In the article “A BJP-Muslim entente cordiale?” published by The Hindu (March 10), Hasan Suroor’s optimism went overboard when he says “the garbled apology issued by Mr. Rajnath Singh may have made a greater impact if it had come from Mr. Modi”. What the author seems to have overlooked was the fact that Modi is known for his overtly Muslim-bashing like “Hum paanch Hamare Pachees”, “Mian Musharraf”, “Kutte ka pilla”, etc., apart from the charge of not doing his ‘raj dharma’ during the 2002 Gujarat communal riots and his alleged ‘hand’ in a number of fake encounters. A mere apology would not change the hearts of the whole community. Arun Jaitley’s idea of “…giving tickets to them even if they lose initially” would also fall flat, as Muslims have matured enough to understand the games of appeasement. But, the BJP can surely turn the tables over the ‘secular’ Congress, if it announces that it would implement the recommendations of Sachar Committee and Ranganath Commission after coming to power.
Syed Sultan Mohiddin
Kadapa, A.P.