PTI
KOZHIKODE
In an attempt to reach out to Muslims, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday told a BJP meet here that they are “not substance of hate” nor should they be considered as “items of vote market” but should be treated as “your own”.
He invoked BJP ideologue Deendayal Upadhyay to make these comments while addressing the BJP Council meeting here in Kerala, a state with substantial Muslim population, where the party is seeking to expand its base.
He maintained that his government's mission of ''sabka sath, sabka vikas'' is not a political slogan but a commitment to ensure welfare of the last man in the society.
In his speech, Modi spoke at length about secularism, balanced and inclusive growth and need for electoral reforms while paying tributes to Upadhyay on his 100th birth anniversary.
“These days, the definition has been distorted. Even nationalism is cursed these days,” he said.
While talking about life and contribution of Upadhyay, Modi quoted him as saying, “don't reward nor rebuke Muslims. Empower them. They are not items of vote market nor are they substance of hate. Treat them as your own.” He insisted that for BJP nobody is a “pariah”.
At the conclusion of the two-day BJP conclave, the Prime Minister traced the party's journey from the days of Jan Sangh and asserted that “we never compromised with our ideology”.
He said if the BJP had compromised with the ideology, it could have attained power long back.
He said his government's efforts in developing the eastern part of country was driven by the party ideologue's concept of integral humanism because if the western India develops and the eastern India lags, then "Mother India can never be healthy".
"The only solution to the country's problems is development. If the gulf in the society has to be bridged, then those in the bottom can only be helped by development," he said.
He also asked party leaders to set an example through their good their conduct as he lamented that the image of politicians has deteriorated in the eyes of the common man so much since independence that sons often do not disclose their father is in politics. "If you can do that, it will be an apt tribute to Upadhyay, he said.
"Though there are good people in all parties, their number is more in BJP due to its commitment to ideology," he said and asked them to launch programmes to convert its 11 crore members into cadres.
He recalled that a former Prime Minister had once said in an interview that occupying the post was like scaling Mount Everest where one does not go to stay. "We are not like that," Modi said.
