Acting on the advice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reach out to Pasmanda Muslims, the BJP is planning to start a felicitation programme from Friday of the community leaders from Uttar Pradesh.
A programme 'Pasmanda Muslim Sneh Milan and Samman Samaroh' will be organised in the national capital in which Uttar Pradesh minister Danish Azad Ansari, chairman of Uttar Pradesh Minorities Commission Ashfaq Saifi and Chairman of Uttar Pradesh Board of Madarsa Education Dr. Iftikhar Ahmed Javed will be felicitated in the presence of BJP OBC Morcha president and MP K. Laxman.
During the party's national executive committee meeting in Hyderabad earlier this month, the Prime Minister asked party leaders to start exploring new social equations by reaching out to marginalised sections among other religious groups including Pasmanda Muslims, who have benefitted from various government welfare schemes.
Former vice chairman of National Minority Commission and in-charge of Delhi BJP Minority wing, Atif Rasheed told IANS that the programme is organised in recognition of the leadership role given to the Pasmanda community in Uttar Pradesh under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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Rasheed also said that leaders and representatives of the Pasmanda community from 10 states and Delhi will attend the programme.
Pasmanda leaders from Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Assam, Rajasthan, Maharashtra Bihar Jharkhand and Delhi will attend the programme.
"Similar programmes will be held in Uttar Pradesh and other states across the country to recognise the Pasmanda leadership by the Rashtrawadi Muslim Pasmanda Mahaz that is also organising the event in Delhi," Rasheed added.
The BJP is planning to identify individuals among the backward Muslim community for leadership role in the party.
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According to the party estimates, there is around 85 per cent backward or Pasmanda Muslim population across the country.
In a major organisational restructuring, the BJP is getting ready to include Pasmanda Muslims in its OBC (other Backward Classes) Morcha as office bearers.
The presence of Laxman in the function is a step towards including the Pasmanda community in leadership roles as BJP OBC Morcha national president.
