Sher Khan boosts BJP’s minority-friendly image

NEW DELHI, December 24: The Bharatiya Janata Party's attempts to become the country's mainstream party received a shot in the arm today wit...

NEW DELHI, December 24: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s attempts to become the country’s mainstream party received a shot in the arm today with two former Congress ministers as well as several Muslim leaders from the Samajwadi Party’s West Bengal unit joining the party.

Aslam Sher Khan and P R Kumaramangalam, both ministers in the Narasimha Rao government, today formally joined the BJP saying that the country needed stability and good governance. Som Pal, a Rajya Sabha MP from Laloo Prasad’s RJD, who met BJP President L K Advani today, is also expected to join soon.

With several ex-MPs joining up, the BJP will have to do some tightrope walking when it comes to ticket distribution. For instance, Sher Khan was elected to the Lok Sabha twice from Betul (Madhya Pradesh), where the BJP currently has a sitting MP. Senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh said, however, that all these aspects were considered before admitting anyone into the party. The final decision on tickets was the prerogative of the central election committee, he added.

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Sher Khan’s joining the BJP has given a boost to the party’s claim that Muslims are no longer antagonistic towards the party. “Muslims should make a new beginning with the BJP. The Congress was more responsible than the BJP for the demolition in Ayodhya,” Sher Khan said today.

“I told Advani that there should be no more fights over mandirs and masjids,” he said when asked what his stand was on Ayodhya, Mathura and Kashi. He pointed out that no mention had been made of these issues at the BJP’s National Executive last week. Advani, who welcomed Sher Khan, Kumaramangalam and Deen Mohd Cheetah of the Aman Nawaz Conference in Kashmir, said that their entry put the BJP’s record straight on its attitude towards minorities. “Disinformation has been spread about the BJP which we have been trying to dispel by our work and the functioning of our state governments. We are persuading Muslims to see us from close.” According to BJP spokesperson Sushma Swaraj, the entry of Sher Khan and Cheetah indicated a sea change in the attitude of Muslims towards the BJP.

Meanwhile, the West Bengal unit of the party admitted several Samajwadi Party leaders amidst fanfare at the state party office in Calcutta today. The SP leaders, who were introduced to the press, said “we took this decision after much thought and after we realised that the principles of the SP would lead us to nowhere in West Bengal.”