BJP will apologise for past mistakes, Rajnath tells Muslims

mangaloretoday.com / India today

New Delhi, Feb 26: With the big political battle only a few months away, the BJP aiming at Mission 272+ is making all possible attempts to woo the Muslim community. Without mentioning the 2002 Gujarat riots, party president Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said that the BJP is willing to apologise to the Muslim community for any mistake it might have committed against the community.

"Please note that whenever, wherever, if there has been any mistake and shortcoming on our part, I assure you that we will apologise to you by bowing our heads," Singh said while addressing a gathering on ’ Role of Muslims Summit’.

 

’Give us a chance’

Singh appealed to the Muslims to give the BJP a chance to prove themselves and show their support for the party in the upcoming polls. " Try us once. If we don’t come up to your expectations, don’t look at us ever again."

"Unko dekha baar baar, kamse kam humko dekho ek baar (You have seen them so many times, at least try us once), he added.

The party president, who talked about the Gujarat riots and allegations against the party’s chief ministerial candidate Narendra Modi during his address, insisted that the BJP was not against Muslims and the community should not fall prey to the propaganda against the party.

He lashed out at the Congress party and said: "They are always talking about the 2002 riots. Didn’t riots happen before that?" He further attacked the Congress by saying that the party had created a propaganda which portrayed Modi as the one who had ordered the 2002 massacre.

"They are not even ready to accept the cleanchit given by the court.

What else do they want? The Congress is playing vote bank politics to defame Modi and the BJP. Try and understand this, they want Muslims to move away from the BJP. Now, the court has also given him a clean chit, what else is left against him?," the BJP chief said.

" Time and again, the BJP has been targeted by the Congress and critics over the Gujarat riots. The BJP leaders now believe that it is the right time to address the concern of the minority community before the final political battle.

Party’s senior leader Arun Jaitley was not far behind. He said that the BJP does not treat minorities as instruments of political power but as equals.

"An organised campaign has gone on for several years to create a fear factor amongst the minorities about the BJP," he said, adding the party has no prejudice against the Muslims and appealed to them to shun vote bank politics.

BJP’s list of candidates

The BJP is likely to come out with its first list of Lok Sabha candidates on the auspicious day of Shivratri on February 27 when the party’s top leadership will discuss the possible candidates at a meeting of the central Election Committee.

Party sources said that the party will finalise the seats for its top leaders and some seats where the candidates are strong and there is no dispute on them. Senior party leaders, including Narender Modi, L. K. Advani, Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and others will meet to finalise the poll strategy.

Sources said that party may announce 40-50 names in its first list.