GUWAHATI, Sept 24 - The ruling BJP has set a target to get at least seven candidates belonging to the minority community elected on the party�s ticket in the 2021 Assam Assembly polls.
�Despite what the Congress and the AIUDF may claim, the popularity and acceptability of our party among the minorities have increased substantially during the last four and a half years. Minorities have been equal beneficiaries of the social welfare and developmental schemes launched by our government,� State BJP president Ranjeet Kumar Dass said here today.
He added, �We have set a target to ensure that at least seven candidates of our party belonging to the minority community emerge victorious in the 2021 polls.�
At present, BJP has only a single Muslim legislator in the Assam Assembly.
A meeting of the office-bearers of the State BJP�s Minority Morcha was held here today. During the meeting, former MLA of Dhing constituency Mujibur Rahman and former MLA of Rupahihat constituency Abdul Aziz joined the party.
Today�s meeting was also attended by BJP Minority Morcha�s national president Abdul Rasheed Ansari.
Speaking on the occasion, Ansari said, �The misinformation spread by the Congress and some other parties about the BJP being allegedly anti-minority have been rejected by the masses. Minorities have realized that BJP is the only party which cares equally for sections of society. The previous UPA government did not even allow tabling of the Sachar Committee report in Parliament when it was in power... The Congress has always followed a policy of keeping the minorities socially, politically and economically backward. The dropout rate among minority community students was as high as 70 per cent during Congress rule. The Narendra Modi government, on the other hand, has set in motion a programme to increase education among minorities, and scholarships have been given to over three crore students from the minority community during the term of the NDA government.�
Ansari accused the Congress of using the minorities as mere �vote bank�. �Wherever BJP is in power, the minorities have got equal benefits on par with others. And the results have started coming. Huge segments of minority community voters have come closer to the BJP, including in Assam,� he said. Ansari said many prominent personalities from the minority community will join the BJP in Assam in the run-up to the polls.
