It’s time to woo the Muslim voter again. With a population of close to 150 million, Muslims constitute over 12% of India’s electorate.
It’s time to woo the Muslim voter again. With a population of close to 150 million, Muslims constitute over 12% of India’s electorate. There are no official statistics available, but it is believed they have a vital role to play in over 100 Lok Sabha constituencies, and their support is crucial for any secular party to come in power at the Centre.
Unlike the 2004 elections, when the minority voted largely to defeat the BJP, this time, when the saffron party is no longer a frontrunner, and in the absence of emotive issues such as Babri Masjid, uniform civil code and terrorism, Muslims will vote for their future, not the past.
“For the first time in many years, there is no divisive agenda and they (Muslims) will vote on issues such as employment and development,” diplomat-turned-politician Syed Shabuddin says.
“In the five years of NDA rule, Muslims felt marginalised, but all that has changed. Now, the focus is on getting their share of development that is taking place around,” professor Akhtarul Wasey, head of Islamic studies at Jamia Millia, says.
Muslims are mistakenly characterised as a monolithic entity that votes uniformly throughout the country. But given the diversities, regional as well as social, they do not vote as a bloc. The country’s fragmented political landscape is providing new opportunities to Muslims to assert their diversity. For the first 50 years, the community voted for the Congress, in the belief that it was the only party capable of looking after its interests.
All that is changing. The BJP’s threat is receding and Muslims have a plethora of secular parties to choose from, especially in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Kerala, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. When the choice is between the Congress and the BJP, Muslims opt for the former, but in states where the Congress is weak, they are making different choices.
The laboratory for Muslim politics is UP, where the community forms over 20% of the electorate. After the eclipse of the Congress, Muslims rallied around Mulayam Singh. But now there is a change and a section of the community is gravitating towards BSP. In Bihar, Nitish Kumar’s JD (U) is breaking Lalu Prasad’s stranglehold over the Muslim vote.
Another significant change is the downsizing of the role of the clergy. The influence of fatwas issued by politically-inclined imams, such as the Bukharis of Delhi’s Jama Masjid, is on the wane. The lead has been taken by Darul Uloom, the leading Islamic seminary from Deoband, which has told the community not to vote on religious lines.
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