BENGALURU: With the 2024 Lok Sabha elections coming up on the horizon, former top cop and BJP leader Bhaskar Rao said the party should be more inclusive and take Muslims along. He was speaking at a recent BJP meeting where party general secretary Arun Singh was present.
The former police commissioner’s opinion is in sharp contrast with the agenda of polarisation adopted by the BJP, on which the party largely depends for its electoral victories. Sources said that most BJP leaders spoke about petty issues like insufficient grants, or that transfer requests had not been complied with. It was Rao who took a different line, and when he spoke, senior party leader and former chief minister B S Yediyurappa — who has been credited with building the party in Karnataka —
was making notes.
Rao said that Muslims need to be accommodated in the BJP, and citing the ancient Sanskrit phrase Vasudaiva Kutumbakam (the world is one family), said the DNA of both communities is the same.
His statement came at a meeting the party held to introspect the poll debacle, and make suggestions for the general elections. Rao suggested that the party should have a special general secretary-level office-bearer with a special assignment to wrest Congress and JDS strongholds like Sarvagnanagar, Pulakeshinagar, Shivajinagar, BTM Layout, Shantinagar and Gandhinagar. While there are BJP karyakartas in all these areas, they need to work effectively to help increase the party’s vote share.
Rao told TNIE that when the CAA-NRC protests were going on, then CM Yediyurappa had instructed him (Rao) to ensure that no one was hurt or injured. This appears to be a new language in the BJP because its critics have always maintained that the party is pursuing a “communal and hate agenda”. In the saffron spectrum, Bhaskar Rao and Yediyurappa are at one end, while those who make shrill noises of lynchings, community boycotts and bans are at the other end. The BJP will be looking to take everyone along as it heads into the Lok Sabha elections.
IPS officer Bhaskar Rao, who shifted from AAP to BJP recently, contested from Chamarajpet and lost. Asked if he was looking at contesting the Lok Sabha election, he said it is for the party to decide.