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Journalism of Courage
Rejecting the claim of the Opposition that the BJP was an anti-minority party, Abdul Gaffur, 65, a farmer from the North Tripura district, on Monday claimed that he and several others from the Muslim community in their neighbourhood will be voting for the saffron party in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Gaffur along with 60 others from his locality had come to listen to Home Minister Amit Shah at the Kumarghat Public Works Department (PWD) ground. Holding a large placard with the slogan, “Main Hoon Modi ka Parivar”, he was seen waiting anxiously before the Union home minister arrived at the venue.
Speaking to indianexpress.com, a BJP Minority Morcha leader himself, Gaffur said, “The NDA will get over 400 seats. We shall all vote for Modi ji in our area. The Opposition will not win. They don’t have any supporters. Minorities will vote for Modi ji.”
Gaffur’s companions like Abdul Wakil and Rahim Khan reasoned that despite the rhetoric that the BJP promoted anti-minority politics, the minority community benefited under the Modi regime.
“We want Modi ji to come back to power for a third term as prime minister. He is working for us. We got housing, free rice, water, etc. We are getting all government facilities. There are no problems,” one of the attendees said.
A similar sentiment was shared by women who joined the rally. Namita Debnath and Soma Roy, both of whom are from the Uttar Pabiacherra gram panchayat, said the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will easily score over 400 seats in the parliamentary polls.
Women made up a sizable section of the roughly 15,000 supporters who turned up at Shah’s rally. “Women will vote for Modi ji,” Debnath said.
The rally held in support of BJP East Tripura candidate Kriti Singh Debbarma, a member of the erstwhile Manikya royal family, however, did not witness a large turnout of tribals even though the seat is reserved for tribal candidates.
Among the few tribals who attended the rally, Rathindra Reang from the nearby Sarkhipara village said, “The BJP has given good roads, water, gas, kisan samman, free ration, etc. They will give us jobs and development if they win again.”
Reang also said tribals did not get so many facilities during the erstwhile Left Front regime.
Voting for the two Lok Sabha seats in the state will be held in two phases – April 19 and April 26.
