No Muslim MP in Rajya Sabha with end of term

The BJP will have no Muslim MP among its 395 Members of Parliament with the end of the Rajya Sabha term of Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Thursday. Naqvi, who resigned from the Cabinet on Wednesday, was among three BJP Muslim MPs whose term ended during the recent round of Rajya Sabha polls to 57 seats across 15 states, but none of them were renominated by the party.

The term of two other people, former Union minister M J Akbar and Syed Zafar Islam, has already ended.

The opposition has accused the BJP of not giving adequate representation to Muslims, but the saffron party has maintained that its MPs are not representatives of any religion.

Over the decades, Muslim BJP MPs have had a nominal presence in Parliament. Naqvi has been a Rajya Sabha member for three terms, Najma Heptulla for two terms and Shahnawaz Hussain, currently a minister in the Bihar government, was elected twice to Lok Sabha. Naqvi was a member of the Lok Sabha for a term.

Sikander Bakht, a founding member of the party and one of its first three general secretaries, was a Rajya Sabha member twice.

After a considerable period of time, the BJP will not have a Muslim MP.

In response to questions about the development, BJP minority morcha chief Jamal Siddiqui said politics should not be tied to religion and that MPs are elected as representatives of the people and not of any religion.

Even if someone from our religion or caste is not there, we should understand that our own countrymen are there. He said that the party will ensure the representation of all communities because of the constant change in the BJP.

The party has Muslim lawmakers in some states, including one in Bihar and UP.

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked BJP leaders at its recent national executive meeting in Hyderabad to cultivate deprived sections in communities other than Hindus, there is a buzz about the party's outreach to Muslims, India's largest minority community.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma highlighted the party's good performance in local polls in some regions with a large Muslim population.