Abdul Salam, BJP's Lone Muslim Candidate In Kerala (image@Calicutvc)
In Kerala, the Bharatiya Janata Party fielded its only Muslim candidate in Malappuram. The party gave ticket to Dr Abdul Salam from the Muslim dominated constituency for the upcoming Lok Sabha election.
Dr Salam is a PhD holder and served as the Vice Chancellor (VC) of Calicut University from 2011 – 2015. Reportedly, he was chosen as the VC by IUML (Indian Union Muslim League), who was part of the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) then.
He stepped into politics because he was “mesmerized by Prime Minister Narendra Modi”. The academic joined the party in 2019. Two years after he joined BJP, he contested from Tirur for the Kerala Assembly election. He lost to IUML’s Kurukkoli Moideen over a margin of 70,000 votes.
During an Interview with The Quint, Dr Salam said he joined BJP, “despite never having an iota of interest in politics, because he was mesmerized by Prime Minister Narendra Modi”.
In Malappuram, Dr Salam will be contesting against ET Mohammed Basheer of IUML, and V Vaseef of CPI(M). Malappuram Lok Sabha constituency is a fort of Muslim League.
The 71-year-old Dr Salam is also national president of BJP’s Minority Morcha. On the question of BJP’s controversy remarks about Muslims, including the Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s comment about BJP “not needing Muslim voters”, Dr Salam said that India is a huge country with over 115 crore Hindus, and they are not humungous and do not have the same “Modi way” of thinking and behaviour.
He said there are “hardline Hindus, perhaps due to ignorance or illiteracy or narrow thinking. Such people are there, they will behave like that. That is not the character of the BJP”, as quoted by The Quint.
He also said that building a Ram Mandir is “not an issue” among Muslims in Kerala. He said, “it was an issue, but it is no longer one. It is legally settled. Even the Muslim leadership has said that it is a legally settled issue. Don”t bind them with the Ram Mandir temple and put them in a difficult spot. It is a manufactured issue”.
