NEW DELHI, 5 April 2004 — Bharatiya Janata Party’s attempts to court Muslims received a setback yesterday with Syed Shahabuddin, former diplomat and a three-time member of Parliament, joining the Congress party. Convener of Babri Masjid Action Committee and All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat, Shahabuddin said he decided to join the largest secular party to defeat BJP’s politics of deception.
Shahabuddin has been expressing his desire to support Congress for some time. “I have been indicating to Congress for a long time now that I would like to be with them,” Shahabuddin said.
He met Congress President Sonia Gandhi yesterday morning and expressed his wish to join the party, Congress spokesman Kapil Sibal said. Senior party leaders Salman Khursheed and Chowdhury Virendra Singh were also present.
Shahabuddin’s entry into Congress is expected to partially restore the party’s credibility with Muslim voters.
Dismissing BJP overtures to Muslims, Shahabuddin said: “There is no change of heart. The BJP’s basic anti-Muslim agenda and policies have remained the same.”
Shahabuddin’s assertion was borne out by the right-wing party which said issues like the construction of a Ram Temple at Ayodhya and common civil code continued to be part of its vision. The BJP said these issues were not on its poll plank as development was the issue on which NDA was seeking to return to power.
“There has been no change in our vision. We believe a grand temple should be built at the birthplace of Ram in Ayodhya. Hindutva forms the core of our philosophy as it is a way of leading life but it is not a poll issue,” BJP president M. Venkaiah Naidu told reporters here.
On a uniform civil code, he said, “It was part of the constitution and we would proceed with it by building a broad consensus.” He, however, did not comment on scrapping of Article 370 that accorded special status to Kashmir.
“The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will release its agenda for governance on April 8. It will spell out what the (NDA) government, if voted to power again, will do,” he said.
For the past couple of months, the BJP has been projecting itself as friendly to Muslims. This has to a degree succeeded in attracting Muslim leaders like Arif Mohammed Khan to its camp. Describing these leaders as opportunists, Shahabuddin has also been critical of Muslim clerics and leaders who he said have forgotten the Gujarat-carnage. Shahabuddin said his primary objective would be to unite the secular forces against BJP. “If secular parties fight one another, it will benefit the BJP in states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar,” he said.
