Ram Temple not contentious – Heptullah. More Muslims voted for BJP this time – Naqvi.

More Muslims voted for BJP this time: Naqvi

New Delhi, May 25, 2014: The BJP increased its vote share among the Muslims in the Lok Sabha election this year, party spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said here Sunday.

“According to our reports, the BJP received 14-15 percent of Muslim votes in the Lok Sabha election,” Naqvi said after a meeting held to review the Bharatiya Janata Party’s performance in garnering Muslim votes.

Muslims constitute 13 percent of the total population of India, according to the 2001 census.

Mohammad Afzal, national convener of the Muslim Rashtriya Manch, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-backed organisation, said the BJP earlier got “two to three percent” of Muslim votes in previous elections.

Naqvi said around 20,000 Muslim volunteers and 10,000 Hindu volunteers worked in areas inhabited by Muslims to “remove misconceptions” about the RSS and the BJP’s policy towards Muslims.

Indresh Kumar, who heads the Muslim Rashtriya Manch, and senior BJP leader Nazma Heptullah were also present at the meeting attended by BJP Minority Morcha leaders.

Ram Temple construction in Ayodhya not contentious issue: Heptullah

New Delhi,May 25, 2014: Senior BJP leader Najma Heptulla Sunday said the construction of a Ram Temple in Ayodhya, part of the BJP’s core agenda, was “not a contentious issue” and it could be done as per the Allahabad High Court’s judgment.

“Constructing a Ram temple in Ayodhya is not a contentious issue. The (Allahabad) High Court judgment divided the land between Hindus and Muslims. Naturally, anyone who wants to construct a temple or a mosque there is free to do so,” Heptulla told IANS.

A three-judge bench of the Allahabad High Court ruled in 2010 that the disputed land should be divided into three parts — with one part going to the Sunni Waqf Board, second part to the Nirmohi Akhara and the third to the party for “Ram Lalla.”

Heptulla added that the other issues that make up the core agenda of the BJP – removal of Article 370 giving special status to Jammu and Kashmir and implementation of a Uniform Civil Code in the country – should not be looked at in a “negative manner”.

“The BJP has been given a positive mandate to improve the conditions existing in this country. If development takes place, everyone would benefit,” she said.

– ians