AHMEDABAD: Muslims had crooked up in large numbers in 2011 when then chief minister Narendra Modi tried an image conversion and launched Sadbhavna Mission to draw the minorities.

A year later, though, the "sadbhavna" failed to convert into reality with the BJP not fielding any Muslim candidate in the 2012 Gujarat assembly elections+. This, even after the BJP+ offered tickets to Muslims in the home body polls seven years ago and many of them are emerging winners.

Let us look at the national voting pattern of Muslims in the last four Lok Sabha elections to elaborate this point. The BJP usually gets 5 to 6 per cent Muslim votes at the national level. The Lok Sabha election of 2014 is an exception in this regard. The BJP secured around 9 per cent Muslim vote, which makes it the third possible choice for Muslim voters. The claim that Muslims “are being made to believe that the BJP is communal and a confirmed anti-Muslim party”, therefore, is factually incorrect from the point of view of a significant number of Muslim voters.

Five years down the line, Muslims leaders are seeking some "real sadbhavna" and hoping that BJP — that has since 1980 fielded only one candidate in assembly elections in year 1998 — to turn a new leaf politically and field minority candidates for making greater inroads into the community.

 "During the fresh Parliamentary Board meeting, many Muslim community leaders have requested for party ticket. Representations have been made for Jamalpur-Khadia, Vejalpur, Vagra, Wankaner, Bhuj and Abdasa seats," Chishti said.