Kerala BJP launches ‘Muslim Outreach Programme’,says it’s about trust, not votes
Thiruvananthapuram: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kerala has announced the launch of a “Muslim Outreach Programme,” which the party claims is intended to build trust with the Muslim community rather than secure votes ahead of the state’s upcoming polls.
State BJP president Rajeev Chandrasekhar, addressing a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday, said the initiative aims to “demolish the lies” that the party is anti-Muslim. The campaign will be led by senior BJP leader and state vice president Abdul Salam.
“This is not about politics or votes. It is about building trust and correcting the false narrative that has been spread for the past 20 to 25 years,” Chandrasekhar said, adding that the BJP’s vision under Prime Minister Narendra Modi is based on the Constitution and the principle of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas.”
The party chief said BJP workers will visit Muslim households across Kerala to distribute leaflets outlining the party’s development agenda and urging people “not to be misled by the propaganda of the Congress and CPI(M).”
Chandrasekhar asserted that the Modi government has done more for the Muslim community in the past eleven years than any previous administration in Indian history and expressed confidence in replicating the same progress in Kerala.
“This is not about votes but about creating a ‘Vikasit Keralam’ where every person—irrespective of caste, community or religion—gets equal opportunities for development, jobs, and progress,” he said.
However, observers note that the announcement comes just ahead of the local body elections in the state, raising questions about the timing and political motives behind the outreach.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
SC refuses to entertain plea against deletion of names from WB voter list, terms it ‘premature’
_vb_77.jpeg)
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain a plea by a group of 13 people seeking its intervention in the deletion of their names from the voter list during the Special Institutional Revision (SIR) in West Bengal, where polling for the first phase of the assembly election will be held on April 23.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi termed the petition "premature", directing the aggrieved parties to approach the established appellate tribunals instead.
"Since the petitioners (Quaraisha Yeasmin and others) have already approached the appellate tribunals… in our considered view, the apprehensions expressed in the petition are premature. If the plea is allowed, then necessary consequences will follow,” the bench said in its order, adding that it has not expressed any views on the merits of the plea.
The plea alleged that the Election Commission was summarily deleting names without following due process, and that appeals against these deletions were not being heard in a timely manner.
The Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court has set up as many as 19 tribunals headed by former HC chief justices and judges to decide appeals against deletions of names of persons from the voters’ lists.
Senior advocate D S Naidu, appearing for the poll panel, informed the court that there are approximately 30 to 34 lakh appeals currently pending. "Every tribunal now has over one lakh appeals to handle," the bench said.
The petitioners’ counsel argued that the EC had failed to place necessary orders before the relevant judicial authorities and that the "freezing date" for the electoral rolls should be extended.
"If I am not allowed to argue, then what is the use? Will these appeals be decided within a timeframe or just kept extending?" the counsel asked.
Justice Bagchi, during the hearing, referred to the sanctity of the electoral process and said the right to vote is not merely a constitutional formality but a "sentimental" pillar of democracy.
"The right to vote in a country you were born in is not just constitutional, but sentimental. It is about being part of a democracy and helping elect a government," he said.
He, however, said that the tribunals, manned by former judges, cannot be overburdened by fixing the timelines for adjudications.
"It is not the end justifying the means, but the means justifying the end," Justice Bagchi said.
"We need to protect due process rights. The voter should not be sandwiched between two constitutional authorities," he said, adding that it would not interdict the election process at this stage.
Justice Bagchi noted that the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice had already formulated the manner and mode for appeals, which began on Monday.
"Unless and until an enormous number of voters are excluded or it materially affects the election... the election cannot be cancelled," the bench said, adding that judicial intervention is intended to "promote elections, not interdict them."
The CJI emphasised that the petitioners must exhaust their remedies before the appellate tribunals.
Assembly elections in West Bengal will be held in two phases on April 23 and 29, and votes will be counted on May 4.
_vb_67.jpeg)
_vb_65.jpeg)
_vb_52.jpeg)