BJP’s Muslim outreach programme in Bengal demonstrate how state-level substantive Muslimness is interpreted through the prism of the dominant discourse of Muslimness

The BJP leader, Locket Chatterjee, with Muslim women. Photo: Telegraph

The efforts by the Bharatiya Janata Party to reach out to a section of rashtravadi Muslims in West Bengal are an intriguing move. This tactical repositioning of the party’s attitude towards Muslims might be interpreted as a political paradox. After all, the alleged infiltration of Bangladeshi citizens into West Bengal has been one of the central electoral themes for the party. BJP leaders have also invoked Muslim appeasement as a template to criticise the ruling Trinamool Congress. The outreach programme for Muslims, in this sense, seems to disrupt the established party line.

Read more here: BJP Muslim outreach West Bengal | Unique connection: The BJP’s Muslim outreach in Bengal – Telegraph India