There was a time, not very long ago, when Muslims feared backlash from various quarters if they showed any kind of inclination towards Narendra Modi. Take the example of Sufi Mehboob Ali Chishti – he was issued fatwas from several organizations when he took charge of the Gujarat BJP Minority Cell. Samajwadi Party boycotted Shahid Siddiqui after he conducted an interview with Modi for his Urdu weekly. Incidents like these and more resulted in a heavily skewed public discourse where people, especially Muslims hesitated to speak out in favour of Modi.
On the other side, ground reports and election results painted a different story. BJP managed to win several seats in Muslim dominated constituencies in Gujarat, including the municipality of Salaya where 90 percent of the population is Muslim. Some reports suggest that 20-25% percent Muslims voted for Modi in the December 2012 assembly polls.
The contrast here suggests that while Muslims were uncomfortable in openly supporting Modi and BJP, they were more willing to do so in a secret ballot.
Slowly as numbers have begun to build up, BJP’s minority outreach program has started to gather some steam and Modi’s message of ‘India First’ has gained traction, Muslim leaders are becoming more comfortable with the idea of speaking in favour of Modi. The latest case in point is that of Maulana Kalbe Sadiq, one of India’s tallest Shia clerics and the Vice President of All India Muslim Personal Law Board. He said, “I am not the custodian of all Muslims. But if I see that Modi is making changes then I will back him. I can’t say this for all Muslims, but I will personally back him. What he did was wrong, but if he is willing to change then we are also willing to change.”
When asked if Modi should apologize he said, “It’s childish to demand an apology. He should display in his character and through his actions that he cares for Muslims.”
Interestingly his remarks come on a day when Muslim clerics have criticized Rahul Gandhi for claiming that relatives of Muslims killed in Muzaffarnagar riots are vulnerable to advances being made by Pakistani intelligence agencies. They called the statements as ‘most unfortunate’. Maulana Saif Abbas Naqvi, a prominent Shia cleric, said such statements painted the Muslim community in bad light and were a “grave insinuation” on millions of peace loving and patriotic Muslims in the country. The attitudes, thus, are not just shifting towards Modi but also away from the Congress.
A few months ago in a TV interview the general secretary of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, Maulana Mahmood Madni said that he does sense that attitude of Muslims towards Modi is changing. One can also observe political parties, which rely strongly on the minority vote share, shifting their attitudes towards Modi. For example, YSR Congress chief Jagan Reddy recently asked Modi to make BJP more secular. TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu shared stage with Modi this month where he praised the development in Gujarat. NCP leader and UPA ally Sharad Pawar recently remarked that nobody is untouchable in politics.
It remains to be seen if this change in attitude translates to votes and allies or fades out with time. While Modi may have come a long way, he still has a long way to go.
