MALAPPURAM: Apparently dejected at the party’s poll strategy, BJP’s lone Muslim candidate in Kerala M Abdul Salam has said screening of the controversial movie ‘Kerala Story’ during the election time and the party’s inability to properly communicate to people its stand on issues like the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) have alienated Muslims from it.
“Screening the movie during this election time will only help distance Muslims from the BJP. There are more than 20 crore Muslims in India. We should not keep them away from the mainstream. They should be in the mainstream to share governance,” Salam told TNIE on the sidelines of his campaign in Malappuram.
Referring to the controversy after he was denied permission to accompany the prime minister in his roadshow in Palakkad, Salam said the incident caused a lot of damage to the party. “The BJP state leadership could have avoided such an incident. Still, I defended my party,” he said. Salam’s name was excluded from the list after he reached Palakkad to join Narendra Modi on an official invitation.
After the incident, opposition parties propagated that Salam was excluded from the list because he hails from the Muslim community.
Salam said the current campaign is not enough to gain votes in the Muslim-dominated Malappuram constituency. “I have so far completed two or three rounds of campaigns in each assembly segment. However, our campaign is weak compared to that of other parties. The BJP’s campaign team is not well-trained and incapable. They don’t have a proper strategy,” he said.
“In the past 39 days, I was taken to houses of BJP supporters. They are afraid of going to other people. It is necessary to reach out to non-BJP voters. The BJP camp in Malappuram shies away from approaching non-BJP Hindus and Muslims,” Salam said.
“One person asked me as to why we opted not to visit the houses of Muslims during Eid. We visited the houses of Christians during Christmas. People asked me what that indicates,” said Salam. He added that he also faced questions as to why the BJP has only one Muslim candidate.