http://www.indianexpress.com/news/the-bjp-s-muslim-connection/694333/

The BJP’s Muslim connection

Express News Service : Ahmabad, Fri Oct 08 2010, 05:09 hrs

After the 2002 riots, Gujarat politicalscape has always swung between two Ms — Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Muslims. But this civic polls there is a perceptible shift.

The Muslims are yet to make an impact — as voters and politicians — though they remain central to the political debate in Gujarat. Muslims comprise 9.1 per cent of state’s population — better the demographic indicators compared to the state average and many parts of India. But their political say has been limited.

It was in 1984 that Gujarat last elected a Muslim MP — Ahmed Patel, who is now a Rajya Sabha

Member. Among the 182 MLAs only five are Muslims, all Congressmen — a mere 2.74 per cent. Of the 621 seats in seven municipal corporations only 27 are Muslims — 4.3 per cent. This time, the BJP has fielded 11 Muslims and the Congress 66. The last time BJP fielded Muslims — in the Junagadh polls — it lost to the Congress.

Post delimitation, the Muslim-dominated areas have been carved further, rendering their voting ineffective in most civic wards.

For the first time, the Gujarat BJP has claimed to have Muslim support in this polls, though it remains non-committal on the 2002 riots. The Modi government has also used the Sachar Committee findings to prove how Muslims are doing well in Gujarat.

The civic polls could be a turning point as the results could indicate how the relationship between BJP and Muslims finally fall out electorally in Gujarat, where riot scars still run deep, to the extent that a criminal case — of the Sohrabuddin encounter — has acquired shades of communal appeasement. Ahmedabad might have its first Muslim BJP mayor if retired IPS officer A I Saiyed, who canvasses the peaceful reign of Modi in his election speeches, is elected. The Indian Express puts together the dots across Gujarat.