A member of a minority community will want to pinch himself to see if he is not dreaming when he reads the part of the BJP manifesto titled Minority communities: Healthy diet of development. The manifesto deserves a very warm response from the minority communities especially Muslims. Why does it, then, fail to touch the heart chords of minorities? Can it be because this particular aspect of the manifesto has not been given due exposure? It is as if it was meant to be just on the paper. Hardly any BJP leader has mentioned it in his speech. It has been hardly reported in newspapers or on T.V. channels. Minority policy as declared in the manifesto has a great potential to attract votes. It is a part of the manifesto BJP should have broadcast from the rooftops. It should have become the talk of the town. But nothing like that has happened.
Even Mahesh Jethmalani, who has most uncharacteristically apologised for Gujarat 2002, does not refer to this benevolent agenda for minorities in the BJP manifesto. Rajnath Singh’s advocacy of Panthnirpekshata in preference to Dharmnirpekshata which he enunciated only the other day is hardly compatible with the genuine secularism versus pseudo-secularism which has been the party’s watchword. All this makes one wonder if this is really a well considered policy statement of the party. Is it really the outcome of brainstorming sessions of BJP think-tank? Is the BJP serious about this caring agenda for minorities? Or is it a piece of prose commissioned from a talented writer?
Dr. Mookhi Amir Ali
Mumbai, Maharashtra