‘The situation now is a far cry from the what it was in the 1980s when Muslims enjoyed a sizeable slice of the electoral cake’
| Photo Credit: REUTERS
Majoritarian nationalism is reshaping Indian politics. Declining minority participation, particularly Muslim representation, in the corridors of power is an inevitable consequence. The general election, that has just concluded, is a veritable testimony to India’s, at times enthusiastic, at others grudging, acceptance of hues of Hindu nationalism. Even as the wounds of a complete abnegation of Muslim representation in the outgoing government had not healed, a fresh stab was made at the idea of India. Muslim exclusion from electoral politics is beginning to sound real, central, and almost all pervasive. As we await the results to the 18th Lok Sabha, there is a cause for concern over the diminishing space for a section of society in the electoral fray. In the 2019 election, 115 Muslims had contested as the representatives of various political parties. This time, the number was 78, with many parties too timid to give a ticket to a Muslim candidate from anywhere except in the so-called Muslim dominated seats. It could be a reflection of our politics where a Muslim candidate is not preferred by some merely because of his or her faith.
Ground reality
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, despite the noises made last year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi about Pasmanda Muslims, entered a sole Muslim, Abdul Salam, from Malappuram in Kerala. Otherwise, from Punjab to Tamil Nadu, Gujarat to Nagaland, the party deemed Muslims surplus to its electoral arithmetic. The Indian National Congress did not cover itself with glory either — the number of Muslim candidates fighting on the party symbol came down from 34 in 2019 to 19 this time. What was disconcerting was the party’s reluctance to put up even a single Muslim candidate from either Delhi or Mumbai, leading to noises of protest from the party leader Muhammad Arif Naseem Khan who said, “The party wants Muslim votes, not Muslim candidates.” Mr. Khan could as well have been speaking for most non-Bharatiya Janata Party parties. The Samajwadi Party, often criticised for being MY (Muslims and Yadavs) representative, fought on 62 seats in Uttar Pradesh but put up only four Muslims in the State where Muslims comprise 19% of population. Likewise, the Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar fielded only two Muslim candidates; however, its ally, the Congress, did give tickets to Muslim candidates from Katihar and Kishanganj.
In Gujarat, neither the Congress nor the BJP put up a Muslim candidate. The story of Muslim denial was repeated by both parties in Rajasthan. In Bengal, the Trinamool Congress, despite Mamata Banerjee’s robust defence of minority rights, gave tickets to only six Muslim candidates out of the 42 seats it contested in the State. Significantly, Muslims account for a little over 27% of the State’s population. Bengal presents a microcosm of the country. This under-nomination is bound to result in under-representation in Parliament. The community looks at the bleak prospect of sending possibly its lowest number of Members of Parliament to the Lok Sabha when the results are announced on June 4. Forsaken, marginalised, and, probably forgotten.
A fading
All this is a far cry from the heydays of the 1980s when Muslims enjoyed a sizeable slice of the electoral cake. In 1980, there were 49 Muslim MPs in the Lok Sabha. In 1984, there were 46 Muslim MPs.
Pertinently, the BJP was just born in 1980 and had only two Lok Sabha MPs in 1984. As the party’s fortunes rose in ensuing elections, the fortunes of the largest minority went into a parallel decline, finishing with only 23 MPs in 2014. There was a token increase of three in 2019 — a number that seems difficult to attain this time in the light of a drastic fall in the number of Muslim candidates. The Muslim MP is faced with the prospect of gradual elimination. Muslims bring up a little over 14% of India’s population, but since the first election in 1951-52 to the last round in 2019, the community’s share in Lok Sabha has been under 6%.
An attack on the idea of India
Incidentally, while Muslims have not been as visible as candidates this time, this, however, has not translated into their absence from headlines during the elections. Mr. Modi led the pack in stoking fears in the larger society, referring to the community members as “infiltrators” or “the Congress seeking to give a buffalo to a Muslim if a Hindu owned two buffaloes” to give an example or two. He was both coarse and divisive. If the data shared by the Congress president, Mallikarjun Kharge, are to be believed, Mr. Modi used the term ‘Mandir-Masjid-Muslim’ 421 times in his speeches. For all his bluff and bluster, he did not conceal his irreverence for the idea of India — a value system that regards all citizens as equal stakeholders in the progress of the nation. Mr. Modi’s aggressive Hindutva set the benchmark for other parties. Forget the so-called Muslim vote-bank politics of yesteryears. Today, even the Centrist and Left parties remain disinclined to end Muslim political isolation.
The demographic profiles of the contestants to the 18th Lok Sabha could be a nod to Mr. Modi’s concept of Bharat. Indian democracy, however, will be better served without taints of such exclusion.
ziya.salam@thehindu.co.in
