.. The BJP ... is being seen as the next ruling party at the Centre. It is this prospect of the BJP riding on a popular wave to power that has put a question mark before the Muslim voter: Where to go? The Congress has failed. The UF has failed. What next? This is what worries the Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid, Jawed Habib of Mushawarat, leaders of the Personal Law Board and the Milli Council and of course the Muslim masses. That is why they are looking towards the BJP also. Some like Aslam Sher Khan and Ayub Khan have taken a conscious decision to cast their lot with the BJP.

There must be many more who are as yet undecided because it is not just a question of Congress, UF or BJP. If the Muslims want to be in the mainstream politics they cannot afford to be treated as a herd or pocket borough by any party or a combination of parties because the solution of their problems does not lie in isolation but in gaining the confidence and support of all. BJP is no exception. But in order to join the mainstream politics, Muslims  have to shed their own herd instinct. If they want secularism to prosper in politics, they should talk in secular terms. The sooner they do so, the better for them.   (Source: The Organiser, 4 January, 1998)