Saffron party scores victory in Muslim-dominated areas

 Branded as an ‘anti-Muslim’ party by its rivals, the BJP, which had not fielded any Muslim candidate in the Assembly polls, shocked its opponents by sweeping the Muslim-dominated areas, especially in the west and central regions in the state.

The BJP, which registered a massive electoral victory in the state, won as many as 100 seats in the west, Rohilkhand and Avadh regions, giving jitters to its political opponents. In fact, it was the performance of the BJP in the Muslim-dominated areas that prompted BSP supremo Mayawati to charge that the electronic voting machines were tampered with. “It can not be believed that Muslims voted for the BJP. Something must be wrong,” Mayawati said.

The results of the polls revealed that the BJP wiped out its opponents in the Muslim-dominated districts of Bijnore, Sambhal, Amroha, Moradabad, Bareilly, Budaon, Shahjahanpur, Saharanpur, Baghpat, Pilibhit  and Lakhimpur-Kheri, among others, much to the shock of the rival parties.

“It seems that a section of the Muslims, especially women, voted for the BJP. It may not be much, but without some support of the Muslims a win of this scale is not possible,” media analyst J P Shukla told DH. Shukla felt that ‘progressive’ Muslim women might have tilted towards the BJP following the saffron party’s stand on issues like triple talaq. “Such issues affect the women more than they impact the men,” he added.

A senior Muslim cleric also expressed similar sentiment, though he added that it would require a detailed analysis of the results to come to any conclusion. “It may be a possibility,” the cleric conceded.