Atalji was a good person, Narendra Modi is different: Muslim leader

Despite some Muslim leaders in Uttar Pradesh softening their official line on Narendra Modi as a prime ministerial candidate, Dargah Dewan, the spiritual head of the Ajmer dargah in Rajasthan has said that the BJP has made a mistake by projecting Modi as their candidate for the elections next year.

The religious leader made the comments during an interview with the Hindustan Times on Sunday. Dewan Syed Zainul Abedin Ali Khan also compared Modi unfavourably to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, with whom he had enjoyed a good personal rapport.

“A communal person cannot become the Prime Minister. A person who sets caste against caste and a community against another is not a good leader,” Abedin said to the newspaper. “Atalji is a good person. Modi is different. The BJP made a mistake by projecting him for the top job.”

According to one of his aides, the statement was not made in passing. “The Dargah Dewan does not issue political ‘firmans’, but his opinion is taken seriously by Muslims,” said one of his aides.

According to a recent report in Firstpost written by Akshaya Mishra, even in Madhya Pradesh, the Muslim community has no love for either the BJP or Narendra Modi - rather, the equation is characterised by indifference.

“There’s absolutely no Modi effect. Unlike other states there is no history of lasting communal animosity here. Everyone in the community knows what he is and what he represents already. His arrival on the scene does not change the equation between the BJP and the Muslims, which is not a comfortable one in any case,’’ says Nusrat Ali , state general secretary of the Nationalist Congress Party. Haidar Yaar Khan, executive member of the state Congress committee, concurs. “Nothing changes on the ground because of Modi. Most of the talk around him is hype.”