At one hand critics attack BJP for not reaching out to Muslims and on other hand any association between Muslims and BJP is attacked. Same has happened in Tripura, where the BJP unit of the state has alleged that 25 Muslim families in Madhyatilla locality in Shantirbazar sub-division of South Tripura were denied entry in their local mosque because they had joined the party.
These 25 families, comprising of 200 people, had reportedly quit membership of the ruling CPM last month. This, according to the BJP’s minority morcha president Md Jasimuddin, resulted in the CPM cadres issuing threats to the families. He further claimed that they were also denied work under the MNREGA scheme and other governmental facilities as soon as they switched over to the BJP.
The CPM cadres apparently didn’t stop at that and even mobilized Muslim religious leaders to deny them entry into the mosque. This decree barring them entry from the Mosque was opposed by various residents. According to them, the Imam in question was forced to issue it by the CPM, of which he (Imam) too is a member.
The district administration has acknowledged that they have received information about the incident but were yet to receive any formal complaint regarding the same. The District Magistrate of Tripura has assured that they would take appropriate steps if people were found to violate the religious freedom of the 25 families.
This isn’t the only time Muslims have been threatened or faced have boycott because they decided to associate themselves with the BJP.
In 2013, there were reports of 19 Maulvis issuing a fatwa against the Gujarat BJP’s minority cell president Sufi Mehboob Ali Chishti (Bava) calling for his social boycott.
Akkiliyath Kasim Haji, a district general secretary of a feeder organization of Kerala BJP, had also alleged that he was denied a membership on a Mahal committee of Badariyya Juma Masjid in Koodalottu because of his association with the BJP. He had also claimed that an Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader used to regularly taunt him by saying that what was the need for him to come to the Mosque if he was a member of the BJP.
Recently the controversial Imam Barkati from Bengal, who wanted to wage Jihad against India, had also threatened that those Muslims who were associated with the RSS or the BJP would be ousted from the Muslim community and also be beaten up. That thankfully didn’t happen as Barkati himself got ousted from his post of Shahi Imam in Tipu Sultan Mosque at Kolkata.
