Panaji, Aug 24 (IANS): It is still difficult to get Muslims to join the BJP en masse, vice president of the BJP's national minority morcha Liaqaut Ali said on Tuesday, while addressing a meeting of the party's minority morcha members.

Ali also said that Muslims are 25 per cent stakeholders in the BJP because one of the four BJP officials, who founded the party was Sikander Bakht, a Muslim himself.

"Bring together two families and you will be able to join four to eight families more. It is difficult to get all Muslims in the BJP together. They will not join easily," Ali told a function organised here to mark the birth anniversary of late Sikander Bakht, a Padma Vibhushan awardee.

"Muslims should come together, unite and join the government's development efforts. When they realise that Muslims are with them, they will not think twice before doing your jobs," Ali also said, urging members of the Muslim community to think positively. Ali is in Goa as part of the party's outreach programme ahead of the 2022 polls.

The national minority morcha official also said that Muslims accounted for nearly 1.5 to 2 lakh of the state's population of 15 lakh, which he said was an advantage, because the relatively small numbers, should make it easier to unite the members of the minority community.

"Goa is a small state with a total population of 15 lakh. It will have around 1.5 to 2 lakh Muslims. It is easier to unite 1.5 to 2 lakh persons. Other states have 50 lakh to two crore Muslims. It is difficult to unite them. This is a small state. It can be an example for India," Ali said.

"We are organising this programme (birth anniversary of the late Bakht) after many years, because we are 25 per cent stakeholders in the BJP. When the BJP was founded in 1980, at the time one of the four founders was one of us," he also said, referring to Bakht's contributions towards founding the BJP.