الهند: حزب هندوسي يحاول جمع أصوات المسلمين في الانتخابات

- خبر من مصادر إنجليزية.

بدأ حزب "بهاراتيا جناتا" الهندوسي القومي الحشد لحملته الانتخابية قبيل حلول انتخابات 2014، بالتوجه إلى المسلمين بغرب "أوتربراديش" سعيًا لتحسين صورة الهندوس، بالرغم من تأكيد "فيناي ختيار" - نائب رئيس الحزب - على التزام الحزب ببناء "معبد راما" الهندوسي على انقاض "مسجد بابري" الذي قام بتحطيمه الهندوس عام 1992.

وقد أعلن الحزب دعمه لحقوق جميع الطوائف والمعتقدات، وطالب جموع الفلاحين المسلمين الذين شاركوا حضور مؤتمر الحزب بعدم الانتخاب على الأساس الديني أو الطائفي، مُطالبًا المسلمين الذين يشكلون أغلبية الولاية بدعم حزبه. المصدر: شبكة الألوكة.

يرجى الإشارة إلى المصدر عند نقل الخبر – شبكة الألوكة.

الخبر من مصدره الأصلي:

BJP reaches out to Muslim voters with Deoband rally

As part of a strategy to widen the appeal of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) among voters and attract allies before the 2014 national elections, president Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday reached out to Muslim voters in western Uttar Pradesh, shedding its Hindu hardliner image.

On his maiden visit to Deoband, Gadkari said his party will not discriminate on the basis of caste or religion.

BJP vice-president Vinay Katiyar, who spoke before Gadkari, however, raised eyebrows when he brought up the issue of constructing a temple at the site of the razed mosque in Ayodhya. Katiyar said the party was committed to building the Ram temple but it will seek the cooperation of other communities.

A senior BJP leader said the party was making a gradual shift from its earlier stance of Hindutva to nationalism.

“We have adopted a three-pronged strategy for general elections in Uttar Pradesh—announcing a list of candidates before 31 December, increasing party cadre strength and making nationalism an agenda,” he said, adding former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh will rejoin BJP within a fortnight. Singh will also merge his Jan Kranti Party with the BJP.

Gadkari reiterated that his party was the only credible alternative to the ruling Congress.

“We believe in social harmony. We don’t believe in untouchability and casteism. We believe in nationalism and will give equal justice to all castes and religions. We don’t do politics on the basis of caste and religion,” he told a gathering of around 3,000 farmers in Deoband, nearly 150km from the national capital and home to the Darul Uloom seminary, one of India’s most prominent Islamic centres.

Gadkari asked people to refrain from voting on the basis of their religion and caste.

“You are responsible for your current situation,” he said. “Why blame Congress, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party when you choose wrong people on the basis of your caste. Then these people do not work for your development. Do you choose your surgeon on the basis of his religion?”

The party, however, failed to attract large numbers of Muslims to the rally. Muslims and Gujjars are the dominant communities in the small town in Saharanpur district. They usually support the state’s ruling Samajwadi Party or the opposition Bahujan Samaj Party.

The BJP’s secular image was tarnished following the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992, unleashing a wave of religious violence, and the Gujarat riots of 2002. Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of Lok Sabha seats and a majority of Indian Muslims live in the state.

The party had indicated at its recently concluded national executive meeting that it was keen to shed its image as a Hindu nationalist party in order to broaden its appeal and strengthen the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) that it heads.

Senior BJP leader L.K. Advani had said in his concluding speech that the BJP needs to project itself in order to assure its potential allies that “they have nothing to be apprehensive about partnering with the BJP”.

Advani listed three tasks for the BJP before the general elections. “Strengthening the BJP in all our present and past strongholds; make the present allies larger and robust; and transform the NDA into NDA Plus,” he said.

Gadkari also attacked Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav by calling them the B and C team of the Congress.