Support BJP to solve your problems: Ammar Rizvi tells Muslims

Hyderabad: The best bet for Muslims to get their problems addressed is to draw close to the ruling BJP. They can have the issues resolved through negotiations and discussions and not through faceoffs. In the long run, confrontation will not be beneficial to the community.

These views were expressed by Dr. Ammar Rizvi, former acting chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. Interacting with press persons here on Sunday, he appealed to Muslims to know and understand the BJP by coming closer to it. They must give the party a chance instead of staying away and blaming it.

"You don't surrender your independence by supporting the party. You can always snap the ties and revise your position if things don't work out your way," he told Muslims.

Dr. Rizvi, who was with the Congress party for 50 years, joined the BJP in 2018 and now heads the party's All India Minority Development Forum. He blamed the Congress for using the Muslims as a vote bank and gaining their support by depicting the BJP as a big threat. On the other hand, the BJP was committed to the development of all communities as the slogan goes 'Sab ka saath, sab ka vikas'. If Muslims were in good numbers in the party they could get their voice heard and get things done, remarked Dr. Rizvi who was on a day's visit to Hyderabad.

Will Muslims get back the Babri Masjid if they support the BJP? Will the party give up its claim on the Gyanvapi mosque and would it revise its position on the Uniform Civil Code? Dr. Rizvi had no answer and evaded a clear reply. "The matter is in the court" is all that he would say when asked about the slogan 'Goli maaro saalon ko' and the Bilkis Banu case.

Asked about the prevailing 'bulldozer culture' in Uttar Pradesh, Dr. Rizvi held the bureaucrats responsible for the demolition of houses. The CM had nothing to do with it. Most of the victims had got relief from the court and the drive was now stopped, he explained.

When asked how he expected the Muslim community to side with a party that wanted to turn India into a Hindu State and treat them as second-class citizens, he said it was not stated so by Prime Minister Narender Modi. "In a democracy, we can always negotiate things," he said.

About the recent scrapping of the Maulana Azad National Fellowship scholarships, the BJP leader said the scheme was not discontinued and the government had already clarified it.