RSS body to woo AP Muslim voters

• Muslim Rashtriya Manch to launch statewide campaign today

• Members to interact with community to seek votes for BJP

Hyderabad: Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM), a social organisation floated by RSS in 2002 with the aim to reach out to Muslims, would be launching a statewide campaign on Tuesday (February 18) to woo Muslim voters.

Special teams have been formed and over 50 programmes are planned across the State. “In Hyderabad 4 centres have been chosen where workers would interact with Muslim the community seeking votes in favour of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP),” said Girish Guyal, MRM national convenor. Replying to a question if the MRM would be able to make a dent into the Muslim vote as Muslims were generally against the BJP, Girish Guyal said, “In every election, Muslims have been taken for a ride in the name of minority and reservations. There are several misconceptions and people are always misguided. The aim is to bring both communities together and erase the misconceptions,” he said. The MRM would be conducting programmes in 4,178 places in 318 districts across the country. Tayyaba Afandi has been appointed in Andhra Pradesh to coordinate the women wing and Akeel Mirza will look after the youth wing.

Mohammed Afzal, national convenor, MRM said, “There is a falsehood being perpetuated that Muslims have been treated badly but if one were to compare the Muzaffarpur riots to the one in Gujarat, Muslim families went back to their houses within two months in Gujarat but more than 8,000 families in Muzaffarpur are still not able to go back and settle in their houses.”