BJP to reserve 5 % seats for minorities
George Iype in New Delhi
In an effort to shed its anti-minority image, the Bharatiya Janata Party has decided to field a number of prominent personalities from the minority communities at the general election.
BJP sources said the party will reserve at least five per cent of seats for Christians, Muslims and Sikhs irrespective of the candidates's chances, in an attempt to send a positive signal that the party is not an untouchable for the minorities.
The BJP's top leadership is understood to have agreed that at least one
well-known minority leader should be given a party ticket from each state across the country.
However, BJP leaders are still undecided about the modus operandito be employed to enlist minority leaders to fight under the saffron flag.
BJP vice-president K L Sharma said his party will give tickets to minority leaders as "we do not believe in political untouchability."
"There are a number of renowned personalities from the minority communities who are ready to contest the poll on BJP tickets," he told Rediff On The NeT on Thursday.
Disclosing that the BJP's election manifesto will "assure the minorities a responsible administration alive to their
concerns and demands," Sharma hinted that the election will see the BJP moving away from its staunchly
pro-Hindu line to project a more moderate, centrist image.
Political analysts believe the BJP's plan to give tickets to minorities, especially to Muslim candidates, is part of a well-crafted strategy to replace the Congress as the main national party at the Centre.
The BJP is also anxious not to be saddled by the anti-minority image that cost it a majority in the 1996 general election. The party had then openly denied tickets to Muslims, which forced BJP vice-president Arif Baig to resign in protest and cross over to the Congress. Baig was the only Muslim leader to have won a Lok Sabha seat in the BJP's electoral history.
Curiously, the BJP's efforts to rope in minority leaders for the election are said to have been endorsed by the Sangh Parivar, the umbrella organisation for right-wing Hindu organisations headed by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Ironically, while the Vishwa Hindu Parishad threatened a war against Christians last week, RSS activists have been engaged for some time in a mission to bridge the ideological gap between Hindus and Muslims.
The latest issue of the RSS weekly Organiser has published an appeal by A Suhail Siddiqui, president of the
Organisation of Indian Muslims for Change, calling upon Muslims to integrate with the
national mainstream.
Siddiqui says the Ayodhya movement and the plan to build a temple 'in the sacred Ram Janmabhoomi is an invitation to Indian Muslims to reintegrate themselves with the mainstream.'
Organiser has also given wide coverage to the Kaaba Imam's visit to India last month, quoting him as saying that 'if archeological and historical facts prove that the Babri Masjid was built after demolishing a Hindu
temple, Indian Muslims should hand over the complex to the Hindus and avoid bloodshed in this connection.'
The BJP leadership hopes such appeals from Muslim leaders will help the community shed its antagonism against the party during the poll.
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