The story of Asma Khan A Muslim betrayed by the Congress approaches the BJP and is overwhelmed by the experience that defies the media narrative about the so-called saffron party Many Gujarati Muslims have joined the BJP and they have been trying their best to project their chief minister as the man who could be trusted with delivering justice as the countrys next prime minister. They have become Modi supporters because of his plainspeak. The earliest to become his supporter was Asma Khan Pathan based in Nadiad. During the 2002 riots, her hing (asafoetida) factories were torched by rioters. She found that both BJP and Congress workers were participating in the riots and when she sought to know why, Congress leaders had no answer. Her father-in-law Abdul Rahim Khan Hingwala was a Congressman. As their house was surrounded by rioters, Asmas brother-in-law Navroz Khan went out to assess the gravity of the situation. He was arrested and put behind the bars. When she went to the local police station for his rescue, she allegedly found Congress MP Dinsha Patel urging the policemen to come down heavily on Muslims. Asma was aghast, looking at the real face of the party that her family had supported for generations. When she pleaded with the police to secure the release of her husbands brother, Patel allegedly threatened that if she stayed there any longer, her family would be slapped with draconian anti-terror laws. Asma returned home broken, and worried about her familys security. But something had to be done to get Navroz back home. Finally she garnered all courage at her disposal, put vermilion on her forehead to escape rioters on the way, and reached Gandhinagar to meet Modi who was found addressing a gathering, requesting them to maintain calm. “The crowd tried to stop me, but Modi encouraged me to speak and, when I finished, he said he would see what could be done. This was in March 2002. Within three days, Navroz was a free man.” Ever since, Asma has been a fan of Narendra Modi. The BJP made her chairman of the standing committee of the local corporation — something the Congress had never done. She is confident that Muslims would support the BJP in a big way. (Asma Khan Pathan to Sudesh Verma in an interview in Nadiad for the book, “Narendra Modi - The Gamechanger”). I had proposed to the Muslims we met in Gujarat that they venture out of the State to campaign with Narendra Modi. In every rally he addresses, one of them could be a preceding speaker. For, Muslims outside Gujarat do not know their story; they are fed by articles and documentaries in the media that rely on cherry-picked quotes. The BJP machinery is not working along the lines of my proposal for reasons known best to the party.- Surajit Dasgupta
Posted on: Sun, 20 Apr 2014 05:55:40 +0000
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