UP BJP to hold 'Sneh milan' in Muzaffarnagar

Lucknow, Feb 23 (IANS) A decade after the Muzaffarnagar riots in 2013, the BJP will be reaching out to Muslims in the region.

Nearly a decade after it was hit by communal riots in 2013, the BJP will hold a convention, titled 'Sneh Milan: Ek Desh Ek DNA', between March 15 and March 20 to promote Hindu-Muslim unity.

A proposal to this effect has been sent by the UP BJP Minority Morcha, which has also invited chief minister Yogi Adityanath as the chief guest.

The Minority Morcha chief, Basit Ali, said that Muzaffarnagar has been chosen for the event because it is the land where former Prime Minister late Chaudhary Charan Singh, experimented with the idea of Jat-Muslim unity which was later "hijacked" by the Congress and Samajwadi Party in their bid "to attain power."

He said, "The idea is to bring together the leaders of Muslim and Hindu communities on one stage and project their unity."

Ali said that the party plans to invite regional leaders of various communities including Jat, Gujjar and Thakur from nearby west UP districts, including Meerut, Bijnor, Shamli and Saharanpur, to the event.

Ali insisted that every community needs to understand that their ancestors were the "same".

"All they need to acknowledge it publicly and this would strengthen the social and political fabric of the region and elsewhere," he said.

The BJP has been making concerted attempts to nibble at the very foundation of the opposition by reaching out to the Muslims which account for around 20 per cent of the electorate in UP.

BJP sources pointed out that the party has been seeking to tweak its strategy and win over the minorities after Prime Minister Modi gave a clarion call to reach out to socio-economically backward Pasmanda Muslims.