Danish Azad Ansari, the only Muslim minister in Uttar Pradesh, on Sunday claimed that his community is warming up to the BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
The Ballia resident was inducted into the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government as a minister of state on Friday and needs to be elected to the state assembly or the legislative council in the next six month to continue on the post.
Mr Ansari said the Muslim community is now shedding the "illusion" created by opposition parties like the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress.
"The BJP is getting the love of Muslim society now and the love for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is increasing continuously in the Muslim community," he told PTI.
"Faith in the BJP is being awakened in the community," he added.
Mr Ansari, 34, said PM Modi's vision of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Vikas' is expanding the BJP vote base and Muslims are being drawn more towards the BJP.
He claimed that the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the 2022 Assembly elections suggest this.
But the BJP fielded no Muslim candidate in the just-ended UP Assembly election. Its ally Apna Dal (S) nominated Haidar Ali Khan from Suar in Rampur, and he was defeated.
The previous Yogi Adityanath government too had a single Muslim member --- Mohsin Raza, a minister of state.
Mr Ansari claimed that the opposition thought of Muslims only as a vote bank "But the Muslim community has now understood that the SP, the BSP and the Congress have always cheated them. The Muslim community has realised that only Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will work for their true development," he said.
The minister said PM Modi has dreamed of making India a global leader and all youth, and the Muslim community, will have to play an important role in making this come true.
He said it is the dream of PM Modi and Yogi Adityanath that every section of society is connected with the mainstream of development, and they will fulfil this.
He said there should be efforts to take government schemes to the grassroots. He said the Yogi Adityanath government will take inputs on what it needs to do for the betterment of the Muslim community, particularly the youth.
Education is a fundamental right and synonymous with development and he will make special efforts to take the Muslim community forward in this field, Mr Ansari said.
He will take the initiative to connect urban schools with technical education, the minister said.
Mr Ansari joined the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in 2010 when he was studying at Lucknow University. He has done Masters in Public Administration and Quality Management.
He was nominated to the Urdu Language Committee in the previous Adityanath government in October 2018 and was made the general secretary of the minorities cell of the BJP just before the assembly elections.
The portfolios are yet to be announced for the members of the new Adityanath ministry. The BJP and its allies won 273 seats in the 403-member state assembly.
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