For poll victory, Modi needs to make more efforts to win over wary Muslims: NYT

The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi will have to move away from its "genetically pre-disposed" stance of antagonising India's Muslim community, to cement its oft-repeated claim of winning the most seats in this year's general elections, an article in the New York Times (NYT) has said.

According to Manu Joseph, author of the article and a novel titled:"The Illicit Happiness of Other People", the BJP and Modi would have to be more sensitised to the fact of avoiding making comments related to the growth of the community to achieve their projected goal of establishing themselves at the centre of governance in India after elections conclude on May 16.

Joseph goes on to say that "the party knows that it cannot win the hearts of Muslims, but as the general election approaches, it is conveying the message that they should vote for it for very practical reasons: prosperity and peace."

"But the party's own personality traits make this a difficult sell," he adds.

Recalling the time when the BJP appointed backroom strategist Modi as chief minister of Gujarat, and the fact that communal riots took place within months of him assuming office in 2002, Joseph profers the view that Modi's ambiguous role in the riots, helped him to grow in stature among Hindus across the nation, and now, he is the BJP's prime ministerial candidate.

Though he refuses to apologise for the riots for which has been repeatedly criticised, Joseph says Modi has reached out to the Muslims, and told them that their true foe is not the Hindu but poverty.

By and large, according to the NYT article written by Joseph, a majority of Muslims still remain uncomforted by Modi's remarks about their community.

He cites the example of him criticising the fact that Muslims are allowed to marry four times by law. He has also criticised their reluctance to adopt family planning, as also their desire to procreate in an uninhibited sort of way.

Joseph maintains that the BJP remains incoherent in its wooing of Muslims.

He cites the example of the chief of the BJP's "strategic action committee," Subramanian Swamy, who was drafted into the party last year, and who wrote in 2011 that Indian Muslims must accept that their ancestors were Hindus or be denied voting rights.

Then, there is journalist, author and former Congress member M.J. Akbar.

"Mr. Akbar was never perceived as Muslim by his readers until he formally joined the B.J.P. last month. He told me that he had joined the party because "Congress has done nothing for Muslims. They believe hypocrisy is enough. Somebody has to stand up for Muslims in a modern way," Joseph says.

He seems to question Akbar's endorsement of Modi, and concludes that though the latter knows a lot about how riots spread, he must remain aware that Muslims will always be wary of him.