Buoyed by their success in the Rampur Lok Sabha bypolls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is going all out to woo the Pasmanda Muslim community of the constituency ahead of the Rampur Sadar assembly bypolls in Uttar Pradesh on December 5.
Highlighting Prime minister Narendra Modi’s objective of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, UP Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak said that PM Modi is working to empower the Pasmanda community, a word used by the backward, Dalit and tribal Muslims to identify the caste discrimination that plagues the community.
“Prime Minister Modi was the one who said that in the Muslim society, the Dalit Muslims, the backward people, the deprived people, the brothers and sisters, their living standards have to be raised,” Pathak said while addressing a rally that witnessed a huge number of people from the community.
“Today, I have come to tell you that Prime Minister Modi has opened the doors of the BJP for you (Pasmanda Muslims), you are heartily welcome, and till now you have done a lot of work,” Deputy CM Pathak said.
The seat, which has a large Muslim population, fell vacant after Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan was disqualified as an MLA following his conviction and three-year jail sentence in a hate speech case.
The BJP had won Rampur and Azamgarh constituencies in the Lok Sabha bypolls earlier this year. The two constituencies have a sizeable Muslim population, which has traditionally voted for the SP. Especially in Rampur, which has a 50 per cent Muslim population, this indicates that a significant section of the community changed its hearts to support the BJP.
Aiming guns at the opposition parties, Deputy CM Pathak said, “All these (opposition) parties kept cashing in votes by creating division between Hindu and Muslim communities but did nothing on-ground to provide any benefits for you (Pasmanda Muslims)”.
Known for his flamboyant style of speech, Deputy CM Pathak also said that the opposition parties reaped all the benefits while keeping Muslims out of the equation.
He said, “A lot of ingredients go into making a Biryani. However, they (the opposition) ate all of the biryani masala but threw you out like a tej patta (bay leaf).
This is not the first time the BJP has reached out to Muslims. In 2019, the BJP-led government passed the Triple Talaq law in Parliament. Under the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, divorce through instant triple talaq was made illegal, void, and could attract a jail term of three years for the husband. The groundbreaking law gave new hope to Muslim women across India who felt chained in their domestic lives.