BJP defends Rajnath's meeting with Muslim clerics

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday strongly defended party president Rajnath Singh's meeting with Muslim clerics, and stressed that this meeting should be compared with that of Congress President Sonia Gandhi's meeting with Imam Bukhari.

"It is not right to compare his meeting with that of Sonia Gandhi's meeting with Imam Bukhari. She met Bukhari is not important, but what she said after meeting is important," said BJP spokesmen Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.

"In this revolution for good governance, we want the participation of everybody. We are not viewing this in context of any religion or community. We are not saying that people should unite in the name of secularism. We haven't said that the entire Hindu vote should get together," he added.

Naqvi said the party had only stated that the country needs a good government if it has to prosper.

"We have said that we need a government who will work for the people. So our quest to ensure to good government is still going on," he added..

Meanwhile on Tuesday, Muslim Cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawad stressed that BJP Rajnath Singh would prove to be a better prime ministerial candidate than Narendra Modi, and added that Muslims were scared of Modi.

Jawad had also compared Singh with BJP's last Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, saying Muslims liked Vajpayee.

Singh had met Muslim clerics on Monday to garner support of their community.

Meanwhile, Jawad said Muslims were afraid of Modi and would receive less number of seats only because of him.