‘Here as a family member, not PM’: Mega outreach to Dawoodi Bohra community

New Delhi, February 10

“I am here as your family member. I am not here as Prime Minister,” PM Narendra Modi said on Friday while inaugurating the Mumbai campus of Dawoodi Bohra community’s principal educational institute Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah in Andheri.

It was a mega outreach to Bohras, one of the communities the PM had listed for BJP’s community engagement at the recently held national executive in Delhi. The PM said, “I am here as a member of your family, not a PM or CM. I have been associated with the Bohras for four generations. It’s my special privilege. Whenever I have had an occasion to meet you, my joys have abounded.”

The PM said the identity of any community, society and organisation depends on how much can it sustain its relevance with the passage of time. “Dawoodi Bohras have always proved themselves in the acid test of relevance. The expansion of Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah campus to Mumbai is a proof of that. I am privileged to know four generations of Syedna Saifuddin Sahab’s family and can never forget the sight when I saw him teaching youth at 99 years of age.”

9-judge Bench to take up community’s issue

Does the Dawoodi Bohra community have rights to excommunicate its members? A five-judge Constitution Bench led by Justice SK Kaul on Friday referred the issue to a nine-judge Constitution Bench which is dealing with other such issues, including the Sabarimala Temple entry issue