Though its minority wing is nothing much to talk about, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) never fails to make a vain attempt to reach out to Muslims who are wary of saffron plans.

On the day the BJP lost Karnataka to the Congress rather badly, the party’s minority wing in Uttar
Pradesh held a meeting to appeal to Muslims to rely on the BJP and not fall into the trap of the Congress, Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party.

Rumana Siddiqui, the state chief of the BJP minority wing, claimed the party was all set to reach out to the community in a big way in the state.

Expectedly, the party invoked the name of its tallest leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee to remind the community how several initiatives were undertaken for the welfare of Muslims during the NDA government.

”During our regime, care was taken to ensure that the Muslim pride wasn’t injured and the community’s genuine demands were met promptly,” said party vice president Haridwar Dubey, who was the chief guest at the minority cell meet.

Would these make any real difference in the way the minorities perceive the BJP?

“Very unlikely. The BJP is talking of projecting its hardline leaders ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Even otherwise, what the party says or does won’t make any difference in the way we see the BJP. Barring stray cases, Muslims would rather prefer not to vote than go with a party which is ideologically opposed to them,” says Etmad Khan, a bank official.

The party is also in the process of appointing its office bearers i n the districts. The district chiefs of Bijnor, Sambhal, Moradabad, Mau and Hapur have been appointed.