Jamnagar civic polls: A butcher among BJP’s 6 Muslim candidates

Is not it shocking the BJP and RSS who always wants a nation wide beef/ meat ban have selected a candidate who is a butcher by professional .

Salim Lakha, 53, from Ward No.12 owns shop no. 16 in the meat market located behind Darbargadh on Kalavad road. Lakha is one among the six Muslim BJP candidates in the fray for Jamnagar Municipal Corporation elections scheduled for Sunday.

It is for the first time that Lakha is contesting any election. With him, BJP has fielded its former corporator Asgar Ali Kapasi (69), Amrin Bloch, wife of a Dubai-based marketing professional and Kanku Parmar from Ward No.12 to woo Muslim voters. There are around 32,000 voters in Ward No.12 and Muslims account for 22,000 of them.

After getting selected for contesting election, now Lakha rides a bike with the saffron scarf wound around its handlebar. A BJP flag swirls atop the building that houses his shop.

“Butchery is our family profession. I joined BJP during the 2012 Assembly polls. As recognition of my work, I was given the ticket to contest this election. I want to win and work for the development of my area,” Lakha says.

Lakha says he does not talk politics at his shop. “Muslims, Hindus, Dalits are my customers. But I don’t solicit votes from my customers.

“After I joined BJP, my area has seen development. We have got CC roads, paver blocks and drinking water distribution lines. While seeking votes, I am promising people further development like underground drainage lines and proper solid waste management,” says Lakha.

Asked how he feels to be associated with a party which is seeking ban on beef, he says, “I am absolutely comfortable to be with BJP. Islam taught us respecting others religious sentiments, we never slaughter a cow. Though there is ban on cow slaughter in our state I am earning enough from my meat shop to support my family.”