'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas' Approach To Continue: BJP Targets 50 Lakh New Members From Minorities As Part Of Membership Drive

While the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Muslim outreach, specifically the Pasmanda outreach, could not yield the desired results in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the party does not appear to be changing its strategy.

In the membership drive launched on 2 September, the BJP has kept a target of getting 50 lakh members of the minority communities to join the party.

In big states like Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Karnataka, the target is to make 5 lakh members each from the minority communities. The membership drive will continue till 15 October.

BJP Minority Morcha's national president Jamal Siddiqui has expressed that the Muslim community is joining the BJP in large numbers as the Minority Morcha team is continuously going among them.

Similarly, Delhi president of the party’s Minority Morcha, Anees Abbasi, claimed that 2,500 people from minority communities have enrolled as members of the BJP so far and the target is to get 2 lakh of them as members.

UP BJP's general secretary (organisation) Dharampal Singh showed the green flag to the membership drive Rath on Sunday (8 September) from Lucknow. BJP Minority Morcha's UP president Kunwar Basit Ali was present.

He said that this Rath would travel to every district of the state and by showcasing the works of the BJP governments through videos, would enroll 5 lakh individuals from the minority communities as members.

Similarly, a membership drive was launched in Karnataka with the target of enrolling five lakh members from minority communities, as confirmed by state BJP Minority Morcha's convenor Allah Baksh Thimmapur.

As the membership drive began in Lucknow, clerics and caretakers of Dargah Qasim Syed were enrolled as BJP members. The focus is also on the 10 UP assembly seats expected to have by-polls soon.

"We are urging people to get inducted by telling them the policies of PM Modi and the BJP. This campaign will now move to Madarsas, Deoband and all the shrines. The aim is to add beneficiaries to the party," Basit Ali said.

The BJP's minority outreach strategy, touted as 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas', drew flak from many of the party supporters in the aftermath of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, where the BJP could not cross the majority mark on its own.

Observers have often pointed out that by focusing on minorities, the party often overlooks its core supporters and despite this, voters from the minority communities do not reciprocate by voting for the BJP.

BJP has been conducting Pasmanda outreach programmes in UP for over a year including connecting with Sufi Dargahs. Despite this, Muslim voters are known to have voted en masse for the INDI Alliance.

The BJP could win only 33 seats in UP, down from 62 in 2019, while its main rival Samajwadi Party (SP) won 37 seats and the SP ally Congress won six seats, up from two and one in 2014 and 2019 respectively.

In the wake of the election results, party supporters expressed their view that the the BJP should tone down its outreach to the minorities and focus on its core voter base. But the party seems to have ignored the advice for now.