BJP Eyes One Lakh Members From Muslim Community In Uttarakhand; Congress Cites Party's 'Track Record'

Along with the BJP's nation-wide membership drive, the saffron party's Uttarakhand leadership is eyeing one lakh Muslim members in the Himalayan state. Uttarakhand Waqf Board Chairman and BJP leader Shadab Shams said that the target can be extended to over one lakh in coming days, but Congress leader Lakhpat Singh Butola alleged contrast in the party's words and actions.

Dehradun(Uttarakhand): Amid the BJP's nation-wide membership drive, the saffron party's Uttarakhand unit is targeting the Muslim community in the state to include it into party fold even as the Congress has termed the move as vote bank politics.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami recently reached the BJP office in Dehradun and got his BJP membership renewed, after which this campaign is being run in the entire state concurrently with the party's nation-wide membership drive. However, contrary to its ideology, the Bharatiya Janata Party has also prepared a special strategy to target the Muslim community in the membership driver. It is learnt that that the saffron party wants to connect the people of the Muslim community with the ideology of the BJP.

There is an estimated 17 lakh Muslim population in Uttarakhand of which the BJP has currently set a target of connecting about one lakh people from the community. The strategy decided at the national level is believed to be behind completing such a big target. At the national level, a target of 50 lakh memberships from the minorities has also been set by the party.

Uttarakhand Waqf Board Chairman and BJP leader Shadab Shams said that a national membership campaign program of the Minority Front was held in Delhi in which targets have been given with a special strategy for Uttarakhand.

“Uttarakhand can be a good model in this regard. Currently, we have a target of one lakh Muslim membership, but it can be expanded to 2 lakh in coming days,” Shams said.

Reacting to the BJP's plan, Congress MLA from Badrinath Lakhpat Singh Butola welcomed the move to include Muslims in the mainstream.

"If BJP is trying to see everyone equally, then it is a good thing. But in this case, there is a lot of difference between the party's actions and speech. This can be understood from the statements of senior BJP leaders which are often given about a particular class. You check the Facebook and Whatsapp groups of the party which shows a stark contrast between their words and actions," Butola said.