BJP elevates retd top cop to national team

Tribune News Service

Jammu, June 18

With an eye on Muslim votes in the Jammu region, the BJP has appointed retired Inspector General of Police (IGP) Farooq Khan as national secretary of the party. It is for the first time in the history of the party that a person from J&K has been included in the national team.

Khan had joined the BJP on March 26 last year during a political rally at Hiranagar in Kathua district in the presence of Narendra Modi, who was then the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate.

The elevation of Khan to the post of national secretary within a period one year and three months is considered a well-devised strategy of the party to make inroads into the Muslim-dominated areas of Jammu province, especially the twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri.

Khan, who belongs to Jammu, has close links with the BJP leadership. His late grandfather, Colonel Peer Mohammad, was the first state president of the Jammu and Kashmir Jana Sangh.

“I am grateful to the party for giving me such an important responsibility. I will work with dedication and commitment to shoulder this responsibility,” Khan told The Tribune.

When asked about BJP’s image being projected by some groups as anti-Muslim, Khan said that some vested interests had launched a vicious campaign against the party just for petty political gains. “I am in the party for the last one year and three months; I have never seen any anti-Muslim attitude of the party. I can rather say that the BJP is the most secular party of the country,” Khan said.