NEW DELHI, Feb 26 (BSS): Making an allout attempt to attract Muslim voters, BJP president Rajnath Singh offered to apologise for any lapses or mistake that might have happened to Muslim in the past.
He urged the Muslim community to give them a chance "at least once".
He was addressing a gathering of the party's minority morcha workers from across the India on Tuesday. Singh urged them to convey this message to the community.
"Please note that whenever, wherever, if there has been any mistake and shortcoming on our part, I assure you that we will apologise to you by bowing our heads," BJP president said.
While he refrained from mentioning any specific "mistake", he talked about the 2002 Gujarat riots and the allegations against the party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, saying the BJP was not against Muslims and the community should not fall prey to the "propaganda" against the party.
"Try us once. If we don't live up to your expectations, don't look at us ever again," he said.
Accusing the Congress of propaganda against Modi, he said, "People claim that Muslims are afraid of Modi. But there are several Muslim representatives elected on the BJP symbol in Gujarat. In fact, the highest per capita Muslim income is in Gujarat. What you (Congress) could not do in 55 years, he has done in 10 years. Now, even the court has ruled that the allegations against him (in connection with the Gujarat riots) are baseless. What else is left against him?"
Rajnath Singh said, "The Congress is playing vote bank politics to defame Modi and BJP. try and understand this, they want Muslims to move away from the BJP."
Singh, however, asserted his opposition to reservation for minorities on the basis of religion.
"Anyone who is poor should be given reservation, irrespective of whether he is a Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christian," he said, adding that those demanding quota on religious lines were indulging in "divide-and-rule" vote bank politics.
