The BJP is banking on Muslim votes, particularly of women, in the upcoming local bodies’ elections in Meerut. The party has given tickets to11 Muslim candidates out of the total of 90 wards and three of them are women.
Rahat Jahan , Jia Bharti and Shabana Nizam, the three Muslim women candidates of BJP, are confident of winning the election. They are hoping that the “good work” of the Modi government at the Centre and the Yogi Adityanath government in the state as well as issues like triple talaq raised by the party will win over the women of the community.
“More than 30 Muslim aspirants had applied for BJP tickets from different wards of which 11 including three women have been awarded tickets,” said Karunesh Nandan Garg, city president of BJP asserting that they would definitely win seats for the party.
Rahat Jahan , 51, the BJP candidate from Muslim dominated Zakir Hussain colony south, is all set to take the lead in this election. Rahat, mother of seven, is illiterate but runs a Madarsa with the help of her eldest daughter.
Rahat joined the BJP with her husband Raees in 2014. Initially Muslim women were reluctant to support the BJP but now the scenario has changed after the issue of triple talaq, said Rahat.
Clad in a black burqa, Rahat starts her election campaign every morning with a group of women supporters. They go door to door and distribute pamphlets to the voters .
BJP banners bearing photographs of PM Narendra Modi, party president Amit Shah and Yogi Adityanath are all over the ward.
“We are going to the public highlighting works of development of the governments of the party at the state and the Centre,” Rahat said, adding that voters are told about different schemes launched by the party for the welfare of people .
“The community has softened towards the saffron party for some time,” said Jia Bharti, a social worker and the BJP candidate from Zakir colony ward, which is also Muslim-dominated.
A 31-year-old widow, Jia is mother to a ten-year-old son. She lost her husband barely two years after her marriage. A high school passout, Jia took to social service and feels immense satisfaction in working for society.
Of the 15 contestants in her ward Jia is the only woman candidate. She asserts that the verdict of the apex court on triple talaq has built up the confidence of Muslim women .
The community is not opposing the BJP any more. That is propaganda of the rival parties , she said, adding that while campaigning she is getting a good response.
“Truly the efforts of PM Modi and CM Yogi for good governance have developed a wide base among the Muslim voters,” said Jia claiming that the image of BJP is no longer anti-Muslim. Like Rahat she also tries to convince voters that a representative of the ruling party would be more effective in resolving people’s’ problems. Shabana Nizam is another Muslim woman candidate of BJP in the Shahjahan Colony ward.