BJP trying to woo minorities with `secular’ card

This is for the first time that a conference of political parties has been organised by the Philippines’ ruling Christian Democratic and Peoples’ Party International. Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar and 75 other Asian countries have been invited to the meet.

Sources say that the objective behind such a conference is to ponder over the possibility of creating an Asian Union — on the lines of the European Union — to protect the continent’s developing countries.

Instead, the BJP leadership has decided to utilise the opportunity to project its “secular image” and send out a message that minorities are safe under the leadership of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and newly-elected party president Bangaru Laxman.

Replying to a question, Krishamurthy admitted that the BJP had not come out with its own manifesto during the 1999 polls. “But if you go through our Chennai declaration, you will find that the BJP’s views on the issue have not changed,” he asserted.

The Chennai declaration had stated that the BJP would never allow inter-faith differences to come in the way of nation-building, adding: “We believe that all long-pending inter-faith issues can be resolved through dialogue based on trust and a concern for the larger national good. Minority, weather linguistic or religious are an integral part of the great Indian family.”

This assertion, however, confirms that Krishnamurthy will use the Manila conference to allay the apprehensions of minorities and also draw them towards the BJP.

Despite the fact that association of some Muslim leaders — including Aslam Sher Khan and Abrar Ahmad — with the BJP was short-lived, it is learnt that some party leaders are in touch with Muslims leaders from other parties to bring them into party fold. One of the reasons for rewarding Kamaluddin Ahmad with the Planning Commission membership was to send the right signals to the minorities. Ahmad — a former senior Congress leader — is working hard to strengthen the BJP among the minorities.

The BJP has kept several posts vacant in its newly-announced organisational team. Even Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi was not promoted as he is considered a junior functionary. These slots will be filled keeping in mind the party needs in ensuing Assembly elections.