BJP ignoring Muslims, lost its plot, narrative: PM Modi supporter Zafar Sareshwala

Zafar Sareshwala, a vocal supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday said the ruling BJP is now ignoring Muslims and that the saffron party has lost its plot and also the narrative ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Sareshwala, the former Chancellor of Maulana Azad Urdu University, opined that Modi, who is "neither communal nor anti-Muslim", should take charge of the situation before the "positive narrative" he had set slips out of his hands.

Zafar Sareshwala. Photo: Facebook

NEW DELHI: Zafar Sareshwala, a vocal supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday said the ruling BJP is now ignoring Muslims and that the saffron party has lost its plot and also the narrative ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Sareshwala, the former Chancellor of Maulana Azad Urdu University, opined that Modi, who is "neither communal nor anti-Muslim", should take charge of the situation before the "positive narrative" he had set slips out of his hands. Expressing his concerns over "unbridled fringe elements" going completely unchecked in the ruling BJP,  Sareshwala said motor-mouth leaders will drown the ship of the saffron party if not curbed immediately. "Leaders like Giriraj Singh, Sadhvi Pragya, Uma Bharti, Sakshi Maharaj were not as vociferous in their vicious speeches as they are today. It is these unfettered motormouths who will drown the ship of the BJP, unless they are reined in by PM Narendra Modi immediately," Sareshwala, Modi’s longtime aide, said in an article published on ThePrint website. Sareshwala charged that "these motormouths" and their remarks are responsible for pushing Muslims away and not Modi and his government. The Gujarat businessman said his proximity with Modi has assured him that the prime minister is "neither communal nor anti-Muslim", adding that he will continue to believe this, unapologetically. He asserted the BJP during its tenure has not done anything overtly and covertly anti-Muslim. Urging Modi to take charge of the situation, he said it appears to him that the BJP has lost its plot and also the narrative. "..the BJP is ignoring the Muslims who make up nearly 15 per cent of India’s population. This will only disadvantage the BJP." He said sees a "stark difference" between the BJP's current approach and Modi's previous approach. "And I think it would be fair to say that the BJP has lost the plot now. It has lost the narrative." "PM Modi needs to take charge of the situation. Otherwise, the positive narrative built in the run-up to the 2014 elections and during the previous 12 years of Gujarat governance, where Muslims were equal beneficiaries of his policies, will rapidly slip out of his hands. He needs to realise that this isn’t what the people voted for in 2014," Sareshwala wrote.