Bhartiya Janata Party seems to be a divided house over Muslim participation in the party organisation. While two Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Uma Bharati said that the party should field Muslims, firebrand leader and Rajya Sabha member Vijay Katiyar asked as to why give tickets to Muslims when they did not vote for the party.
Katiyar said: “let’s talk straight. Why should the BJP give tickets to Muslims when they do not vote for us. Minority vote politics will be defeated in this elections and I hope that most Muslim candidates would lose in the polls.”
The statement of Katiyar was a clear snub for senior party leaders who had earlier advocated fielding Muslims in elections. In this election, the BJP has not fielded a single Muslim candidate which has raised questions over the PM’s commitment of `sabka saath, sabka vikas’.
“What they have said is their view point. My view point is that election is like a battle ground. You do not field weak candidates as every seat is important for you. When it is clear that Muslims will not vote for the BJP why should the party waste resources on unproductive things,” Katiyar asked.
On Ram Mandir issue, the BJP leader said said that he stood by his earlier comment that Ram temple would be constructed at any cost. “The new BJP government in UP will pave way for construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya,” he said.
Katiyar further said that though issues like education, employment and development were hogging the limelight this elections, but without Ram temple everything was a waste.
BJP candidate from Ayodhya Ved Gupta too claimed that no other candidate, no other issue will work in the city of Ram Bhakts.
“It’s a place of Ram Bhakts and they will remain with the BJP. Opposition is playing the minority card but the BJP sticks to its slogan of ‘sabka sath sabka vikas,” he added.
Meanwhile, SP candidate and former minister Tej Narain Pandey alias Pawan Pandey, while reacting to the BJP’s take on Ram temple, said, “Ram is a matter of faith and worship for us and not politics.”
