BJP minorities meet in Patna on July 14

On July 14, the BJP will organise a minorities’ conference in Patna, the capital of poll-bound Bihar.

On July 14, the BJP will organise a minorities’ conference in Patna, the capital of poll-bound Bihar.

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The lead will be taken by the BJP’s state minority morcha, and central leaders from Bihar will also be part of it.

This is an attempt to reaching out to Bihar Muslims (16 per cent of state’s demographics) comes after the party’s alliance with the JD(U) was threatened when Nitish Kumar took umbrage at advertisemnets praising Narendra Modi, in Bihar newspapers.

Though party leader Shahnawaz Hussain — who will play a prominent role in the conference — insisted it had been planned well before the Patna national executive, the conference is being seen as a step to control the Modi damage among minorities.

However, the “good” condition of Muslims in Gujarat —something both L.K. Advani and Modi have underlined, quoting the Sachar Committee data — may figure here too in the course of the discussions.

“We will certainly inform the audience how Muslims are doing well in many BJP-ruled states,” said Hussain, without mentioning Gujarat.

This apart, the conference is expected to soothe things for the party, which found the Muslim question in Bihar too hot to handle ever since Kumar — who is trying to break Lalu’s Muslim-Yadav vote base — reacted sharply to ads praising Narendra Modi. Hussain said 5000-10,000 Muslims are expected to be part of the meet.