No fight with Muslims: New Bengal BJP chief

KOLKATA: BJP "is not warring Muslims... and the state's plurality needs to beryllium saved", Samik Bhattacharya said Thursday, soon aft taking implicit arsenic the party's caller authorities president."There is simply a conscious effort to disagreement Bengal connected the ground of religion. The number assemblage should recognize we are not warring against them. We are warring against the forces that shove stones successful their boys' hands. We privation to regenerate thosestones with books. We privation to regenerate the swords successful their hands with pens," helium said.Bhattacharya's enactment contrasts sharply with the shrill anti-Muslim transportation adopted by his BJP workfellow and assembly absorption person Suvendu Adhikari, and comes aft his party's abject decision successful Kaliganj assembly bypoll.

Kaliganj is simply a Muslim-majority constituency successful Nadia. BJP was the lone enactment that saw its ballot stock dip (from 31% successful 2021 to 28.2% now), prompting TMC to emphasise however BJP had failed to clasp connected to adjacent its bulk assemblage votes.

It remains to beryllium seen whether Bhattacharya's enactment colleagues support up their anti-Muslim transportation adjacent arsenic helium takes a conciliatory approach, which would bespeak the enactment has deed connected a bully cop-bad bull strategy with Bengal's astir 2.5 crore Muslim voters.

"Look astatine Bengal's villages. Morchhe Musalman, marchhe Musalman (Muslims are sidesplitting and Muslims are dying). Who is liable for this situation? Those who bash not similar BJP whitethorn not ballot for us. But they should judge that 90% of the radical killed successful the past 3 years person been Muslims," helium said."BJP wants visarjan and Muharram processions to locomotion broadside by broadside without immoderate malice against each other. We bash not privation riots. We privation the number younker to cognize Bengal done the eyes of Syed Mujtaba Ali and Kazi Nazrul Islam, not terrorists. We privation to prevention Bengal's plurality," Bhattacharya said portion the Bengal BJP enactment and erstwhile Union curate Ravi Shankar Prasad were connected the dais.