N. Jamal Ansari analyses the election scenario vis-à-vis Muslims in India, and suggests to the Muslims to break free from the political bondage of any political party and exercise their franchise cautiously and wisely to candidates in their respective constituencies having really secular credentials.
Elections are round the corner. All political parties are trying to garner Muslim votes in a strategic, and in some cases in a diabolic, manner. Once again Muslims are being lured into casting votes in favour of this or that party later to be dumped mercilessly. History of elections in India shows that Muslims matter only at the time of elections otherwise they have been excluded from “We, the People” of Constitution of India. They have been made “certified second class citizens”. It is time they should draw a political plan to assert themselves. Muslims should take into account performance of different political parties and latest developments within the Muslim society for finally chalking out a strategy.
Muslims have continuously voted for the Congress by and large till now but the history of post-Independence India indicates that this party is not willing to redress their grievances. Muslim youth, particularly educated ones, are being selectively picked up by the police and ATS in the name of “war against terrorism”. Batla House encounter was staged during the UPA regime. A number of memorandums, demonstrations, rallies etc. have not proved effective in convincing the UPA government to initiate a judicial enquiry into the Batla House encounter. Why did the government shy away from an enquiry if the encounter was not fake? It is just an example. Hence, supporting Congress in every constituency means giving it licence to kill our children. Muslims have supported Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party. No doubt, he is one of the secular leaders but he too changed with the passage of time. Mayawati’s BSP is nothing but a version of BJP. She can join hands with BJP at any time. During her Chief Ministership too atrocities against Muslims continued. BJP is totally out of context for the Muslims. Varun Gandhi’s two speeches are enough to see what will happen if this Hindutva party came to power. This is the political landscape prevailing in the country. Let’s analyse certain political developments too.
Ittehad-e-Millat Council has declared support to the Congress. Headed by M. Tauqeer Raza, it is not a paper organisation. It has a large following and can turn the tide in the Ruhailkhand area. Badruddin Ajmal has expanded UDF to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. Ulema Council has also fielded eight candidates. There are some small Muslim political parties like National Loktantarik Party which will dent Muslim votes. Parcham Party of India led by Peerzada Saleem can shake the political ground but unfortunately it is not financially sound. The overall situation of the Muslim political parties is that they are able to just snatch away some secular votes, ultimately ensuring victory of BJP candidates in most places.
Now the question is: what Muslims should do? How can they regain the lost ground in the political arena? How can they make their presence felt? Before jumping to any conclusion, we must analyse some ground level realities.
The Muslims have 11 Muslim majority constituencies in the country including three in Jammu & Kashmir, 34 constituencies where Muslims are above 25 per cent and 53 constituencies with 15 per cent Muslim population. An analysis of the last four general elections in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2004 indicates that most Muslims get elected from the first two categories. Detailed analysis of the 2004 general elections shows that the secular parties who claim to be Muslim-friendly field very few Muslim candidates. Usually they field Muslim candidates in those constituencies which have low percentage of Muslims. Naturally they do not win.
We must consider another aspect of Indian secular politics. In 2004, the Congress was a challenger to BJP at the national level. But the S.P. of Mulayam Singh Yadav and BSP of Mayawati fielded their candidates in other states also. They failed to win a single seat but by dividing Muslim votes, they ensured victory for BJP or its allies. The mistake is being repeated this time too even in U.P. and Bihar.
Muslims need realisation that their economic and educational backwardness, social vilification, anti-Muslim bias in administration and civil rights deprivations are due to their under-representation in the policy making bodies. On the other hand, Muslims are becoming self-centred and involve themselves only in issues which directly concern them. They are not participating in the movements of common interest. It is due to the fact that there is lack of national interest in Muslim problems. Indian polity is not responding to the growing problems of Muslims particularly that of security. Muslims have security concern on two counts. They have been targeted by communal forces for a long time. Of late, young Muslims are being picked up in the name of ill-conceived “war against terrorism”. Nefarious design of harassing talented Muslim youth is now fully exposed. India’s socio-political scenario is compelling them to re-invent political strategy.
Muslims must realise that “Proportional Representation System” is not possible now. Unfortunately in 1949, the Muslims lost the battle of political empowerment because few Muslim members of the Constituent Assembly ditched them on the issue of reservation. Now they have only one choice – to assert themselves politically. While embarking upon such a mission, they should not be carried away by sentiments. They must go by political compulsions and logics.
Ulema Council has raised an important issue. They carried two fully packed special trains to Delhi and Lucknow against continuing killings of Muslims in fake encounters. Political elite failed to respond positively due to fear of being exposed and denied legitimate demands of enquiries in such encounters. My opinion is that wherever an Ulema Council candidate is in the field, he should be given full support. Such support will send a message that Muslims are not willing to keep quiet on state terrorism. Badruddin Ajmal’s UDF also must be backed to bring real Muslims in bargaining position.
At the national level, only Congress is capable to challenge BJP, hence wherever its candidate is in sound position, Muslims should vote for him. In U.P. they must prefer Samajwadi candidates over BSP’s because track record of Mayawati is not encouraging for Muslims. She had publicly sided with Narendra Modi. Though she fielded more Muslims than any other party, they are worthless. Some people may argue that Kalyan Singh’s entry into Samajwadi party indicates Mulayam’s drift towards Hindutva but that’s illogical. Kalyan is not a factor at all. Somebody has compared Advani as an avatar of Brahma and said that Vajpayee symbolises Vishnu. If that’s true, I believe that Kalyan Singh may become Mahesh (the destroyer). In short Muslims should vote for those who may form a pressure group on the coming ruling elite, so that they may save their young children from being lynched as a result of state terrorism.
My opinion is that all those Hindus like Amaresh Mishra should be supported who have proved their secular credentials. Even they must be preferred to Muslim candidates. Twin aim of Muslims should be to shake the base of established secular parties and thus come in a bargaining position.
The main goal of Muslims in the elections of 2009 should not only be to regain the lost political power but also to establish functional rapport with the majority community. What is required is firm and decisive action avoiding at the same time overreaction which may transgress democratic limitations. The pressing need of the hour is to take measures and decisions which may restore communal amity and banish rancour. Muslims must break free from political bondage.