Let's stop for Azan: Amit Shah courts Muslims who flocked to Bengal rally

BJP chief Amit Shah’s rally in Kolkata was a indication that the party’s agenda is clear: Winning the Muslim vote. After all, that would be the key to making a mark in West Bengal. And at his rally, the BJP chief went all out to win the hearts of minorities. From growing unemployment to the Burdwan blasts, Shah targetted TMC chief and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s ‘failures’ while urging the people of Bengal to realise Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision. [caption id=“attachment_1828939” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  BJP chief Amit Shah slammed Mamata Banerjee for what he termed was a ‘failure’ at governing the state. PTI[/caption] “It is the slogan of Narendra Modi to make West Bengal free from TMC regime. After the victory in the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP has won in Haryana and Maharashtra. The party will also win in Jharkhand, J&K, Bihar and Delhi. But the victory of the BJP and Narendra Modi will be complete only after it forms government in Bengal,” he claimed. And his message to the Muslim community seemed to have worked. According to this Indian Express report, those present at the venue, many of whom had switched sides from the TMC and the CPI-M, were ready to give the BJP a chance at governing the state. “We have been cheated so many times by so many political parties that we don’t believe anymore in what they said about the BJP. I am ready to test the BJP as well,” 60-year-old Fazlur Rahman Mondal from Balurghat told IE. Another Muslim, Danish Rahman from West Midnapore, also felt the BJP deserved a chance in Bengal. “We have been disappointed by the CPM and the TMC and have been fed by a lot of negativities by their leaders about the BJP. But, it cannot get any worse and so the BJP should be given a chance as well,” he told the daily. Moreover, in a move to appeal to the minority community, Shah stopped midway in his speech as the muezzin’s call for prayers was sounded from a mosque close by, saying he “didn’t want to give Banerjee an excuse against him”. “Let me stop for a while. Let it (the muezzin’s call for azan) be completed. We don’t want to give Mamata Banerjee an excuse against us,” Shah said midway of his 30-minute speech as the azan (prayers) started. When some BJP supporters began shouting slogans while the azan was on, the party president raised his hands and asked them to remain silent, reiterating, “We should not give any excuse to Mamata’didi.” Shah’s jibe at Banerjee came in the wake of the uncertainty about conducting a BJP rally at the city’s Esplanade area with the state administration and civic authorities initially denying permission and BJP knocking the doors of the High Court. “A few days back Mamataji asked who is Amit Shah? Didi if you can hear and if you can see, please see that I am Amit Shah, a very small worker of BJP. I have come to Bengal to uproot corrupt TMC regime from the state…. " However, for the BJP to capitalise on the Muslim vote, a more open approach to minorities with economic development at the top of its agenda, will have to be a priority, as this earlier article by Firstpost editor-in-chief R Jagannathan notes.

If the BJP wants a long-term lock on power, it must create a new policy for the future. First, sideline the voluble parivar that is raising a cacophony over non-issues like Love Jihad and focus on economic development in districts with a heavy minority concentration. Second, induct young and moderate Muslim members into the party instead of courting the Shahi Imams and clerics of various hues. These leaders are past their sell-by date. If the BJP becomes the first political party that goes beyond tokenism, it will reap huge rewards. But for that, it has to drop its pet hobbyhorses of yore.

And while Shah may have quoted Prime Minister Modi’s catchphrase - Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas - it is yet to be seen what efforts the party makes to give Muslims representation in the legislature even as the party’s primary membership has seen an increase in Muslim members. Until December 2013, 6.06 percent of the ‘increased’ primary members of the BJP were from the minority community. But as of 20 June, 12.38 percent (60,172 people) of new members of the party are Muslims. “Most of the new members joined after the elections,” Ritesh Tiwari a BJP leader from the state says,  as quoted by   Suvojit Bagchi in this The Hindu column. Bagchi, however, is of the opinion that those joining the BJP were from outside Kolkata. “Muslims who are joining the BJP are predominantly from the Bengali-speaking communities outside Kolkata. In Kolkata, Muslims are mostly from Urdu-speaking communities, more aligned with the AITC.”