By Abdul Bari Masoud, M M News
New Delhi: It is said that if communal forces surges ahead in elections, then minority representation comes down. This happened many a times in past. But in the just concluded 16th general elections, it is unprecedented as UP, which boasts of largest Muslims i.e. around 35 million, could not send a single Muslim to the Lower House of Parliament for the first time after independence. This is a worrisome fact as UP has also joined in the league of major Indian states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka and Rajasthan etc where no Muslim get elected since a long time. Besides a host of factors have contributed to the non-election of Muslim candidates in UP which is known as the hotbed of Caste-based politics, but it seemed that the state was under the complete sway of communal frenzy.
Because of UP, number of Muslim MPs has come down from 29 to 23 in the new Lower House. The largest chunk of Muslims got elected from West Bengal that is eight followed by Bihar which did elect four Muslim candidates. Of the 23 Muslim MPs only one is woman. It is a history since independence that Muslims never get adequate representation either in Parliament or State assemblies despite their sizable population. This amply reflects poor foundation of secularism and flaws in electoral system. Highest numbers of Muslims MPs were elected in 1980 when 49 were members of India’s highest legislative body. It is a very disturbing trend for a democracy where the representation of minority community is continuously declining. Officially Muslims constitute more than 15 per cent total population, but the caste and communal politics have marginalized them in the majoritarian set up of democracy.
What happened in 1991 elections was a repeat sort of this time also. Modi’s roller-coaster ride means loss of Muslim representation as communal forces under his command have succeeded in exploiting the sentiments of gullible people to the hilt. It is the lowest ever tally of Muslim owes to the decimation of Congress, the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), who had allotted to maximum Muslims to contest. Since the first in Lok Sabha, Muslim representation has been vacillated between 28 and 40. It should have been around at least 60 considering their population is not concentrated in many parts of the country. They are sparsely populated in major part of the country that is a major drawback of their poor representation in the polarized political atmosphere.
Muslim candidates who have won the elections, are belong to All India Trinamool Congress (AITMC), CPM, Congress, RJD, NCP, LJP, AIMIM, AIUDF (Assam), PDP, IUML and AIADMK. While BJP’s lone Muslim face Shahnawaz Hussain also lost from the Bhagalpur parliamentary constituency in Bihar. He was defeated by Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Shailesh Kumar by around 9,000 votes. Congress Muslim faces from Ghulam Nabi Azad to Salman Khurshid and Mohammad Azharuddin also got defeated.
On the basis of results eight Muslims won from West Bengal, four from Bihar, including Tariq Anwar, Taslimuddin, three from Kerala [IUML], two from Assam, three from Jammu & Kashmir that include three PDP candidates and one from Andhra Pradesh, one from Tamil Nadu AIADMK’s Anwar Raja Lakshadweep et al. Asaduddin Owaisi has retained his traditional Hyderabad seat on MIM ticket while Congress has done so badly that in Lakshadweep too its candidate Hamidullah Sayeed son of former deputy speaker P M Sayeed has lost to NCP’s Muslim candidate.
Another major factor of Muslim candidates’ defeat is split of Muslim and secular votes as happened in UP. Secular votes divided among the SP, the BSP and the Congress. For example in Aonla seat, where Muslims constitute 34 per cent, Dharmindra Kumar of BJP won by 2 lakh votes. Muslim votes got divided amongst the SP, the BSP and the Congress party’s Salim Iqbal Sherwani. A similar trend is visible in Moradabad, Sambhal, Barelie , Barabanki, Blundsheher, Rampur, Muzaffarnagar and other seats as well. It looks, while Muslim votes got divided, the Hindu votes transcended caste barriers and voted overwhelmingly for the BJP. No doubt it will be watershed elections in the annals of Indian democracy as communal frenzy swept away all the good things that needed for a healthy polity. Soon many people will realize their folly as dust of elections settled down.
“Of the 23 Muslim MPs only one is woman” Really???? Are you sugeesting that Mehbooba Mufti, Mamtaz Sanghamitra and AFRIN ALI 9albeit a convert previously known as APARUPA PODDAR only add up to one MP?