Asif Moazzam Jamai
Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh is in the offing. All parties are eyeing on Muslim votes. Unlike yadavs, scheduled castes, kurmis, paswans and others, Muslims have no leaders or parties to fall back on. To vote for so-called secular parties had been their choice and option. As soon as the election in UP is drawing closer, the so-called sympathizer of Muslims are surfacing with best possible seasonal advises and promises. BSP chief Mayawati exhorted the minority community not to “waste” their votes on the Samajwadi Party (SP) or the Congress if they want to defeat the BJP. Azam Khan says, “Na to Musalman paani ka bulbula hai aur na hi thali ka baingan hai, jise kahin bhi ludhka diya jaye”. (Muslims are neither insignificant nor pushovers).
The Indian constitution was framed to evolve a mechanism to secure liberal, secular and egalitarian objectives based on liberty, equality, and social justice. The separate electorate had gone and Muslims were convinced that there could be no separate Muslim politics in independent India. They even didn’t think of forming a separate political party and continued supporting congress with faith and hope. Badruddin Tayabji and Rahmatullah Sayani were among the founders of the Congress. The third session of congress was held at Madras under the presidentship of Tayabji. In his address, he said, ‘I am utterly at a loss to understand why Musalmans should not work shoulder to shoulder with their fellow-countrymen of other races and creeds for the common benefit of all’. Hamid Ali from Lucknow said, ‘…there is absolutely no need for different platforms for Hindus and Muslims but one common platform where there is ample room for both.’
Ideals of Gandhism, democracy, socialism, and secularism are witnessed to be sinking in our orthodox and tradition-bound social structure and practices backed up by religious and cultural traditions and values. Caste in modern India is still playing a dominant role. Caste is so tacitly and so completely accepted by all, that it is everywhere the unit of social action.
The influence of caste permeates every area and level of political and administrative life of the nation. It begins with the electoral politics. All parties including the so-called secular parties like the CPI and CPM select their candidates for elections with an eye on the Caste composition of the constituencies concerned. Every party tries to select candidates from the numerically dominant caste in the electoral area. There is an electoral maxim in Haryana: Jat ki beti Jat Ko, Jat ki vote Jat ko (a Jat gives his daughter away in marriages to a Jat, so he gives his vote to a Jat).
The argument in favor of casteism is that it is playing a progressive role in modernizing Indian society. The primary function of caste politics has been to transfer authority from the higher to the lower and middle castes. Casteism has become a means of leveling the old order of inequality and uplifting the downtrodden sections of society. It has created in them a sense of self-respect and generated the consciousness that if they unite on caste basis they can challenge the dominance of the higher castes and better their economic lot and social standing.
Muslims in India have their own stories. They have been used in most of the situations as a vote bank by different political parties. Congress ruled India uninterruptedly for 30 years from 1947 to 1977. It eased out Muslims from all important economic sectors through informal or veiled or not so veiled practice of discrimination. Samajwadi party came to power with the promise of 18% reservation for Muslims. Mulayam had also vowed to release all Muslims framed in false terror cases in the country. There are around 64 Mulsim MLAs elected from different parties, but none of them raised a question against hundreds of communal riots that took place in Akhilesh regime. Even a leader of the stature of Azam Khan, couldn’t utter a word against his party, while Supreme Court of India held the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party prima facie guilty of negligence in preventing the violence. It was only peace party, which has 4 MLAs, protested in front of assembly with a large number of its workers over the Muzaffarnagar violence.
Muslims in India are passing through a difficult time. They have hardly shown any capacity to bargain. Their participation is taken for granted. The whole question of their political behavior centers on consideration of safety and security. On the social plane, Muslims have also failed to understand the dynamics of Indian politics. They are exploited emotionally and their leadership has miserably failed to lead the Muslim masses. It may also be pointed out that Muslims themselves have failed to carve out any strategy of political behavior and suffer from acute functionalism. Hence, the bargaining position of Muslims is not adequately projected or noticed by the political elite. As a result, Muslims are gradually sliding down to a situation of not getting any support from the political system. Also, the system is steadily drawing itself away from already suffering Muslim community.
Muslim community was the one that had been politically the most active and effective since world war one. After partition, Muslim leadership decided to abandon the so-called ‘Muslim politics’. It is argued by some social scientists, that Jamiat-e-Ulama-e-Hind should have provided a dynamic and far-sighted leadership to the Indian Muslims. Their decision to keep Muslims away from active politics, dissolve their political identity and submerge in the congress was destined to hurt the Muslim interest incalculably.
In this caste based political system in India, each political party is supported primarily by a sizeable section of particular community and caste. RJD’s strength comes from Yadavs in Bihar, Samajwadi’s from Yadavs in UP, BSP’s from scheduled castes and so on. Their caste votes bring them electoral strength and real political power with a capacity to rule and bargain.
Any community deprived of its leader is a pushover. Why shouldn’t Muslims, as a marginalized community and not as a religious minority, have the custodian of their votes? Some argue this will lead to polarization, which is not true. Vote pattern in India is now deeply on caste line and not on religious line. Therefore, Muslims voting in unification for their leader and party will be seen simply a pattern followed by other communities of India. Muslims figure around 19% in UP. Their vote turns to be deciding factor in who is going to form the government. Each political party comes forward with lollipops for the community right before the election and tries to get whatever it can, and vanishes in the thick air right after the election. Following the own leader and the party headed by own leaders will reduce chances of being blackmailed. Such a party will definitely be part of alliance and governance as well. The mass following will strengthen the leader and place him in a position to bargain, which is a must for the community.
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IF MUSLIMS PLAY POLITICS THAT IS BAD SIGN FOR THEMSELVES …
ISLAM CAME TO DO JUSTICE TO ALL.
MUSLIMS SHOULD DO HIS BEST TO SUPPORT RIGHT CAUSE………..
THAT IS TRUE OF S MUSLIM………………………………………………
ALL POLITICAL PARTIES ARE FULL OF CORRUPT MEN AND WOMEN…..
AND CORRUPTION IS “HARAM”