Try us, BJP tells Muslims

BJP president Rajnath Singh on Tuesday urged members of the Muslim community not to vote for electing a government this time but for a “strong” nation where “brotherhood and humanity” could prevail together.

“Try us once. (If) We don’t come up to your expectations, don't look at us ever again. Unko dekha baar baar, kamse kam humko dekho ek baar (You have seen them so many times, look at us at least once,” he said at an event titled “Modi for PM - Mission 272+ - Role of Muslims”.

Singh also defended the party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi over his alleged controversial role in the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat, alleging that the Congress “engineered” the propaganda as if Modi had then ordered the massacre of all Muslims in the state.

“Now the court has also given him (Modi) a clean chit. What else is left against him? The Congress is playing vote-bank politics to defame Modi and the BJP,” he added.