Several muslims voted for Narendra Modi: Mehmood Madani, Jamiat Ulema-ed-Hind

NEW DELHI: Jamiat Ulema-ed-Hind general secretary Maulana Mehmood Madani has claimed there was a change in the way Muslims looked at the Gujarat government and chief minister Narendra Modi.

"In Gujarat, Jamiat workers on the ground have told me that in several assembly segments, Muslims voted for Modi. There is a perceptible change and circumstances are different now... Muslims in Gujarat are economically better off than in several states which have so-called secular governments in power," Madani told a private news channel.

In the just-concluded civic election, BJP made impressive gains in Muslim-dominated areas. Salaya municipal poll outcome was flaunted by BJP to drive home its point that there was a perceptible change in the attitude of Muslim towards the party. In Salaya, which has 90% Muslim population, Congress could not win a single seat.

Madani claimed Modi was no longer an 'untouchable' for his community. "More innocent Muslims are in the prisons of Maharashtra than in Gujarat. The human rights record of several states with secular governments in power is deplorable and the economic situation of Muslims in West Bengal is shocking. These states don't have a Modi at the helm. We cannot ignore this ground reality," said Madani.

The Madani clan, which controls the influential Deoband seminary, had played a key role in ousting the institution's rector Maulana Vastanvi for his pro-Modi remark. On Modi as the PM, he said: "It's too early to comment. Even BJP has not decided on its PM's face. Let the time come, we will react."

But he said Muslims were increasingly backing BJP. "Just not in Gujarat, even in Bihar, Muslims have voted for BJP, which is in alliance with a secular party, JD(U)... I am not sure if the Bihar-Gujarat experience will set the trend and become a pan-India phenomenon for BJP," he said.