M Abdul Salam is the only Muslim face among over 400 candidates fielded by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections 2024. The former vice-chancellor of Calicut University is contesting the elections from Kerala’s Muslim-dominated Malappuram seat.
In a series of interviews after his candidature was announced in the first nomination list of the party on March 2, Salam, who is also BJP’s minority morcha national vice-president, has said that the perception of Prime Minister Narendra Modi among Muslims has changed over the years and the community has no reason to fear him.
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“The Muslim perception of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slowly changing. Has Prime Minister Modi hurt any Muslim in the last decade? Why should the community fear PM Modi?,” Salam said in an interview with the Indian Express.
Salam said he has met several Muslim mothers who supported PM Modi for abolishing triple talaq, the instant divorce practice within the community.
Salam, 71, an agronomist with over 70 published international research papers, said that he felt honoured to be BJP’s lone Muslim face in the seven candidate lists released so far. Salam said that Muslim leaders of the country should join the BJP and be part of the party’s mission to make India a world power.
“As an educated Muslim, I found it my duty to join Modi in this mission to make India a world power. Muslim leaders must not be puppets at the hands of those elements that are jealous of India’s growth,” Salam said in another interview with Hindustan Times. .
Salam also accused the Congress and the CPI(M) of falsely projecting the Citizenship Amendment Rules as discriminatory towards Muslims only to win community’s votes.
“CAA is meant to do justice to the minority people who were affected by Partition. Muslims are not among the persecuted minorities in Pakistan and Bangladesh. They are not minorities in those countries and do not face any persecution there. The CAA is a promise to the persecuted minorities in Pakistan at the time of Partition. Muslims should understand why they were dropped from the list of such migrants eligible for citizenship,” he said.
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The Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 rules were implemented on March 11, weeks ahead of seven-phase Lok Sabha Elections 2024.
Led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP is trying to make in roads in southern states including Kerala in this general election. In 2019, the Congress-led UDF won 19 out of the 20 parliamentary constituencies in the state. The CPM-led LDF, which is in power in the state, won only one seat. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance could not win a single seat in Kerala.
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Published: 28 Mar 2024, 11:22 AM IST