Ahead Of Lok Sabha Polls, BJP's Pasmanda Outreach

Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently asked members of the Bharatiya Janata Party to reach out to the minorities, including Muslims.

Speaking at the party's national executive meeting in New Delhi last month, Modi told his party colleagues that they should meet the Pasmanda Muslims, Bohra community, and educated and professional Muslims without expecting whether the community will vote for the party or not.  

Taking the first step in this direction, the BJP has decided that the time has come to take the message of 'garib kalyan' or 'welfare of the poor' to the financially and socially weaker sections within the Muslim community. With less than 14 months until the Lok Sabha elections, the ruling BJP has now identified at least 61 constituencies that have a population of more than 25% Muslims.

The party is now planning to identify the financially weaker families in these constituencies so that the families of the Pasmanda Muslims can benefit from some of the Union government's flagship programmes like toilets for all, subsidised cooking gas cylinders, access to bank accounts through the Jan Dhan programme, housing for all both in rural and urban areas, and easy loans under the Mudra scheme for women.  

"We have identified 61 Lok Sabha constituencies across the country because the population in these constituencies is more than 25% Muslims," according to Jamal Siddiqui, national president of the BJP's Minority Morcha.

"The idea is to take the message of Garib Kalyan from PM Modi to these people and work towards changing the lives of these people, who are not just financially weak but also socially weak. This is not being done to get votes because PM Modi has already stated that this work should be done without regard for votes."

This is not the first time that the PM has asked the BJP workers to reach out to Pasmanda Muslims. Similarly, in August last year, the PM asked the BJP workers to work for the betterment of Pasmanda Muslims. Out of the 61 Lok Sabha seats identified by the party, the BJP won 22 seats in 2019, but the party suggests that the recent initiative is not for electoral purpose.  

It is interesting that a majority of the seats won by the BJP are in places where the Muslim population is more than 25 percent of the population in the Lok Sabha constituency, at least 10 Lok Sabha constituencies are in Uttar Pradesh where the party has enjoyed an electoral stronghold since the 2014 general elections.   

While the BJP is planning its biggest Muslim outreach through social programmes, the road ahead for the party may not be easy. Going by the 61 seats identified by the party, many are in states like Uttar Pradesh and Assam where the party is already in power.  

Similarly, there are seats in states like West Bengal, Kerala and Bihar where the BJP is likely to face strong opposition in the upcoming 2024 election in the presence of strong regional leadership. Among the leaders who have openly talked about opposition unity are Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.   

Political analysts believe that the move by the BJP would not only help the party nationally, but also boost the image of the ruling government internationally.

"It is difficult to say whether this move will help the BJP get votes from Muslims in a big way, but it will obviously help the party internationally. This move can be seen as an image makeover exercise, and it is not being done for votes or electoral gains," said Sanjay Kumar, director at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies.

Gyan Verma was Senior Editor (Politics) at Mint. He has been a journalist for nearly two decades and writes on the politics and intersection of policy and politics.

The views expressed here are those of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views of BQ Prime or its editorial team.