On Sunday, the Bharatiya Janata Party welcomed into its fold three Muslim social activists – Shahzad Ali, Mehreen and former Aam Aadmi Party worker Tabassum Hussain – who the party said were anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protestors. It claimed that these activists had now seen through the ‘diabolical agenda’ of the Shaheen Bagh protests and decided to put their faith in the BJP’s ideology and the Narendra Modi government.
A Delhi BJP statement said, “Social worker Shahzad Ali, gynaecologist Dr Mehreen, former AAP worker Tabassum Hussain along with a large number of Muslim brothers and sisters joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.”
“The enthusiasm with which Muslim brothers and sisters are joining BJP clearly shows that people of all religions have faith in the Modi government,” Adesh Gupta, state BJP president, said on the occasion at the Delhi BJP office.
The BJP hinted that Shahzad Ali had been one of the prominent faces of the Shaheen Bagh protests, though this was rubbished by many activists.
The acceptance of the three protestors also raises many questions for the party, especially with regard to Ali.
Watch: Anti-CAA Protester Joins BJP, Shaheen Bagh Women Respond
For a party which has consolidated itself by pillorying the opposition’s alleged “minority appeasement” politics and vehemently attacking Islamist parties, welcoming a person like Ali into the fold is somewhat curious.
Ali has in the past been closely associated with the Rashtirya Ulema Council (RUC), an orthodox, clergy-driven party, and leaders of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), the political outfit of the Popular Front of India (PFI). It may be noted that most BJP governments have alleged that the PFI has been involved in the violence during many anti-CAA protests, especially in Uttar Pradesh. Several charge-sheets of the Delhi police have attempted to establish links between the Delhi riots in February and the PFI.
RUC appointment letter for Ali.
Most recently, the B.S. Yeddiyurappa-led BJP government in Karnataka claimed that SDPI members led the mob violence that rocked Bengaluru last week.
The PFI and the SDPI have been denying any role in the violence but BJP leaders, spokespersons and its supporters on social media and television channels have been running an aggressive campaign against the outfits to corner opposition parties.
Against this backdrop, Ali’s inclusion in the BJP assumes great significance.
Ali’s previous associations with the SDPI, often called a “radical Muslim outfit” by BJP leaders, and RUC, will surely put BJP’s social media warriors and its spokespersons on tricky terrain.
During the February Delhi assembly polls, Ali extensively campaigned for Tasleem Ahmed Rahmani, national secretary of the SDPI and the party’s candidate from Okhla. He had posted several photographs in which he is seen campaigning for Rahmani. Speaking to The Wire, Rahmani confirmed that Ali had indeed extended help during his campaign for the Delhi assembly elections. “Yes, it’s true. He was never part of the party officially, but unofficially he used to come to some of our meetings and campaign.”
While campaigning for the SDPI candidate, he was also a part of the RUC for a few months this year. RUC, a party that was floated by a section of the Muslim clergy as response to the 2008 Batla House encounter, has itself been reportedly lobbying with the BJP for political gains. Behind the scenes, the BJP too has been supportive of the RUC.
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The RUC has of late been echoing the BJP’s criticism against opposition parties. Talha Rasheed, national spokesperson of the RUC, said, “We have always maintained that there has been enough of Congress and other secular parties telling us that Congress is our friend and BJP is our enemy. A common Muslim will tell you that BJP is our enemy because of the 2002 Godhra riots. But what about the other riots, what about 1992 Babri Masjid demolition, Bhagalpur riots, Mumbai riots? Aren’t Congress and Samajwadi Party also our enemy by that logic?”
“Congress is no friend to us, BJP is no enemy to us,” Rasheed told The Wire.
Ali’s now deleted post using a casteist slur again Mevani.
Apart from hobnobbing with orthodox Muslim parties, Ali had also used a casteist slur against Jignesh Mevani, independent MLA from Gujarat’s Vadgam, on his Facebook profile while criticising Mevani’s support to Amarnath Yadav, a CPI (ML) candidate from Siwan, during the 2019 general elections,. His grouse against Mevani was that he supported Yadav instead of Hena Shahab, the Rashtriya Janata Dal candidate. He has earlier objected to Mevani’s support to the CPI candidate Kanhaiya Kumar in Begusarai. Ali, who claimed he had supported Mevani’s candidature in Vadgam, expected him to ally with the RJD’s Muslim candidate Md Tanveer Hasan.
The post by Ali was later deleted.
The Wire has accessed a video in which Ali apologised for the casteist comment, confirming he had indeed used a casteist slur against Mevani. In the video, Ali then went on to call him “jhoota (liar)”, “namakharam (treacherous)” “dhokebaz (traitor)”, “ehsanfaramosh (ungrateful)” and “makkar (cheater)”.
“Raat din hum RSS ko gaali dete hain, Modi ko gaali dete hain, tabb toh hum achche hain. Abhi Jignesh ko, kyun ki wo Dalit hai, uske khilaaf likh diya toh humara jo secularism hai uska chola sar chadh kar bol raha hai (Day in and day out, we abuse RSS and [Narendra] Modi, we are considered good for that. But because I wrote against [abused] Jignesh, a Dalit, people’s secularism has suddenly entered the picture),” added Ali.
For the BJP, which is trying to woo Dalits, it is surprising that it has welcomed an activist who has so openly used casteist terms against a prominent Dalit leader.
Ali’s antecedents and associations thus are completely antithetical to what the BJP stands for and has been proclaiming. The party may claim great success and even try to undermine the anti-CAA protests, but the questions won’t go away.