Now, saffron party tries to woo Muslims

The importance of Muslim voters in Delhi politics is driving the BJP to enrol new, young members from the community in at least eight Assembly constituencies with their sizeable presence.

The minority cell of the party has already established contact with over 20,000 Muslim voters and is aiming to enrol around 1 lakh people from the community by March.

Atif Rasheed, chief of the minority cell, said: “There is a change in the air. No more are people shocked or surprised when we mention the party’s name in Muslim dominated areas.”
“The young generation from the community is excited and has a huge goodwill for the party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he said.

To woo Muslim voters and to push their enrolment , the BJP’s foot soldiers, including women, are relying on small corner meetings where they highlight Modi’s performance in the country and in the international arena.

“We ask the people, don’t they feel that there is an active Prime Minister who is getting the world to take note of the country,” he said.

 “Those keen to share views or hear from us are encouraged to give a missed call on a phone number to get more information,” said Rasheed, who admitted that Muslim women are not very active in politics and have largely remained out of the saffron party’s “Woo-Muslim” drive.

The BJP realises that Muslims call the shots in about 10 Assembly seats in the city and it is not in a mood to let rivals take away all the Muslim votes.

Ahead of the next Assembly polls, the Delhi Congress has roped in former Matia Mahal legislator Shoaib Iqbal to strengthen its team of Muslim leaders – which includes five former legislators from the community.

The Aam Aadmi Party is distributing pamphlets in Urdu among Muslims and touching issues like the recent communal flare up in east Delhi.

The BJP’s minority cell teams are also using pamphlets in Hindi and Urdu to communicate with voters in areas like Seelampur, Chandni Chowk, Naveen Shahadra, Najafgarh and Mehrauli.
“Apart from the national toll free phone number for BJP membership, the minority cell also has a separate mobile number – 9650067676 – for receiving missed calls. An SMS is sent back to the missed call maker immediately,” said Rasheed.   

Muslims played an expectedly decisive role in at least three Lok Sabha constituencies  – Chandni Chowk, East Delhi and North East Delhi – during the last electoral battle in the city.
Over 11 percent of the nearly 1.3 crore electors in the city are Muslims.

The Assembly constituencies falling under North East Delhi Lok Sabha seat have the highest density of members of the minority community. About 25 percent voters in the Lok Sabha constituency are Muslims.

In Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha constituency, there are about 20 per cent Muslim voters and in the East Delhi constituency there are over 15 per cent Muslims.