It is a fact that representation of Muslims in Indian politics, ever since the Indian Independence, has been disproportionately low, ranging between 6-8%, as compared to their share in the Indian population which is estimated to be around 14%, but believed to be even higher.
The reasons for such low representation are many. The lack of effective Muslim leadership may be one. A point worth mentioning here is that at the time of India-Pakistan partition in 1947, when both the countries got their independence from the British, Muslims along with their leadership chose to either stay in or migrate to the newly formed Pakistan. This led to a leadership void for the remaining Indian Muslims which is yet to be filled in.
Nepotism of influential politicians perpetuates the hegemony of a particular family or clan. As majority of the Indian politicians have been non-Muslim, their favouritism naturally causes a higher presence of non-Muslims and a lower representation of Muslim politicians.
Yet another reason for low representation is that many Indian political parties, presumably, believe the electability of Muslims is too low for them to be fielded as viable candidates. The non-Muslim electorate, some parties think, won’t vote for them because of their religious identity.
There are other factors such as affirmative actions in favour of Scheduled Castes/Tribes (SC/ST), which have snatched away a significant portion, roughly 22% of the parliamentary seats and over 27% of the state assembly seats, of constituencies from Muslim candidates. The Muslims, being nearly excluded from SC/STs, cannot even compete in the election in the reserved seats.
Further, it has been observed that on the one hand, many constituencies where SC/STs comprise the majority of electorates are not reserved for them. On the other hand, there are a large number of constituencies where a majority or a significant fraction of the electorate is from the Muslim community and a small population of the SCs but the seats have been reserved for SCs.
This seems to be a deliberate attempt to deprive the Muslim community of its leadership. Such moves, whether involuntary or deliberate, have further reduced the chances of Muslim leadership to grow.
Another such apprehension, regarding the Women’s Reservation Bill, seems not entirely unfounded. At present, the level of Muslim women’s participation in public life has been minimal. If the Women’s Reservation Bill is introduced, as it reserves 33% of the seats for women, it can very well take away some more of the seats that presently elect Muslim legislators. Given the electoral trends in India, the prospect of the reverse happening, that is, Muslim women getting elected from an otherwise non-Muslim dominated constituency seems negligible.
As far as the development of Muslim leadership is concerned, there have been many attempts to form Muslim political parties. Although some of the parties gathered some strength at state level, however, none of them has been successful at the national level. The main cause of their failure is diverse nature of Indian Muslim community which is subdivided into many other religious, linguistic, and regional groups.
Together, these factors have led to a condition where the Muslim community, the largest minority group in the country, has poor representation in the country’s politics. This is, undoubtedly, not the sign of a healthy democracy. India being the largest democracy in the world and hosting the third largest Muslim community in the world needs to ensure a more equitable representation of the Muslim community.
Considering a total disempowerment and underdevelopment of Indian Muslims in nearly all walks of life, as pointed out by the Sachar Committee report, it becomes imperative to think of enhancing the share of representation of Muslims in the political machinery. Hence the question arises: How can the representation of Muslims be increased? What can be done about the affirmative action? Do we need to reshuffle the existing reservation policies? Should there be some political parties exclusively for or dominated by Muslims? Is it better if the mainstream parties provide equitable opportunities to Muslim candidates to participate in the elections?
The issue of reservation needs to be addressed seriously. Indian Muslims deserve more affirmative actions as recommended by the Ranganath Mishra Committee, which has recommended that the status of SC should be made religion neutral. This means that those castes and classes among Muslims, whose Hindu /Sikh counterparts are SC should be included in SC list. This will vastly improve the socioeconomic condition of Indian Muslims in general, and their share in the Political Leadership, in particular.
Towards developing the Muslim leadership, there can be two approaches: Formation of pro-Muslim political parties or providing an equitable share to the Muslim leaders in mainstream political parties. If there are parties exclusively for or dominated by only Muslims’ interests, then the outcome is going to be inefficient and hence, is a loss for everyone.
For instance, when voting is done on the basis of religion, sect, caste, etc., the criterion for preference is something other than the leadership quality of the candidate. So the leader elected by such a partisan process may not be the best one for the electorate.
Another demerit of such a process is that if the Hindus vote on religious line in favour of pro-Hindu parties or pro-Hindu candidates, Muslims follow the same and vice versa. Even worse, if the game continues, then Muslims will ultimately be the biggest losers. Since in majority of the constituencies in India non-Muslims dominate the electorate, it will be difficult for Muslim candidates to win the election.
Even if the Muslim candidates win a few seats, the Muslim-affiliated parties will seldom have a majority to form the Government so they will be left in the opposition. If the Muslim representatives perpetually sit in the opposition, what benefits are they likely to bring to their constituencies? So the Muslim community ultimately suffers because of the partisan politics.
Another potential, and the gravest, consequence is that such partisan politics of Muslims supporting a pro-Muslim party will give the right wing parties a sound pretext to garner support on religious lines. Consequently, suppose, the Hindus start supporting pro-Hindutva parties. This may potentially lead to a complete polarisation of the Indian society.
Imagine a nation inflicted with partisan politics; a few Muslim leaders from pro-Muslim parties sitting helplessly in the opposition and reckless Hindu leaders from staunch Hindutva brigades ruling the assembly or parliament!
Can India, composite as it is, survive such degenerate politics? How many more Babri Masjids will be demolished? How many more Gujarat massacres will be repeated? Is there any prospect of socioeconomic development in such a scenario?
A partisan politics may, in the short run, benefit the right wing fundamentalist Hindutva parties but this is a mistake the Muslims of India can’t make, since their number does not favour them. Muslims cannot afford to be communal; otherwise they can be completely marginalised by the Hindu majority.
The recent developments leading to formation of Muslim dominated political parties and winning quite a few seats in the state elections, except Tamil Nadu, can be viewed as a positive sign of change.
This shows the Muslim communities’ stronger spirit of political participation and increased confidence in the democratic process. However, this should not be construed as Muslims’ victory over non-Muslims. Rather this, should be viewed as, and in fact is, merely an indication that Muslims have not been satisfied with the policies of the mainstream political parties.
This development of Muslim dominated parties and Muslim religious organisations joining mainstream politics is a call to the mainstream parties like the Congress, the CPI (M), the BJP, etc. that there needs to be a thorough change in their mode of functioning, especially, policies of nominating candidates for election.
Eligible Muslim candidates need and deserve an equitable share in the election otherwise things may go against the parties’ interests, and ultimately against everyone’s interests.
The fact that given a chance, Muslim candidates can do well in the election has been proven by the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal. This is an example which other mainstream parties can emulate.
So far, the Muslim community led political parties have refrained from partisanship by inducting non-Muslim members and giving them key positions in the party as well as while giving nominations. Such a balanced policy is a must for any political party in India, not only for the sake of political correctness, but also for its own survival.
Irrespective of who launches a party, the future course of action of a political party must display the spirit of democracy and utmost secularism; otherwise these new parties will also become the victims of communalism and sectarianism from which the older parties have already been suffering.
The Indian electorate has already dumped the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for its communal character, signalled the Left for its covert rightist bias, and shaken the base of the Indian National Congress for its incapability to maintain a secular character in action.
However strong the communal and disruptive force maybe, the Indian society, except for occasional perturbations, has shown its resilience by reverting to secular and composite values.
So it is a challenge before all the political parties, right, centre, and left leaning, new and old alike – thrown by the people of the world’s largest democracy that proves yourself by uniting the communities and not by segregating one from the other, by effective leadership and progressive policies or you will be thrown out of the race and out of the place.