Keeping up with UP | BJP aims to divide Opposition’s Muslim vote bank before 2027
BJP Muslim Morcha members have been asked to spread out and educate the community about the party’s welfare schemes
After winning the Muslim-dominated Kundarki assembly seat in the November 2024 bypoll, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath told the members of the BJP Muslim Morcha (BMM) to educate the community about the party’s policy of “Sab Ka Saath, Sab Ka Vikas.”
Party leaders were emboldened by the support of the community, especially the upper caste Muslim Rajputs, said to have a level of affinity with Yogi, as he is from the same caste. It is said that Muslim Rajputs had supported senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh when he fought the Ghaziabad Lok Sabha elections in 2009. Besides, Muslims were also protecting their trade and businesses.
In December 2024, when Yogi said in the state assembly that it was a fight between desi and videshi (infiltrators) Muslims, people speculated he was extending an olive branch to those members of the community who continue to greet each other with “Ram, Ram” in rural pockets and were open to connecting with their ancestral roots.
Political analyst M Hasan said, “Pasmandas (the backward Muslims) did not migrate to the BJP as provocative statements and actions of the leaders occupying Constitutional positions had impacted their psyche. But now, there is a section of minorities who are trying to trace their roots.”
According to a BMM assessment, upper-caste Muslims, mainly Jat, Gujjar, Pathan, Syed and Tyagi, have likely softened their opinions towards the BJP despite the party’s hard narrative. In Kundarki, about 85,000 upper-caste Muslims, mainly Rajputs, voted for the BJP.
“The Muslims belonging to the kisan culture (farmers) are not fanatics or rigid in their social and political behaviour. “They are engaged in farming and are more flexible in making their political choices and thus can be won over by the BJP,” BMM chief, Kunwar Basit Ali, said. “A majority of them know or believe their ancestors were Hindus. Some of them even know their gotra (lineage) and family trees. They are largely concentrated in western UP, besides eastern UP pockets in Gorakhpur, Azamgarh, Ghazipur and Jaunpur,” he added.
However, locals insist that the community supported the BJP in Kundarki under the double impact of fear and favour as the elections were held in the shadow of the Sambhal violence. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and officials had done the first round of a survey of the 16th century Jama Masjid, purportedly built at the site of a demolished temple on November 19, 2024, a day before the bypoll on November 20. The second round of the survey was done on November 24, 2024, amid large-scale protests. The petition was filed in the Sambhal civil judge court on November 19, 2024, and the court ordered the survey, which was promptly done the same evening. The by-poll for the Muslim-dominated Kundarki polls was held on November 20, 2024. The BJP had last won the seat in 1993.
The BJP leadership is of the view that they should try to breach the Muslim vote bank of the opposition. The BJP has adopted two routes: first, propagating the government’s ‘no discrimination policy’ for welfare schemes. Second, the much-talked-about the ‘ghar wapsi programme’ of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) -Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).
Former Shia Waqf Board chairman Waseem Rizvi, renamed Jitendra Tyagi after he embraced Hinduism, not only took a holy dip but also announced assistance of ₹3000 to every Muslim who turned Sanatani. He has formed the “Sanatan Mein Swagat Hai’ group and the financial assistance is aimed at giving support to the person when under societal pressure.
Rajiv Sriguru, professor at Benaras Hindu University, said: “Our organisation Vikas Bharat Sansthan was formed in 1998 to serve the underprivileged but later we started helping Muslims to find their ‘gaon and gotra’ to remove the misconception about their Arabic antecedents. 80 % of Muslims know their Hindu caste and subcaste as only their names were changed,” he said.
The “ghar wapsi” campaign has been going on for quite some time. Som Anand, earlier known as Kunwar Rafat Akhlaq Raozada, was born in Bulandshahr. His father was a medical practitioner. It was in 1977 when during his three-year-long visit to Tapovan, he came to know about his family history. They were Rajputs. He embraced Hinduism with the help of the Arya Samaj in 1980 at the age of 35. Since then, he has changed his name in every official document.
About 700 cases were filed against him. Anand now lives in Dehradun and describes himself as a “shuddh Congressman”, engaged in a “ghar wapsi” campaign across the country. As an Arya Samaji, he doesn’t visit temples but his children celebrate all Hindu festivals.
Retired colonel, Rajeev Rawat, was influenced by the RSS and its former Sarsanghchalak Rajju Bhaiya. He has been associated with various activities of the Hindu Jagran Manch and has penned seven booklets on Sanatan Dharma. He said that in eight villages of Hathras, one can find both Hindus and Muslims in the same family, living together in the house. One lights diya, other recites the Quran. Their campaign revolves around, “Ya Allah Lauta de mere Bhaiya ko, Ya Allah laut chala apne ghar.” According to Rawat, “99% of those who have converted to their original religion follow Sanatani practices.”
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