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In Madhya Pradesh, Muslims not taken in by Congress, nor paranoid about BJP

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Khalid Khan, 34, makes that matter-of-fact observation: Congress creates fear psychosis among Muslims, and follows it up with a simple observation: “Our faith has weakened. We must fear Allah.” His father is a freedom fighter and mother a Urdu lecturer. He runs Jameel Hotel, which is city’s landmark for last 70 years.

He says that majority of Muslims are self-employed, run their own businesses, and only five per cent are in government employment. He thinks chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan is a good man but that there are others in the BJP who are not friendly towards Muslims. So, Muslims maintain a polite distance from the BJP government.

Qasim has passed his 12th class and runs the business of dealing with digging machines. He belongs to a joint family, which own 150 acres at Barkheda village near Bhojpur, the place from where former Union minister and Congress leader Suresh Pachauri is contesting. They grow wheat, rice and soy and water for the crops comes from a stream. He is young but quite clear in his views. Pachauri will win from Bhojpur because his BJP rival and sitting MLA Surendra Patwa, son of former chief minister Sunderlal Patwa, has been arrogant and not been meeting people from the constituency during times of distress like when excess rain damaged the crop. But Qasim backs Chauhan. “He should come back to power and he will. He has done a lot for farmers,” he says with rare gusto. Barkheda is a Muslim majority village.

Then there is this subtle range of opinion among Muslims in the state about the Congress, the BJP and Chauhan. There are 12 Muslim-majority constituencies in the state. Muslims are unhappy that Congress has not given enough tickets to Muslims. There is only one Muslim candidate from the Congress, Arif Aqeel contesting from Bhopal North, and none from the BJP.

The Muslim discontent is visible and audible in Gwalior and Guna as well, where a Muslim leader of the Congress says that the party should not take the loyalty of the Congress for granted, and that the younger generation of Muslims are not going to retain an uncritical trust in the party.

Sikandar, 36, a garment trader in the old city quarters of Bhopal blames former chief minister Digvijay Singh for the decline of Congress. He says he has neglected the state. He says that Chauhan’s government has brought no development and that there is rampant corruption. But he thinks Chauhan has not been hostile to Muslims, but he believes that the chief minister is in a minority in the party because it is the hardline RSS which calls the shots and shapes the stance of the BJP towards Muslims.

Muslims are not any more enamoured by the Congress. And they are not any more paranoid about the BJP. They carry on with their own lives and livelihood and they do not look to government for assistance. Asked about the Narendra Modi factor, Khalid said, “We will be polite towards him.
We will offer water but not a place to sit. Prophet Muhammad forgave the people who killed his own uncle. As ordinary Muslims we can never hope to attain the heights of the Prophet’s generosity.” 

They vote for the Congress without any illusions that the party works for the welfare of Muslims as it claims. They have seen that the party has not done anything for the community except to seek their votes. They have come to terms with the BJP and the democratic process that leads to a BJP government.

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