Among the Muslims who are expected to attend the function will be professionals like doctors, engineers and, more significantly, imams, clerics, trustees of mosques and madrassas. So you will not miss the skull cap-donning, bearded members in the crowd cheering senior BJP leaders, including PM Narendra Modi. "This is a significant moment in Maharashtra's history and we want Muslims too to be part of it. Invites are being sent and we expect around 10,000 community members there," said BJP vice-president (Mumbai) Haider Azam.
Since a section of Muslims voted for the BJP in this election, it is justified that such a huge number of community members are being invited for the event. Muslims should not feel that they have been marginalized in the new political setup," said Pasha Patel, BJP's Muslim face in the state and its only Muslim candidate in the 2014 assembly polls. Despite Patel lost from Ausa (Latur), he is believed to be in the race for a ministerial berth (minority affairs and agriculture) in the Fadnavis-led cabinet.
Salim Alware of Khula Manch, an initiative of Muslim NGOs working for the community's political empowerment, said that Muslims should be made to share power by the new BJP government and not treated as just "showpieces at political functions." 'We have seen enough tokenism. Justice should be done now," he said.
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