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Vote for me, Muslimeen<\/div>\n

<\/p><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

Ever since the Babri Masjid<\/a> demolition in Ayodhya, India a decade ago, a Hindu nationalist movement known as Hindutva has dominated the Indian political scene. Several political parties have played the Hindutva<\/a> card to stoke emotions (and thus votes), and no group has been more successful at this than the currently ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). But now that the BJP and its PM Atal Behari Vajpayee are entrenched at the top of India\u2019s political pyramid, and other, more extreme Hindu nationalist groups are using the same strategy, the BJP is looking back<\/a> at the 12% of India that it left behind \u2013 the Muslims \u2013 as a possible new votebank<\/a>. The \u201cnew and improved\u201d BJP has been working overtime<\/a> to field Muslim candidates (most stolen from the secular Congress party) and tout recent overtures<\/a> to Pakistan in order to recast the group as respectful<\/a> and even representative of India\u2019s 120 million Muslims. \u201cMy government has never discriminated against anybody on communal lines,\u201d said Vajpayee at a Muslim-dominated election rally in Bihar. \u201cGujarat must not happen again.\u201d But many Muslim voters, tired of being taken for granted<\/a> by Congress and wary of BJP\u2019s new image, remain unconvinced. \u201cAfter what happened at Ayodhya and the communal riots in Gujurat, there is a lot of insecurity within our Muslim community, and the BJP is responsible<\/a> for it,\u201d said media consultant Sadia Devli. \u201cThey are responsible for Ayodhya and what happened in Gujurat and Muslims should vote to get rid of them.\u201d But in the first days of a three-week election process in the world\u2019s largest democracy, exit polls<\/a> show that the new strategy may be working. In the end, the BJP \u2013 who reached the top after years of struggle and desperately want to stay in power<\/a> \u2013 simply did the math and realized that there are more Muslim voters than extremist<\/a> Hindu ones.<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.\n<\/p>\n

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