‘This whole BJP ko roko politics has been exposed and expired’

Minister of state for minority affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi feels there is competition among some political leaders to become the “champion of communalism”. Though his own party leaders have made controversial statements recently, Mr Naqvi told Yojna Gusai that he is confident that such statements can never “dominate, dent or destroy” Narendra Modi’s development agenda.

Your party’s election promises were good governance and development, but recent statements by BJP leaders, including Sangh Parivar leaders, have only ended up creating controversies. A perception is building that the government’s development plank is being overshadowed by the controversial statements by party and Sangh Parivar Hindutva hawks.

These are isolated cases. Yes, some controversial statements were made by some leaders. I am not taking any particular name but unfortunately, it is being seen that there is a competition to become the champion of communalism. But as far as the BJP and Mr Modi government is concerned, our only agenda is inclusive development, growth and “sabka saath, sabka vikas”. Nothing will be able to dominate, dent or destroy our agenda. It is our commitment and we are progressing towards achieving it. But, unfortunately, such incidents create some confusion among the mind of the society. Our effort is that such confusion does not last for long and only a positive and constructive atmosphere exists.

The All-India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen’s Asaduddin Owaisi also made a controversial statement recently.

As I said, there seems to be a competition to become the champion of communalism. These kinds of statements should be avoided.

A major controversy was created over Aamir Khan’s PK and some right-wing organisations have attacked it for being “anti-Hindu”.

Whether one likes a movie or not, it is for an individual to decide. But such intolerance should not exist. It is often seen that such controversies gives free publicity to the movie concerned and this is what has happened with PK. Rather than creating a controversy over a movie, let the moviegoers decide whether they liked it or not.

The “ghar wapsi” issue has created a lot of controversy, so much so that Dharam Jagran Samanway Samiti’s Rameshwar Singh, who was heading the campaign, had to be sent on leave after both government and the BJP came under Opposition attack.

The issues of conversion or re-conversion aren’t new as we have been witnessing these incidents for many years. For many years, we have been demanding that there should be an effective and strong law against it. Forceful conversion through enticement is wrong. When this issue was raised in Parliament, we reiterated our stand and asked other political parties to build a consensus for a strong anti-conversion law to check such incidents.

Do you think the Opposition used the “ghar wapsi” issue just to attack the BJP and the Modi government?

Our government is very transparent and its stand on the issue is clear. If people feel that conversion is a serious issue then it should not be dealt with through force but through legal measures. India is a democratic country; you can’t force things upon people. There are laws guarding people’s rights. If people think that such incidents can be checked through a strong law, then such a law should be enacted through consensus.

The minority affairs ministry has launched “Mission Empo-werment”, which is seen as the Modi government’s effort to reach out to the minorities. Also, you said that this ministry cannot function with ministers and officers merely sitting in offices. What was the need to launch such a programme?

We believe that this ministry is directly linked to the minorities and whatever schemes that have been launched or will be launched, need the feedback and suggestions from the people they are meant for. Not just employment, education and infrastructure, but the trust of the minority communities needs to be built.

There are issues that need direct involvement of the people and it cannot be done while sitting in office. Along with development, we need their confidence. We started this initiative (Mission Empowerment) and have got very positive response. Kerala was the first state we visited. Met stakeholders including the chief minister, ministers, officers, representative of various minority communities and got feedback, suggestions and views on various subjects. We are going to cover the entire nation as part of this mission.

It is being said that ever since the Modi government came to power, the minority affairs ministry has gone into active mode.

Whichever government comes, what is important is how it performs. Mr Modi is the icon of development and the performance of the government is being appreciated by the people. Unfortunately, a wrong perception against the BJP was created among the minorities, especially among the Muslims by the Opposition which had tried to project the BJP as anti-minorities. But this perception has been shattered. The minorities are now aware that all those who had been projecting themselves as their protectors were only using them for votebank politics.

Our work will speak for itself. Our commitment is that each and every individual of this country has access to basic amenities, employment, education and lives a healthy life. We are reaching out to minorities and creating awareness about the schemes that are meant for them. This government wants them to walk along with it in the path of growth. It has been seen that while funds are sanctioned to state governments, its benefits do not reach the targeted population. Through this initiative (Mission Empowerment) we will make sure that every penny meant for the minorities whether they are Muslims, Sikhs, Jain, Parsi, Buddhist, etc. reaches them. Schemes are not to be implemented on papers but on the ground.

Your party had launched an aggressive campaign in Jammu and Kashmir but the election results have shown that the BJP is still not accepted in the Valley. The political stalemate continues even while your party leadership has been claiming that it will be over soon.

Our leadership is discussing all options with our state leaders. It would be wrong to say that our party is not acceptable in a particular region of the state. Even if our candidate in the Valley got 3,000 votes, for us, it were three lakh. We not only fielded candidates in the Valley, our candidates were heard by the voters and people even voted for them. It is true that we never had a strong organisation base in the Valley but if you go through our performance there, including the Lok Sabha elections, it was commendable. We believe that we need to put in more effort in the Kashmir Valley.

Also, the Opposition made a big issue over the recent controversies when the campaigning was on in the state otherwise our performance in the Valley would have been much better. But it is a good beginning. The BJP is the second-largest party with 25 seats. We want to give a stable and honest government to the state. We want its people to march on the path of development.

Do you think other parties are reluctant to join hands with the BJP fearing a negative effect on their vote bank in the Valley?

This whole “BJP ko roko” politics has been exposed and expired. Efforts were made to stop the BJP during the Lok Sabha elections, during the Assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand, but people voted for us because they have faith in our leadership, they have faith that the BJP can usher in change, they have faith that the BJP will lead them on the development path and they have faith that the BJP will give them good governance which was lacking all this while. We have mature voters who do not fall for such gimmicks now.

Did the perception that the BJP, if it comes to power in J&K, will insist on a Hindu chief minister keep away the minority votes in the state?

It is high time that we think out of the box. When issues like caste or community dominate, important issues like merit and performance get overshadowed. Mr Modi and the BJP gives importance to performance and merit. You give responsibility to someone who is responsible, is accepted by the people and has a clean image. Caste and community doesn’t matter. The BJP is committed towards giving good governance and does not give priority to caste or creed.