Opinion Opposition will pay for its silence on Pasmanda Muslims

Opposition looks at Muslims only through the elite perspective, failing to connect with issues that matter to Pasmanda Muslims. Against this backdrop, the BJP senses an opportunity to make inroads in the community

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi (File)

Tariq Mansoor

November 23, 2023 09:57 AM IST First published on: Nov 23, 2023 at 07:17 AM IST

The opposition parties of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) have maintained a silence on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s and Bharatiya Janata Party’s outreach to Pasmanda Muslims. While a lot has been written on PM Modi’s overtures to Pasmandas — at successive national executive meetings of BJP in Odisha (2017), Hyderabad (2022), New Delhi (2023) and recently in Bhopal — the reaction, or lack of it, of the Opposition has not been analysed so far.

The result of the caste survey released by the Bihar government has been met with scepticism in the backward communities, including Pasmandas. The exercise smacks of appeasement of elite Muslims as several forward Muslim castes such as Shekhora, Thakurai and Kulaiya Muslim groups have been included in the Extremely Backward Class (EBC) category. For instance, Kulaiya Muslims are descendants of immigrant Muslims who came to India with the Mughals. This has the potential of depriving not only the underprivileged Pasmanda groups but also many Hindu EBCs from availing benefit under the category.

This omission, and the Opposition’s absence from the Pasmanda issue is rather surprising as it is consequential for several reasons. First, the Muslim politics of the Opposition revolves around labelling the BJP as “anti-Muslim”. Second, Opposition parties have been beneficiaries of the Muslim vote in their electoral successes. Third, the Pasmanda issue is key to advancing social justice within the Muslim community. Fourth, it seeks to effect a change in the political behaviour of the Muslim community. Fifth, it represents the axis point through which the BJP is trying to engage with Muslims. Sixth, it represents a rare occurrence in Muslim politics that a sub-group, and not Muslims en bloc, is in the spotlight.

So what explains the Opposition’s (in)action on the BJP’s engagement with Pasmanda Muslims ?

Muslims in India are categorised under three heads — Ashrafs, Ajlafs and Arzals — corresponding to forward, backward and most backward. Pasmanda, a blanket term for the latter two marginalised groups, has more than 40 castes comprising around four-fifths of the Muslim population of India, with Ashrafs forming the rest.

In their political outlook, the Opposition parties have displayed a general apathy to understanding the Muslim caste system. Through grant of disproportionately higher political representation to minority Ashrafs, the Opposition has extended the socio-economic disparities of Muslims to the political sphere. Recent trends amplify this. Of the 25 Muslim MPs in Lok Sabha, 18 are Ashrafs and seven are Pasmandas. In Uttar Pradesh, where Pasmandas account for 65-70 per cent of the Muslim population, in the previous Lok Sabha election, only one-fourth of the Muslim candidates of Samajwadi Party and one-ninth from the Congress were Pasmandas. In Bihar, where the Pasmanda population is highest, the majority of Muslim legislators from the Mahagathbandhan are Ashrafs. Besides, the Pasmandas have never figured in election speeches or manifestos of the Opposition parties.

In contrast, the BJP, lately, has displayed more inclusiveness vis-à-vis Pasmandas. In the 2023 urban local body polls in UP, the Pasmandas accounted for 299 of the total 395 Muslims allotted tickets by BJP. Fifty-one of the 61 victorious Muslim candidates belonged to the Pasmanda category. In the UP Legislative Council, the two latest nominees of the government are Pasmandas.

The Ashraf domination in the Opposition parties also resonates in the issues incorporated by these parties in their political agendas. The Ashrafs, being more advantaged compared to the Pasmandas, have been fixated on issues of religious and cultural purity which deflect issues of socio-economic disabilities of the Pasmandas. This explains why issues of Muslim personal law, Babri Mosque, state patronage to mosques etc. have been politicised during the regimes of the Congress in the centre, SP in UP and TMC in Bengal, respectively.

The BJP’s approach differs as it is choosing to engage with Muslims on the plank of “development without discrimination”. For instance, under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the Muslim beneficiaries in UP account for 22 per cent, although their population is 18 per cent. The figures are higher for the PM Awas Yojana. This is because Muslims, as a marginalised class, are eligible for the same. Further, since many Pasmanda castes are engaged in low-wage occupations such as weavers (Ansari), printers (Darzi Chhipi), cotton carders (Mansuri) etc., they stand to be beneficiaries of the recently launched PM Vishwakarma Yojana which provides skill and financial support to small artisans and craftsmen.

These factors demonstrate that the silence of the Opposition on issues of Pasmanda Muslims is by design. The absence of Pasmanda leadership in these parties shapes their view of Muslim politics through the narrow optics of elite Muslims. The Pasmandas are looking at alternatives. Against this backdrop, the BJP senses an opportunity to make inroads in the community. The general election of 2024 shall reveal whether the two ends meet.

The writer, former vice-chancellor, Aligarh Muslim University, is BJP Member of Legislative Council in UP assembly