PM Modi asks BJP leaders to work for poor Muslims, slams Oppn over EVM row
His outreach to backward Muslims follows a move to accord constitutional status to the other backwards class (OBC) commission. The Lok Sabha has passed a related bill, but it got blocked in the Rajya Sabha.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked fellow BJP members and supporters on Sunday to reach out to poor Muslims and marginalised sections of society, and accused the Opposition of finding fault with the electronic voting machine (EVM) ahead of municipal polls in New Delhi. (Highlights)
The Prime Minister was speaking at the BJP national executive meeting in the Odisha capital.
Modi said that Muslim communities have backward classes, who are the most marginalised, and it was the BJP’s duty to take the fruits of development to them.
His outreach to backward Muslims follows a move to accord constitutional status to the other backwards class (OBC) commission. The Lok Sabha has passed a related bill, but it got blocked in the Rajya Sabha.
He said Muslim women have been facing difficulties on triple talaq, an Islamic practice that allows the husband to divorce his wife by uttering talaq thrice.
“We should work for a solution at the district level,” new agency ANI quotes Modi as saying.
He stressed the need to move forward with the formula of New India. “We will not move slowly but fast.”
Besides, the Prime Minister took the opportunity on the second day of the party meeting to hit out at the Opposition.
“The Opposition is concocting new issues in a factory of some kind. During the Delhi elections, Church attacks were the highlights and during the Bihar polls ‘Award wapsi’ was the issue. And right now it is the EVM,” he said.
Modi asked BJP leaders to maintain caution with their public remarks and not get carried away with emotion to make untoward remarks. “If there are any complaints, then the matter should be passed on to the party leaders who will convey it to me,” he said.
Become a ‘true pan-India party’
The Prime Minister asked them to not get excited over victories in the recent state assembly elections — especially in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand — and ensure they keep the momentum going.
“The BJP will launch a special campaign for those 120 Lok Sabha seats which have been out of our reach,” he said.
The Prime Minister praised party president Amit Shah as the ideal model of an able strategist.
For his part, Shah said the BJP’s golden era will begin only when it has chief ministers in every state and held power from panchayats to Parliament.
“Don’t be complacent. Let’s become a true pan-India party to showcase not only the BJP’s success, but make India great in the committee of nations,” he told party leaders.
The BJP meeting in Odisha is significant as the party seeks to wrest power from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), which has been ruling the eastern state for the fourth consecutive term.
The Prime Minister held a 9km road show in Bhubaneswar soon after arriving at the city airport.
(with inputs from ANI)
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