Shahnawaz Defends BJP; Appeals to Voters for Support

Chhapra: April 17, 2004

The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Kishanganj in Bihar, Union Textiles Minister Shahnawaz Hussain, while addressing a public meeting organized by the party’s Saran district minority cell on Wednesday, said the BJP was not a communal party as projected by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress and other so-called secular parties.

Insisting that the minority population in India was much safer than in other predominantly Muslim nations, Shahnawaz said that if the BJP was communal, it would not have him in the Union government and APJ Abdul Kalam wouldn’t be the President of world’s largest democracy that is India.

The Central Minister urged the Muslims of Bihar to break the shackles of false allegiance to the RJD that has given this false impression of being the champion of minorities while using them as mere vote banks for years.

Shahnawaz also praised his colleague and Civil Aviation Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy for promoting the cause of Muslims. "Laloo Yadav just talks about Muslims' welfare; it was Rudy who made Haj pilgrims possible for thousands of Muslims in India", Shahnawaz said.

"This election is not only about the future of the nation but also the future of Bihar that has continued to slip in the deep abyss under the 14 years of Laloo-Rabri rule", he said.