BJP leaders to hold meetings with Pasmanda Muslims

New Delhi: Stepping up its outreach among Muslims, senior BJP leaders will hold meetings with Pasmanda Muslims at booth level to enhance the party's engagement with the community, sources said on Friday.

Party leaders said Ashraf Muslims, relatively elite among the community, have enjoyed the power and position compared to Pasmandas, and now the BJP wants to improve their living standards, they said.

With Pasmandas not getting much political representation, the BJP's senior leaders will hold meetings with Pasmanda Muslims in the coming days, and this engagement will be further enhanced, sources said.


'Pasmandas' have been mentioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his speeches at party meetings while talking about the government's approach to work for all deprived sections of the society irrespective of their caste and religion.

The BJP is confident of making inroads in Pasmandas following its wins in Lok Sabha bypolls in Muslim dominated Azamgarh and Rampur in Uttar Pradesh.

Meanwhile, BJP's minority morcha chief Jamal Siddiqui, Minister in the Uttar Pradesh government Danish Ansari, both are Pasmandas.

BJP's minority cell has already identified more than 60 Muslim dominated seats and is hopeful that the party will field candidates from the community on these.