Naqvi’s Mewat outreach bid gets mute response
Barely hours after the “surgical strikes” across the Line of Control (LoC) had been confirmed on Thursday, Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi asked crowds in Mewat: “Raise your hands. How many of you are with [the prime minister] in his fight against this enemy of India?”
Not a single hand in the crowd remained unraised.
As Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) workers celebrated the army’s operation across the LoC, Naqvi launched the government’s “progress panchayat” programme, promising the people of the town, about 120 km south of Delhi, schools to teach driving and nursing, as well as one for girls.
The town was in news earlier this month because of the BJP state government’s “beef raids” during Id.
On Thursday, Naqvi pleaded to the residents of the town to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union government during the difficult phase the country was going through.
“Modiji needs your support and blessings,” he said. “Another country is the enemy of the 1.25 billion people of India, both Hindus and Muslims. Such forces should get a befitting reply.”
He added Modi was the protector of the nation.
The crowd of about a few thousand people seemed only mildly enthused by the presence of the Union minister and his state government counterparts, or the promises of schools and other amenities.
The government is planning 100 “progress panchayats” across the country to in a bid to reach out to the community. Mewat, which is predominantly populated by Muslims, has missed the development that has touched its neighbouring Gurgaon. Naqvi assured his audience that the government was committed to their security and development.