways.''

Tell us what you think of this report