Unlock the Saugat-E-Modi EID kits: why the BJP offers gifts to Muslims

The BJP, presented as the party with a difference, could be there to indicate that it is not a party with indifference. Sloganering targeted during the Lok Sabha elections and the recent Waqf bill have left a lot of bitterness. With “Meethi” Eid at the corner of the street, the BJP has rare awareness to soften its links with the Muslim community.

Tuesday, the BJP launched a national program to distribute Saugat-e-Modi kits, which will benefit 32 poor Muslims Celebrate Eid. What does the BJP really seek with this? Let's offer the kit.

The kit will have dried fruits, besan (Gram flour), suji (semina), sewai (vermicelli) and sugar. In addition to food, female kits will contain fabric for costumes, while those for men will include kurta-pyjamas.

The cost of each kit will be around 500 to Rs 600, according to an Ani report. The program was launched from Nizamuddin de Delhi under the direction of the head of the BJP JP Nadda.

The BJP Saugat-E-Modi kit surprised the experts and drawn from scathing opposition remarks.

The election of Lok Sabha in 2024 saw remarks of “Jihad vote” of the leaders of the BJP who still polarized an already divided company. Then there were the slogans of “Katenge to Batgen” and “Ek Hai to Safe Hai”.

“After having demonized the Muslim community, delivered hatred speeches against them, making propaganda videos to target them, and in the bulldozer their houses, the BJP now plans to distribute” saugat-e-modi “kits to 32 Muslims on Eid. What a hypocritical drama”, declared Shama Mohamed, on X.

She asked if it was not “appeasement” that the BJP continued to accuse the congress of engaging.

The WAQF bill, led to modify how the Islamic properties of the WAQF are administered, is the latest contention apple. The Waqf invoice has drawn vehement opposition of Muslim organizations, With a little boycott the Iftar party from NDA to Bihar.

With most of the other major elections carried out, it is time for the BJP and its partners to focus on the Bihar, which heads for the polls in October.

“This decision could certainly be linked to the Bihar policy because it is the only state to go to the polls this year. Above all, after the resistance to the Waqf bill by several Muslim organizations, the Nodal Muslim organization, Imarat-e-Sharia, even boycotted the IFTar party organized by the NDA TODAY, Santosh Singh, a Senior Indian Express journalist.

Amitabh Tiwari, a political commentator and partner director of Ascendia Strategies, sees the awareness of the BJP as part of a zero loss strategy and an attempt to add all that is possible.

Awareness could be an attempt to rely on the good will that has been generated by the social protection regimes of the central government.

Although the BJP, a political party, has engaged in politics, the Modi government assured that the benefits reach the poor of all communities. In doing so, the government led by the BJP has created a new “Labharthi” voter segment (beneficiary).

What must be noted is that the Saugat-E-Modi EID kits are intended for poor Muslims, which were to benefit from the plans of the BJP government.

“About 35% of beneficiaries of central government regimes are Muslims,” ​​said Tiwari, adding: “In addition, educated Muslims see that there has been relative calm in the country in the past 10 years.”

Muslim votes and NDA led by the BJP

“It is not as if the NDA does not get Muslim votes,” said Tiwari, citing the example of Maharashtra and Gujarat.

“In the Maharashtra, 22% of Muslims voted for the Mahayuti led by the BJP, while in Gujarat, the BJP has obtained more than 20% of Muslim votes for decades now,” he said.

Explaining the zero loss strategy of the BJP, he says: “The NDA obtains about half of the 80% of Hindu votes. Its share of voting is around 43%. If it succeeds in adding 20 to 30% of the 20% of minority votes, the share of votes goes to 45 to 50%.”

This, without a doubt, has an electoral meaning. But is that translated on the ground?

Does Saugat-E-Modi unlock the votes for NDA?

“Such movements, such as sending a pack of candies and nuts, would not have much impact on the ground. There is still a lot of bitterness towards the BJP and, moreover, the NDA,” explains Santosh Singh.

He thinks that awareness was launched by resistance to the Waqf bill.

“So many Muslim organizations had expressed in favor of amendments to the bill, but I think that no one has been accepted,” said Singh.

The Lok Sabha elections in 2024 saw a great consolidation of Muslim votes towards the parties that could overcome the BJP.

An example of this is the rupture of the Audf led by Badruddin Ajmal in Assam, who failed to win a single seat, when there was a visible consolidation of Muslim votes in favor of the Congress.

The Audf of Ajmal won the Dhubri Headquarters in Muslim majority in 2019 with a 42%voting share. However, in 2024, the candidate of the congress beat Ajmal by raising 60% of the votes. AJMAL could manage a share of 18%.

Experts believe that Muslims have decisively for parties that could overcome the BJP. Something similar was observed in the Uttar Pradesh. The consolidation of Muslim votes in the segment of the Malegaon assembly cost BJP The Dhule Lok Sabha seat in 2024.

Muslim votes and election of the Bihar assembly

Although the awareness is timed awareness of the elections of the Bihar assembly, it stems from fear that the opposition to the BJP can end up hurting even its allies like JD (U) of Nitish Kumar, the Ham (s) of Chirag Paswan (s) by Jitan Ram Manjhi?

Santosh Singh does not believe that the BJP Saugat-E-Modi initiative aims to prevent Muslim votes which move away from its NDA allies in Bihar.

“First of all, I believe that the NDA does not have many Muslim votes. The BJP has a tiny section, but perhaps, as in 2010, they obtained a little Muslim votes,” he explains.

“I do not think that the JD (U), LJP or HAM (s) have fixed Muslim votes. It is floating, with a few votes here and there. So, I would not call it a drift,” he said, adding, “they cannot reach out to Muslims.”

Singh, the author of Books on Bihar Politics like JP in BJP, and the Jannayak Karpoori Thakur, believes that Muslim votes would always be divided between the Congress-RJD-Left Mahagathbandhan and, to a certain extent, the party of Jan Suraj of Jan Suraj of Kishor.

Why it's Saugat-E-Modi, not saugat-e-bjp

It is interesting to note that Saugat-E-Modi Comes after Jahan-E-Khusro.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued with the tradition of offering Chaadar for the Urs of Ajmer Dargah, he attended the Sufi music festival, Jahan-E-Khusro, in Delhi for the first time.

It was the 25th year of Jahan-E-Khusro, organized in the spring at La Pépinière Sunder in Delhi.

During the event, Prime Minister Modi underlined the unique identity of the Sufi tradition in India, where soufis saints have mixed Koranic lessons with Vedic principles and devotion music.

Distinct from politician Modi, Prime Minister Moda highlighted the syncretism and diversity of India.

The BJP's saugat-modat-modi aims to advance this awareness.

“In the end, this aims to improve the brand image of Modi. Do not forget that the EID kits are named Saugat-E-Modi, and not Saugat-E-BJP or Saugat-E-NDA”, explains Amitabh Tiwari.

Santosh Singh says: “The BJP wants the best of all worlds, they want a set. I think it is a typical attempt at the BJP of complete politics.”

This is what we get by unpacking the Saugat-E-Modi kit. The BJP tries to reach out to Muslims after a bitter electoral season and ahead of the Bihar polls, in the midst of a new confrontation on the Waqf bill. This, even if Prime Minister Modi presents himself as the chief of all India, following his “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas”. Although this cannot help the electrical BJP at present, it is not a bitter struggle for votes, but to soften perception. And Sewai (Vermicelli) helps.