The Karnataka BJP is planning to woo Muslims with Sufism and the Shukriya Modi Bhaijaan campaign, The News Minute (TNM) has reported. The party has decided to specifically pursue Sufis and women.

As per the report, the BJP is trying to replicate its ‘Shukriya Modi Bhaijaan’ campaign from Uttar Pradesh, projecting PM Modi as a saviour of Muslim women. It is also positioning Sufis as ‘different’ from other Muslims and has planned a massive outreach for this community.

“The BJP realised that the women’s votes in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls in 2022 emerged as a crucial determining factor in the party’s comfortable victory,” a BJP party source was quoted as saying by TNM.

“Muslim women in Karnataka will be told about Modi’s initiatives such as Ujjwala (cooking gas), construction of izzat ghars (toilets), Ayushman Bharat (health insurance), Awas Yojana (livelihood scheme), the triple talaq ban, increase in Haj quota, and removing the need for mahram (male guardian) during Haj,” they added.

Karnataka BJP Minority Morcha President Anil Thomas told TNM that the Shukriya Modi Bhaijaan programme was launched in Bengaluru by the party’s Minority Morcha national president Jamal Siddiqui on January 9.

Thomas said that seeking Sufi support was a directive from Modi himself. “The Sufis have a totally different approach to mankind. They are inclusive and are advocates of love, peace, and harmony,” he said.

PM Modi is interested in Sufism and had even sent a Ghilaf-e-Mubarak (sacred chadar) to be placed at the Ajmer Sharif Dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti on the 812th Urs of the Sufi saint, Thomas said.

One Syed Tahazeer said he is a part of the Sufi Samvad Maha Abhiyan, where the Modi government’s schemes and programmes will be explained to Muslims across the country. “We plan to create a family chain of the Mureeds to spread the word on Modi’s work. A single Peer with 100 Mureeds in turn can make a chain through their family members,” Tahazeer said.