Malappuram BJP candidate and former vice-chancellor of Calicut University, M. Abdul Salam, said that the communists and Congress are competing to appease the Muslim majority in the district. Voting for all 20 Lok Sabha constituencies in Kerala will be held on Friday, April 26. Congress and the Left Front have approached the Election Commission, demanding it be changed.
Salam, the BJP’s Minority Morcha national vice president, was nominated from Kerala’s Muslim-majority Malappuram constituency, which has historically supported the Congress party ally Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).
No religious belief should be above national interest. Any citizen can cast their vote at any time on polling day, giving importance to the country. Salam also asked how society would progress if it went ahead by stating that the polling dates should be changed.
“I have no personal enmity with political parties like Congress, IUML, Left Front, etc. My question is why they don’t prioritize the national interest. Religion and faith can be important, but they should never be above the national interest. I give priority to my country. That is why we are working closely with the NDA.”
BJP is a party that respects minorities. But why are the country’s Muslims staying away from the BJP? As an educated Muslim, I realized I must join Narendra Modi in his mission to make Bharat a world power.
When a section is jealous of the development of the country, Muslims are getting caught in their trap. Muslims should not encourage such sentiments.
I have great faith in the Muslim voters of Malappuram, who were victims of triple talaq continuously. They may be quiet and disorganized. But they will vote for me as a token of their gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who ensured the safety of their lives, Salam said.
He added that even if he loses the Lok Sabha elections, he will not demand anything from the party and will remain a grassroots activist.
Abdul Salam said that many people in Malappuram liked Prime Minister Narendra Modi. One day, they will break all barriers and come out openly about this. Salam also noted that Modi loves Muslims. Modi has reduced the Hajj subsidies but has established more embarkation points.
The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) has not exempted Muslims. There is no discrimination against them. Opposition parties run fake campaigns to get votes. Salam said that not even a single Muslim would be harmed.
Salam had earlier rejected the allegation that he was not allowed to participate in Modi’s Palakkad road show. Salam responded that he was not invited to the roadshow with Modi and went to Palakkad to receive Modi.
Who should accompany Modi’s roadshow was decided a week in advance. Palakkad NDA candidate C Krishnakumar, NDA nominee Adv Nivedida Subramanian from Ponnani, a Lok Sabha constituency that shares a constituency with Palakkad, and BJP state president K Surendran were pre-arranged to ride in the campaign vehicle with the Prime Minister.
The final list was prepared after several committees approved it. Salam said the media did not know about this, and they spread the news that the Malappuram candidate was also in the vehicle with the PM.
I met with PM Modi to invite him to a campaign in Malappuram. He wished me well but did not mention his plan to campaign in Malappuram. The media announced that I was dropped from the roadshow, and CPIM took it up. CPM tried to exploit the situation.
Congress and CPM anti-CAA campaigns are what we are up against. To get support from the community, they have portrayed this issue as discriminating towards Muslims. Many follow the interpretation provided by pseudo-intellectuals.
CAA is meant to do justice to the minority people affected by Partition. Minorities that are oppressed in Bangladesh and Pakistan do not include Muslims. They are not minorities and are not persecuted in those countries.
The commitment made to Pakistan’s oppressed minorities during Partition is represented in the CAA. Bharat’s successive governments could not fulfil that pledge despite seven decades. It would be a severe injustice to the oppressed minorities if it weren’t done even now. Muslims should be aware of the reasons behind their removal from the list of immigrants who qualify for citizenship.
Getting closer to the Muslim community is a challenge. Congress and CPM have kept the community chained to the resolved issues of Babri, Gyanvapi, and now CAA. However, it is comforting that well-educated Muslims—women especially—are aware of the current circumstances.
Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal, the IUML president, recently stated that protests against the Ram Temple were unnecessary. Rather than focusing on such issues, the Muslim community should consider the future. Young Muslims would undoubtedly see the foolishness of revolving around these problems.
Has Modi harmed any Muslims in the past ten years? What makes them fearful of Modi? I know several Muslim mothers who appreciate our PM for doing away with triple talaq and understand that Modi has kept their daughters safe. After abolishing the triple talaq, young women began to endorse Modi.
The CPM and the Congress are duping Muslims using secularism. Modi’s idea of one nation embraces all people and is far superior to secularism. Not just for another five years but for many more periods to come, Modi and the BJP government will be in office.
Modi’s growth is all-encompassing. Shunning the BJP will be a loss for Muslims in terms of growth. Rather than voting for the walk-out teams in Parliament (the CPM and Congress), Muslims should step up and align themselves with the mainstream by endorsing the BJP.
Hindus in Kerala have relatively little Hindutva sentiment. They make up 55% of all people living in the state. The scenario in Kerala would have been very different if they had united and there had been strong Hindutva sentiments.
It is fortunate for minorities that Malayali Hindus are not a unified group. Nowadays, a lot of Hindus believe they are being ignored and harassed. We cannot hold them accountable if they adopt Hindutva ideas in the future. If such an alignment occurs, it cannot be stopped by Muslims or Christians.
Even though Hindus make up the majority, Bharat is not a Hindu Rashtra. The nation would have been a Christian nation long ago if the majority of people had been Christians, and vice versa if Muslims had been the majority.
There are Muslims who are anxious about this BJP-Christian friendship. The BJP and Christians should get more acquainted.
Many have wondered why there were no similar attempts to win over Muslims. There could be many reasons. Muslims in the Middle East appear to adore Modi. However, Kerala’s Muslims, who have strong ties to the Middle East, are hesitant to align themselves with Modi.
Extreme caution is necessary when responding to such matters. Though there are shortcomings, Kerala’s BJP party is expanding. There is nothing wrong with the BJP accepting new leaders at different levels from other parties during this expanding period. These introductions would become quicker as the gathering gets larger.
