Modi gaining support from Muslim community, says Naqvi

Malappuram (Kerala), Feb 23 (PTI) Senior BJP leader and former union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Friday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is securing votes and support from a significant segment of the Muslim population.

The BJP leader said the prime minister's "commitment and conviction for inclusive empowerment" is behind the reason for a substantial number of Muslims transitioning from the "conservative negative obsession of defeating the BJP" to adopting a "positive approach of voting for and supporting Modi ji." Inaugurating the BJP state unit's padayatra in the Muslim-dominated Malappuram, Naqvi said Muslims, along with all sections of society, have also made up their mind; they believe that "when Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not discriminated against the Muslims in terms of socio-economic and educational empowerment in the last 10 years, why should they adopt stinginess in support and vote for Modi." The massive voting by Muslims for the BJP in recent elections in many states clearly reflects this, he said.

He went on to say that the Modi government has eliminated the "pseudo-secular traders of communal votes" with inclusive development of all sections of the society with the commitment to "empowerment without appeasement and development with dignity." Naqvi claimed that most of the parts of the country, especially BJP-NDA ruled states, have been free from the "horror of riots and terror of terrorism." The BJP is the guarantee of good governance, stability and inclusive development and security in the country.

Taking a dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the BJP leader said that under his leadership, "the grand old party is on the ventilator, but their ego is on accelerator".

He said that it is for the first time after Independence that a non-Congress government under the leadership of Modi is going to enter the third consecutive term after completing two successful terms without any "support and remote of the Congress and the Communists".

Naqvi said that Prime Minister Modi is the "flagbearer of constitutional secularism more than Nehru-Indira Ji" and the party doesn't need any "certificate from the 'secular syndicate'" in this regard.

He said that the resolve of 'Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat' and the mantra of 'Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas' has made Modi a "Global Hero of Ground Zero".

Naqvi said that the majority of Muslims have also now chosen the path of socio-economic-educational progress of the country.

Naqvi, while elaborating about the Modi government's schemes aimed at socio-economic and educational empowerment of the needy, asserted that various central welfare schemes have immensely benefitted every section in Kerala too during the past 10 years. PTI