AHMEDABAD: Congress leaders in Gujarat on Wednesday urged the members of the Muslim community to support the party in the upcoming state polls in order to defeat the "devious" agenda of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
They also urged the minority community not to get carried away by the propaganda of the new entrants in the fray - All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which they termed as the BJP's "B and C teams", saying that doing so would divide its votes and ultimately help the ruling party.
They were speaking at a function to felicitate Kadir Pirzada, the newly-appointed working president of the party's Gujarat unit, and other leaders.
Assembly elections in the BJP-ruled Gujarat are due by the end of this year.
Speaking on the occasion, state Congress president Jagdish Thakor urged Muslim leaders, including Pirzada, to frame a time-bound programme targeting 60 Assembly seats with a sizable Muslim population.
He also called for an election manifesto for the minority communities.
"All of us know who are behind the communal riots happening in the country, and how they benefit from it. We know and still fall prey to it. We should stay cautious about not falling into the trap," he said.
Thakor said the Congress has always stayed with the minorities and never changed its ideology, irrespective of whether it occupies power or not.
"A Congress prime minister used to say with confidence that minorities have the first right on the country's treasury. Congress knows how much saying so has hurt the party, but it will still not compromise on its ideology," Thakor said, addressing the function organised by the party's state minority department.
Remembering late Congress leader Ahmed Patel on the occasion, party veteran Arjun Modhwadia said that as the head of the family, Patel kept the party leaders united.
"But when he is not with us, it is our responsibility to remain united," he said.
He also cautioned the Muslim voters to stay united and not to get swayed by the two parties that have entered the fray "to divide votes".
"The two parties have come once again, and we are all concerned. It is because we are ourselves not confident of our unity. But we should defeat these A and B teams," he said.
"We have to ensure that our complaints with each other are resolved and in 2022 (election), the A team does not return to power with the help of B and C teams," he said.
Jignesh Mevani, who has also been appointed as a working president of the Gujarat Congress, remembered arrested social activist Teesta Setalvad and her struggle "for justice to the Muslims of Gujarat."
He said he always stood with the minorities and struggled for them.
Mevani said the 2002 Assembly election is crucial for the future of the country and will have implications on the country's Constitution.
During his address, Pirzada demanded representation for the community and claimed that Congress formed the government with the help of the Muslim votes.
"If a community with 3-4 per cent population demands its representation, then why should we, being 1 crore in the population of 6.5 crore, not demand our representation?" he asked.
"The community is at times at a loss as to who it should talk to. On the one hand, we have no government, while on the other there is no representation. You ran after Hardik (Patel, the former Congress leader who joined BJP), and forgot that these (Muslims) are the people who formed the Congress government," he said.
The party leaders urged the Muslim community to step out in large numbers to cast their votes during the Assembly polls.
Meanwhile, AAP head Arvind Kejriwal is scheduled to hold a town hall meeting and a press conference on Thursday in Surat city of Gujarat where the Assembly polls are due this year.
The Delhi chief minister arrived here late Wednesday night and said that in the next few weeks, his party would share with the people of Gujarat its agenda on what it plans to do for them if voted to power in the state.
This is his second visit to the state so far this month.
"I visited Gujarat several times in the recent past, and people of the state have given a lot of love. The people of Gujarat are fed up with 27 years of the BJP rule and want a change," Kejriwal said after landing at the Surat airport.
"We have talked to the public about what they want and in the next few weeks, we will put before them our agenda, as to what our agenda will be when voted to power," he said.
Before Kejriwal arrived in the state, the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Gujarat unit chief C R Paatil warned people that they should not get misguided by the "revadi culture" of freebies as it could eventually turn the state and India into Sri Lanka, which is currently going through a severe economic crisis.
Though Paatil did not name anyone, he was apparently targeting the AAP and its national convener Kejriwal, who has promised free electricity if voted to power in Gujarat.
Kejriwal last visited Gujarat on July 3, when he held a town hall on the issue of free electricity in Ahmedabad.
During the interaction with people, he then said free electricity was possible in Gujarat and that he would soon visit the state with a formula on how his party can provide it if voted to power.
Presenting the "Delhi model," he had said free electricity is possible in Gujarat if corruption is eliminated.
The AAP has made free electricity a major poll plank in Gujarat, where polls are due in December.
The party has positioned itself as a major contender in the state, where elections have traditionally seen a direct contest between the BJP and the Congress.