Danish Azad Ansari, the only Muslim minister in Uttar Pradesh, claimed on Sunday that his community was warming up to the BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The Balia resident was inducted into the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government as Minister of State on Friday and will have to be elected to the state assembly within the next six months to continue in the post.
Ansari said the Muslim community was now dispelling “illusions” created by opposition parties such as the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress. “The BJP is now gaining the love of the Muslim community and the love of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the North. The Chief Minister of the province, Yogi Adityanath, is growing in the Muslim community,” he told PTI.
Ansari, 34, said Modi’s all-out, all-faith, all-encompassing vision was expanding the BJP’s vote base and attracting more Muslims to the BJP, Ansari, 34, added.
He claimed that the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the 2022 Assembly elections indicate this. But the BJP did not field any Muslim candidate in the just-concluded UP Assembly elections. Its ally Apna Dal (S) nominated Haider Ali Khan from Suar in Rampur and he was defeated.
There was also a Muslim member in the previous Adityanath government – Mohsin Raja, a state minister. Ansari claimed that the opposition thought of Muslims only as a vote bank but the Muslim community now realizes that the SP, BSP and Congress have always cheated them. The Muslim community understands that only Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will work for their real development, he said.
The Minister said that Modi dreamed of making India a world leader and all the youth and the Muslim community have a vital role to play in making it a reality. He said it was the dream of Modi and Adityanath that every section of society would be connected to the mainstream of development and they would fulfill it.
He said there should be an effort to take government projects to the grassroots. He said the Adityanath government would take input on what needs to be done for the betterment of the Muslim community, especially the youth. Education is a fundamental right and synonymous with development and he will make special efforts to take the Muslim community forward in this regard, Ansari said.
He said he would take initiative to link urban schools with technical education. Ansari joined the All India Student Council (ABVP) in 2010 while studying at Lucknow University. He holds a Masters in Public Administration and Quality Management.
He was nominated to the Urdu language committee of the previous Adityanath government in October 2018 and was made general secretary of the BJP’s minority cell just before the assembly elections. Portfolios for members of the new Adityanath Ministry have not yet been announced. The BJP and its allies have won 273 seats in the 403-member state assembly
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