India's Hindu nationalist BJP seeks Muslim 'friends' for 2024 election

FILE PHOTO: Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi (2nd L), prime ministerial candidate for India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), receives flowers from a Muslim cleric after the inauguration of a hospital owned by a Muslim trust at Balasinore town, east of the western Indian city of Ahmedabad November 10, 2013. REUTERS/Amit Dave/File Photo

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Nafis Ansari, a school principal who is Muslim, was enlisted this year by the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as a "Modi Mitr", or friend of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The resident of the central state of Madhya Pradesh promotes the party to neighbours and relatives at events such as weddings and tea sessions at friends' homes. He speaks about how the BJP's welfare policies benefit all communities, and talks up India's status as a rising global power under Modi.