... Ever since the rise of parties like the JD, the Samajwadi Party, the BVP or the RJD, the Muslim leaders have felt that they are being sidelines because the leaders of these parties have become popular among Muslims at the expense of the Muslim leaders. And the Muslim leaders' role of garnering Muslim votes for any particular party or leader has become more or less redundant.

Besides, with the rise of the BJP and increasing communal passion all over the country, the representation of Muslims in Parliament and legislative assemblies has also gone down substantially. This has created a certain amount of disenchantment within the Muslim community.

Moreover, this time around the traditional non-Congress secular parties, with the exception of RJD and the Left alliance, have wavered in their fight against the BJP. This in turn has led the Congress party to believe that it can recapture its traditional Muslim vote.

The Muslim leaders see in all this an opportunity to re-establish their credibility with the Muslim populace, lost since the demolition of Babari Masjid (But) open supporters of Vajpayee and BJP like (Bharati Majlis) are not too confident that they will be able to carry the Muslims with them if they actually campaign fort the BJP/NDA.  (Source: The Meantime, 11 August, 1999)