NEW DELHI: Though Muslims are said to be inclined towards voting for Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) in the ongoing seven-phase assembly election in
Uttar Pradesh (UP), Prime Minister Narendra
Modi and his
BJP are making last-ditch efforts to woo the BJP's “silent voters” in the minority community.
Keeping in mind the domination of Muslims in 37 of the 55 constituencies in the second phase of UP election on Monday, Modi has sought to reach out to the women voters among them.
PM Modi woos Muslim women votersModi addressed an election rally in Muslim-dominated Saharanpur on February 10, the day UP faced the first phase of election. His speech was aimed at voters of the second phase.
The prime minister devoted about 4 minutes of his 40-minute speech to Muslim women.
He said, "Sabka saath, sabka vikas hee UP ke vikas ka mool mantra hai" (Everyone's support and everyone's development is the basic chant for the development of UP).
The PM said the participation of daughters (girls and women) is the biggest priority for the BJP. That is why, all sectors today are being opened for the daughters, he said.
Modi said, “Muslim sisters and daughters very well understand this clean intention of ours. We have freed them from the evil of instant triple talaq. We have legislated a law against instant triple talaq, which has given a confidence of security to Muslim sisters.”
The PM said the BJP started getting open support of the Muslim women who uploaded short video clips appreciating the party’s government.
He said, “They (Muslim women) got this respect after ages. When they started singing paeans on the new law, some contractors of votes lost their sleep. They became restless thinking their own daughters had started chanting 'Modi, Modi'. They started having pain in their stomach.”
PM Modi said after seeing the videos of Muslim daughters praising him, the “contractors of votes” thought of stopping them. “If they start supporting Modi, they will start dominating in their homes. That is why these people started thinking of new ways to stop the Muslim sisters and daughters from getting their rights and achgieving their dreams of developments. These people are misleading the Muslim sisters so that Muslim daughters always remain backward,” Modi said.
The PM said the BJP government was standing with each and every oppressed Muslim woman. “Therefore, the Yogi government is very essential to stop anyone from exploiting the Muslim women,” he added.
Women silent votersOn November 11, 2020, Modi had first talked about women being the BJP’s “silent voters” who voted for it making it victorious in several elections.
Speaking at a ceremony in BJP headquarters at Delhi to celebrate the party’s victory in the Bihar assembly election, Modi said: "Friends, I have been watching on TV since yesterday and there is a discussion in the newspapers about 'silent voters'. The echo of silent voters has started being heard now.”
He said the BJP has a class of silent voters which has been voting for it time and again. “These silent voters are the country's mothers, sisters and women - 'naari shakti' (woman power). From rural to urban areas, women voters have become the biggest group of the BJP's silent voters,” Modi said.
Giving the reason behind this phenomenon, the PM said, “It is because women get respect and security during the BJP’s governance.”
“From bank account to bank loan, from free check ups during pregnancy to six months of leave, be it making kitchens smoke-free or construction of toilets, be it dispensing sanitary pads for Re 1 or providing electricity in every house, or launching a campaign for water in each house, the BJP is making special efforts to improve the standard of women of every category of age,” he said.
Muslims in second phase of electionMuslims constitute over 19 per cent of the UP’s 24-crore population.
Of the 55 seats that went to polls in the second phase of the election, Muslims constitute more than 50 per cent of the population on nine seats, between 40 and 50 per cent population on 14 seats and between 30 and 40 per cent on another 14 seats. They are less than 30 per cent of the population on the remaining 18 seats.
Muslims are above 30 per cent of the population in 37 of the 55 constituencies that went to polls in this second phase of the election in UP.
Nine districts of Rampur, Badaun, Shahjahanpur, Bijnor, Sambhal, Amroha, Moradabad, Saharanpur and Bareilly are going to polls in the second phase.
Nagina, Sambhal, Amroha, Rampur, Deoband and Chamraua constituencies in these nine districts are dominated by Muslims.