Senior BJP leader and former Minister of State Shahnawaz Hussain on Sunday said that Narendra Modi is the “favourite” prime ministerial candidate of Muslims for 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Hussain said Modi has dispelled the “fear” that several parties had instilled in the mind of the Muslim community. He claimed the faith in Modi among Muslims, especially the women, has increased.

“The favourite prime ministerial candidate for Muslims in the 2019 polls is Narendra Modi because he sees all 132 crore people of the country just as Indians. Other parties have seen them as a vote bank,” Hussain said.

Hussain said the Congress is responsible for poverty and backwardness of the Muslims in the country, adding the Congress had done injustice to the community while Modi had given them justice.

“Some people in 2014 used to scare others using Narendra Modi’s name. Today, a large number of people from the Muslim community also feel that he is a man who works day and night. Narendra Modi treats all 132 crore Indians alike,” he said.

He said Modi’s “shamshan-kabristan” statement in the run-up to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls last year was “wrongly interpreted” as he had advocated taking care of both.

“In our party, some people may be making (certain) statements, but Muslims have full faith on the statements made by BJP chief Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” the former Union minister said.

“Our party president and our prime minister have never given any statement that would hurt Muslims,” he claimed, asserting that the community would back the BJP in the 2019 general elections.

On the Ram temple issue, Hussain said for the BJP, it was a matter of faith and not a poll plank.

“From October 29, there will be day-to-day hearing (in the Supreme Court). We are hopeful that this issue will be resolved soon and it will be acceptable to all the people in the country.

“Some people are also demanding that a law is made (for the construction of the temple). Everybody has a right to demand, how can anybody stop that? The government has the right to decide and it has not taken any decision in this regard,” he said.

He also claimed that issues such as rising petrol and diesel prices will not hamper the BJP’s poll prospects, saying the people were aware that the fuel problem was a global one.

The Modi government will come to power with a bigger mandate in 2019, Hussain asserted.

(With agency inputs)