With Uttar Pradesh headed for assembly polls early next year, the BJP’s new national team appears to have been formed to strike a balance between caste, community, region, religion and gender. Eight leaders from the state find representation in the organisational reshuffle announced by party president Nitin Nabin on Monday.
Significantly, Uttar Pradesh is the only state to have Muslim representatives in the new national team. Tariq Mansoor, Member of Legislative Council and former Aligarh Muslim University vice chancellor, has been retained as national vice-president. Kunwar Basit Ali has been elevated as Minority Morcha national president. The induction of two faces from the Pasmanda community is being seen as part of the BJP’s outreach to Pasmanda Muslims as well as a bid to make a dent in the Samajwadi Party’s votebank.
Shashi Kant Pandey, a political scientist, said the BJP has recently been trying hard to woo Pasmanda Muslims and the induction of two Muslim faces, both from western UP with a dense Muslim population, is definitely an attempt to deepen its outreach in the community, particularly Pasmanda Muslims.
“Studies suggest that Pasmanda Muslims are favourably inclined to the BJP in UP,” Pandey stated. He said by giving representation to two Muslims from UP in the national list, the BJP also sought to counter the SP’s bid to make a dent in its Brahmin vote bank.
{{/usCountry}}“Studies suggest that Pasmanda Muslims are favourably inclined to the BJP in UP,” Pandey stated. He said by giving representation to two Muslims from UP in the national list, the BJP also sought to counter the SP’s bid to make a dent in its Brahmin vote bank.
{{/usCountry}}Mansoor, who joined the BJP after completing his tenure at AMU in 2023, has emerged as one of the party’s prominent Muslim faces in western UP. Kunwar Basit Ali from Meerut was the state president of the Minority Morcha till recently.
Talking to the HT over phone, both leaders showed their gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top party leaders for their appointment to the national team and expressed their resolve to connect Muslims to the BJP.
“The BJP is no longer untouchable to Muslims as amply demonstrated by the recent assembly elections in West Bengal. This is because the Modi government’s welfare schemes have benefited all without any discrimination and in many cases they have benefited Muslims more than others,” Tariq Mansoor said. He also said he would take the Modi and Yogi governments’ policies to Muslims.
Echoing similar sentiments, Kunwar Basit Ali said he would try to live up to the party’s expectation by trying to dispel misconceptions most Muslims had about the BJP. “The BJP works for the development of all without any discrimination and Muslims need to understand this reality,” he said.
The social composition of the eight-member team from UP includes three women, three OBCs, a Scheduled Caste leader and a Brahmin. The Brahmin community is represented by former Basti MP Harish Dwivedi, who has been appointed national general secretary. Bhola Singh, MP from Bulandshahr, is the scheduled caste face who has been inducted as national secretary. Three OBC representatives are Rekha Verma, former MP and national vice-president, Rajya Sabha member Sangeeta Yadav (national secretary); and Amar Pal Maurya (national OBC Morcha head).
The three women faces include former Union minister Smriti Irani who has been appointed national general secretary. She defeated Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from Amethi Lok Sabha seat in 2019 but lost to the Congress’s Kishori Lal Sharma in 2024.