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Muslims in Gujarat drifting towards BJP, says Muslim leader
Thursday, October 14, 2010 02:26:26 PM,
R.K. Misra,
IANS
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Related Article |
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BJP set
to sweep Gujarat municipal elections
Early trends in counting of votes for six municipal corporations
in Gujarat Tuesday indicated a possible Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) sweep, sources at the election office said. Though the
results were yet to be declared officially
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Rajkot:
If newly elected corporator Babi Sama is to be believed, Muslims
of Gujarat are shedding their antipathy to the ruling Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP).
The first Muslim woman to be elected on BJP ticket in the just
held municipal corporation elections, Sama is convinced that there
is a change of heart in the Muslim community.
"This is happening not just in my ward but all over the state,"
Sama told IANS after scoring an emphatic win here. "Muslims are
moving towards the BJP."
She credits the development to Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
"It is mainly because of the chief minister. I have also not
encountered any ill-will nor has my husband who has been with the
BJP for 15 years. We have been comfortable in the party of our
choice all along," she said.
Sama is considered a star in the BJP's spectacular show in six
major cities of Gujarat in elections to municipal corporations
that took place Sunday.
Sama, 43, is the wife of Habib Sama, a two-term general secretary
of the BJP minority cell of Rajkot city. They have four children
-- three sons and a daughter.
"The people have voted overwhelmingly for Chief Minister Narendra
Modi," she said, crediting him with the state's economic and
infrastructure development.
Sama was elected from ward 18 of the Rajkot Municipal Corporation
in the Jungleshwar-Rukhadiapura area.
She says that in earlier years, fellow Muslims would chide them
for not working for the Congress -- the community's traditional
first choice in politics.
Over the years, as she and her husband came to be identified as
the Muslim face of the BJP in Gujarat, opinions began to change.
"A stage has now been reached where the development oriented
initiatives of Narendra Modi are drawing the Muslim community
towards the party." she said.
According to Sama, both Hindus and Muslims desire development.
When they see it happening, people are likely to be drawn towards
the party behind it.
"Chief Minister Modi is a magnet in this regard who has mesmerized
people with his hard work and people oriented governance," she
said.
"Of the total 33,600 voters in our ward, almost 9,400 are Muslims.
A fair number voted for the BJP this time," she says. The bulk
voting helped her to defeat Manjulaben Hindoja of the Congress.
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