Ama Odisha candidate Sunjoy Hans campaigns near a mosque in Bhubaneswar. Telegraph picture

Political observers are wondering if BJP’s move to project Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate will influence the voting pattern of the minority community in the state.

The other question doing the rounds is whether Modi is a factor in a state, which despite the gruesome killing of Australian missionary Graham Staines in 1999 and the communal riots in Kandhamal in 2008, has, by and large, managed to keep its secular credentials intact?

Even in a state where Christians constitute just 2.44 per cent of the total population and the Muslims 2.07 per cent, these questions have become suddenly relevant with Modi the dominant focus of the ongoing poll debate.

The curiosity vis-a-vis the minority community’s response towards the much-maligned Gujarat strongman is even stronger because of the fact that as many as 20 Muslim candidates and at least one Sikh are trying their luck in the Assembly polls.

While four of these candidates have been fielded by the Congress, Aam Admi Party (AAP) has fielded five and the Bahujan Samaj Party three. While two Muslims are contesting as Independents, the ruling BJD has fielded one. Smaller parties such as Trinamul Congress and Kalinga Sena also boasts of a Muslim candidate each.

The west Odisha constituency of Kantabanjhi, part of backward Balangir district, is the cynosure of all eyes because the battle here is between two minority community candidates fighting on the tickets of the BJD and the Congress. The outgoing Congress MLA, Santosh Singh Saluja, perhaps the only Sikh in the fray this time, is pitted against Haji Mohammad Ayub Khan of the BJD.

The other Sikh from Balangir, Bhupinder Singh, a former leader of Opposition who quit the Congress to join the BJD on the eve of the polls, has been vigorously campaigning for the ruling party. Significantly, both Singh and Saluja made their mark in the state politics in the mid-80s when anti-Sikh sentiments generated in the wake of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination were still running high.

While Mohd Moquim, the Congress candidate for the Cuttack-Barabati Assembly seat is a prominent Muslim, the party’s Lok Sabha candidate in Cuttack, cine star, Aparajita Mohanty, claims affinity with the sizeable Muslim population of the constituency as her father belonged to the community.

Cuttack has produced even other Muslim leaders of repute like Syed Mustafiz Ahmad, who was a minister in the Biju Patnaik-led Janata Dal cabinet from 1990 to 1995.

Though the vast tribal heartland of Odisha has been witnessing a ding-dong battle between Hindutva forces and the Christian missionaries for the past few decades, the war having intensified briefly in the wake of Staines’ killing, the state has, by and large, free of the communal canker.

The story goes that in the early 70s when the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi offered the post of Congress minority cell chairman to the party veteran from Nabrangpur, Habibullah Khan, he declined politely as it would have affected his secular image. Habibullah, now part of the Congress history in the state, won election after election though there were only a handful of Muslims in his constituency.

No wonder the name of Modi evokes a whole range of emotions among the members of the minority community in different parts of the state.

“Our interests are safe only in the hands of BJD in the state and Congress at the Centre. We cannot be safe in the hands of Modi and there is no question of siding with him,” said Sk. Abdul Kadir, 65, of Balasore town.

Seikh Akhtar Ali, 73, another Muslim from the town, was less harsh in his judgment of the BJP prime ministerial candidate.

“The talk of Modi wave is just hot air. There is nothing of the kind,” said Ali barely hours after BJP veteran’s highly successful rally in Balasore.

For Seikh Nakib, 45, of Bhubaneswar, Modi remains a symbol of communal divide in the country. “We have seen how people of our community suffered in Gujarat riots. They still live in fear. Such a man should not become the country’s Prime Minister,” said Nakib, who favours the BJD.

But Mohammad Sabit of Kendrapara, a district with a sizeable chunk of Muslims, is ready to give the bearded Modi a chance.

On the other hand, Sikhs like Satbir Singh, 46, a businessman based in Bhubaneswar, appear neutral.

“The BJP or the Congress, it hardly matters. We will vote for development and good work,” he said.