New Delhi: Addressing the national executive meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held in Hyderabad, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the party to reach out to the Pasmanda Muslims.
According to media reports, PM Modi in his valedictory address to the two-day meeting asked the BJP to make efforts to win the support of the Pasmanda Muslims. The term Pasmanda Muslims is used for the historically and socially oppressed Muslims.
Pasmanda Muslims are considered to be synonymous with Muslims belonging to Dalit and Backward Muslim castes. Broadly, Muslims in South Asia are divided into three castes or classes. Those who are upper caste Muslims are called Ashrafs, Backward Muslims are known as Ajlaf and Dalit Muslims are called as Arzals.
CVoter-IndiaTracker conducted a nationwide survey on behalf of IANS to know people’s views about the BJP’s efforts to achieve success in luring Pasmanda Muslims to the party fold. During the survey, people were divided in their views on the issue and a bigger proportion of respondents – 58 per cent stressed that BJP will not be able to attract the Pasmanda Muslims to the party fold, at the same time, 42 per cent of the respondents did not agree with the sentiment.
Interestingly, views of both the NDA and opposition voters were divided on the issue. During the survey, 58 per cent of NDA voters and 58 per cent of opposition voters opined that BJP’s outreach to Pasmanda Muslims will not achieve the desired results.
The survey highlighted differences in the opinions of different social groups on the issue. During the survey, while the majority of Other Backward Classes (OBC) – 65 per cent and Scheduled Castes – 63 per cent stressed that BJP’s strategy to attract backward Muslims to the party fold will not work, views of Upper Caste Hindu (UCH) and Muslims were divided on the issue. According to the survey data, while 51 per cent Muslims believe that BJP’s efforts can achieve success, 55 per cent UCH disagreed with the sentiment.
–IANS