BJP Aims To Divide Opposition's Muslim Vote Bank Before 2027

BJP Muslim Morcha members have been asked to spread out and educate the community about the party's welfare schemes

- Sunita Aron

After winning the Muslim-dominated Kundarki assembly seat in the November 2024 bypoll, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath told the members of the BJP Muslim Morcha (BMM) to educate the community about the party's policy of "Sab Ka Saath, Sab Ka Vikas." Party leaders were emboldened by the support of the community, especially the upper caste Muslim Rajputs, said to have a level of affinity with Yogi, as he is from the same caste. It is said that Muslim Rajputs had supported senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh when he fought the Ghaziabad Lok Sabha elections in 2009. Besides, Muslims were also protecting their trade and businesses.

In December 2024, when Yogi said in the state assembly that it was a fight between desi and videshi (infiltrators) Muslims, people speculated he was extending an olive branch to those members of the community who continue to greet each other with "Ram, Ram" in rural pockets and were open to connecting with their ancestral roots.

Political analyst M Hasan said, "Pasmandas (the backward Muslims) did not migrate to the BJP as provocative statements and actions of the leaders occupying Constitutional positions had impacted their psyche. But now, there is a section of minorities who are trying to trace their roots."

According to a BMM assessment, upper caste Muslims, mainly Jat, Gujjar, Pathan, Syed and Tyagi, have likely softened their opinions towards the BJP despite the party's hard narrative. In Kundarki, about 85,000 upper caste Muslims, mainly Rajputs, voted for the BJP.