In the continuing bid to woo the Muslim community in the run up to Lok Sabha election, former Mumbai top cop and recently turned-politician with BJP said that the party was “reaching out to the minorities”, especially Muslims who are “brothers”.
Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh who recently joined the party said that the BJP is reaching out to Muslims in the hope of convincing them to accept Narendra Modi as the country’s next prime minister.
Singh also said that the shift in approach trickled down to party grassroot — party workers and leaders, in their respective states, were focusing on neighbourhoods dominated by minorities and helping them form an informed opinion.
“We are reaching out to the minorities including Muslims as they are our brothers,” Singh told IANS, adding that the exercise aimed to remove fallacies about Modi and the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Singh also played up the recent clean chit by Supreme Court appointed SIT to BJP’s PM candidate, accused of complicity in the 2002 Gujarat riots. “If the system which we have created gives a clean chit to a person (Modi) then who are we to find a fault with it?” said Singh.
“If a riot takes place in a state, is only the CM responsible? What about the officers? Human rights organizations? Aren’t they responsible and accountable,” he asked.
Singh also ruled out any possibility of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) hurting the BJP vote share in the upcoming polls. “They (AAP) have shown the way, yes and have an influence in the NCR (national capital region) but cannot take on Modi. I don’t see it (AAP) as a political challenge for us,” said Singh.
“As far as the country’s prime minister is concerned, the voters are clear that they want Modi for the job,” he added.
Fifty nine-year-old Singh had quit from the Indian Police Service on 31 Jan “weighing future career options.” An officer of the 1980 batch, Singh took over as Mumbai police commissioner in Aug 2012 and was earlier with the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Known for his controversial statements several times in his professional life, Singh became the first city police commissioner to quit while in service.
“I had already worked for the police department for 33 years and had done enough. My sphere of working was limited as I was confined to Mumbai city. I wanted to contribute towards nation building and that could be done only through politics,” he said.
“Now I will be working for the entire nation. If you want to change the society, the good people with clean intentions need to come out and work,” he added.
According to Singh, he felt “connected” with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) ideology which led to his decision to joined it.
“I connected with the party’s ideology of nation building and communal and social harmony,” said Singh adding that he has “never been affiliated with the Rashtriya Swamsevak Sangh ever in his life.
” While heading the Mumbai police, Singh dealt with aggressive regional players like the Shiv Sena, an ally of the BJP and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), notorious for their protests and agitations that often turn violent.
The ransacking of toll-booths by the MNS last week was one of the many face-offs that that have taken place between the outfits and police.
Admitting that he did not agree with the politics of Shiv Sena, Singh said “Had I agreed with the politics of Shiv Sena, I would have joined it. If I don’t agree with something, I will voice my opinion,” Singh told IANS, when asked about the the possibility of him working with Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.
Ready to perform “any responsibility given by the party,” Singh said he would personally like to transform the country’s education system. “According to me we have to shake up things in our education system.” Citing a survey, Singh said that “only 18 percent of graduating engineers in India were employable.”
“This paints a very dismal picture of higher education in our country and the situation is probably worse in schools. The new government has to focus on education,” he said.
Eager to fight from Uttar Pradesh, Singh rejected the Election Commission’s proposal of imposing a cooling-off period between a bureaucrat’s retirement and formal entry into a political party saying it was an “an individual opinion” and that “everybody has the fundamental right to join politics and fight elections.”IANS