Opposition parties treated Muslims as a vote bank, says Basit Ali

'The BJP has now risen to second spot, ahead of the BSP, as the political party of choice for Muslims in UP. This is a significant shift indeed'

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has made inroads into the Dalits and Other Backward Classes (OBCs), which hitherto formed the core constituencies of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP), respectively. Now the BJP is looking to woo the Muslims in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. UP BJP Minority Wing Chairman Basit Ali discussed the party’s road map in an exclusive interview with Virendra Singh Rawat. Edited excerpts:

There are talks about an increasing Muslim outreach by the BJP in UP. Could you elaborate?

There are nearly 40 million Muslim beneficiaries of the various government schemes