There is an entity called Muslims whose name nobody wants to take or talk about. Not to talk about anybody is also a different kind of politics. If I counter you or criticise you, at least I will be recognising your existence. But when I ignore you and point out your mistakes and problems without addressing the concerned, it is very dangerous and is a different kind of politics where I don’t even recognise your existence. And this is what is happening with the Muslims today,” said Hilal Ahmed, Assistant Professor CSDS and Rajya Sabha fellow while addressing a public meet on, “Muslims’ Political Representation,” organised by JIH at its headquarters on 21 May.
On the question of Muslims’ representation in politics, Hilal said the language of representation has varied from time to time since Independence and the representation has to be studied at all levels from local bodies, to state elections, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, then only we can understand the actual representation and the changing paradigm from one period to another.
He added: It is true to say that the representation of Muslims has been generally less as compared to their percentage of population. But what is significant is that the representation of Muslims, if we consider the post of President and the Vice President, has been more than that of the percentage of Muslim population. The question of Muslims’ representation has been changing from time to time. If we analyse it in totality, we may come across that out of 1500 Rajya Sabha MPs, Muslims’ representation has been around 10 per cent and in Lok Sabha 5 per cent.
On the Muslim perception of politics, he argued that more often it was the argument of the RSS that Muslims wanted to go to Pakistan and they are separatists; this was the language of 1919 to 1947 period which we are now told and reminded of even today. The mindset and the language before 1947 has become the narrative of today and it is dangerous.
While recalling the nature of political institution after Independence, the learned speaker said, “I remember a speech of Maulana Mawdudi in Madras a few months before Independence wherein he said that the logic of political institution is going to change. Unfortunately we have monumentalised that speech so much that it has become a sermon instead of speech. It was required to be understood very critically and a lot of thinking is required to decode such type of a message to understand it in its true spirit.”
On the present challenges and the way forward, Hilal said that answer to the present mindset has to be dealt by pushing aggressive democracy at all levels.