BJP leader Suvendui’s anti-Muslim stand creates a controversy

Kolkata: BJP MLA and Bengal LoP Suvendu Adhikari caused a flutter when he argued for scrapping the saffron party’s Minority Morcha, attributing the loss of Lok Sabha seats in the state to “low support from minorities” and declaring it was time to “stop this Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas”.
“I would say ‘jo hamare saath, hum unke saath (We will be with those who are with us)’. I used to speak about nationalist Muslims earlier, but I won’t anymore,” he said during BJP’s extended working committee meeting in Kolkata that did a poll post-mortem.
The Nandigram MLA alleged that “Hindus were stopped from voting in a number of constituencies”, playing a role in BJP’s state tally shrinking from 18 in 2019 to 12 this election.
Adhikari’s outburst invited criticism from colleagues, especially his dismissal of PM Modi’s slogan of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas”. The first rejoinder came from Union minister Manohar Lal, who was on the dais with Adhikari. Reminding BJP workers of the merits of inclusive politics, Manohar Lal said, “People with different identities are not our enemies. There are reasonable people in every segment of society, and the popular mandate comes from everyone.”
He said it would be a mistake to isolate any community, based on poll thesis. “We fight enemies on the borders, not people within the country. When it comes to seeking mandate, we have to reach out to those with rational minds and take them along.”
Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar distanced the party from Adhikari’s statement. “Suvendu was a delegate here. Whether we will keep a delegate’s proposal or delete it, is up to the party chief and his team,” he said. BJP national minority morcha president Jamal Siddique called up Charles Nandi, Bengal BJP’s minority morcha chief, to know the context of Adhikari’s statement. “We do not approve of what Adhikari said. The PM has reached out to Pasmanda Muslims and asked party workers to serve them,” Nandi was quoted as telling Siddique.