Skip to main content

As secular parties fail to fight injustice, BJP vigorously moves to make inroads among Muslim voters

By Abhay Kumar* 
The BJP’s successful methods of winning the elections have often been its ability to achieve anti-Muslim polarisation. No one argues here that these time-tested formulas have been abandoned, yet the saffron party has undertaken several steps to attract the minority community. Ahead of the General Elections 2024, the BJP has sped up its efforts to woo Muslim voters.
The major reason for this is the compulsion of Indian democracy. The BJP and its parental body the RSS understand the concrete reality that the Muslim community is not only “a minority” but also the second-largest community in the country. The Muslim population in India is estimated at 20 crores, three times more than the British population that ruled over the world for centuries.
The BJP and the RSS are pragmatic organisations. They do not mind taking a few steps back from their ideology if it suits their interests. While they do want to keep their hardcore supporters pleased with their anti-Muslim agendas, at the same time they have launched vigorous campaigns to make inroads among the Muslim voters.
However, the saffron outfits are fully aware of the fact that making inroads into Muslims is not easy. The reason is simple: how could the politics of anti-Muslim polarisation sit together with the campaigns to win the sympathy of Muslim voters? How could the acts of insulting a marginalised community and rubbing salt into their wounds go along with a kind gesture of reaching out to the community? The BJP and the RSS are not ignorant of these structural contradictions.
That is why the saffron outfits are using multiple strategies. They are sometimes contradictory to Hindutva ideology, yet the saffron forces are ready to make a compromise. Projecting Atal Bihar Vajpayee as the “liberal” face of the hardcore RSS and his Muslim outreach programme are an example of this.
Traditionally, Muslims have supported secular and social justice parties and voted against communal forces. But the saffron outfits are not disheartened by these historical realities. The BJP and the RSS have received feedback that they are losing ground. The saffron parties are desperate to compensate for the loss by bringing Muslims to their fold.
Note that wooing Muslims is not the only way the BJP is trying to recover lost ground. But certainly, it is one of the important strategies. The saffron outfits are desperate not to lose power at any cost.
Electoral democracy is a game of numbers. The Muslim voters influence dozens of parliamentary constituencies. In many areas, their population is over 20 per cent. As the electoral competition is getting tough, every vote counts. The think tank(s)  within the BJP and the RSS, therefore, have decided to manage Muslim voters effectively.
The RSS and the BJP’s primary target is to win Muslim support. But they know very well that the community is unlikely to give support overwhelmingly because of their ideology. Thus, the saffron forces are trying to at least bring to their folds a small section of the Muslim elite. The upward sections of the Muslim community have often been hungry for power and position. For them, fulfilling their self-interest is more important than the community’s interests. They have always been quick to adapt to the changing situation.
A good number of businessmen, religious leaders, journalists and university professors have already become the BJP and RSS supporters. Sometimes they support the saffron outfits openly and sometimes covertly. As a result, colleges, universities and cultural bodies where Muslims are in good numbers, are fast turning into the saffron hang-out.
But the BJP and the RSS are careful not to give space to the genuine leaders of the Muslim community. The saffron organisations are trying to further marginalise the community by upgrading the status of a small section of spineless elites.
The BJP and the RSS are aware of the fact that the alienation of Muslims has become so insurmountable that the incorporation of a section of saffron-donning Muslim elites cannot address it. As a next level of strategy, the saffron forces are busy creating confusion among Muslims. Attempts are being made to spread the propaganda that secular parties should alone be blamed for the backwardness of the Muslim community.
By solely blaming the secular parties, the saffron parties are trying to divide Muslim votes and make them less effective. Earlier, the BJP supported dummy Muslim candidates during the elections to further facilitate the division of Muslim votes and such a strategy would continue.
The propaganda machine of the RSS and the BJP have become more active. Half-truths and lies are being spread among Muslims. The target is either to get their support for the saffron party or ensure that they become more alienated from secular parties.
The Pasmanda debate has been appropriated by the Hindutva forces. It is being used to widen fissures among Muslims on caste and gender lines. While the BJP and the RSS are trying to unite Hindus on religious lines, they are dividing Muslims on the Pasmanda and Ashraf fault lines. Social hierarchy indeed exists among Hindus as well as Muslims,  Hindutva propaganda is only interested in taking up the issue of social hierarchy among Muslims. That is why the BJP and the RSS politicised the triple talaq issue but they do not touch the question of the subordination of Hindu women.
By doing so, the real interest of the saffron outfits is not to wage a struggle for equality among the minority community but to discredit the genuine community leadership and demonise secular parties.
Secular parties have indeed failed to do justice to the Muslim community when they were in power. But Hindutva propaganda is hiding the bitter truth that the condition of the Muslim community has quickly worsened under the BJP rules. In the last nine and a half years, the Muslim community has felt more alienated and insecure than they felt ever in the recent past.
Despite its claims, the BJP has not launched any concrete scheme for Muslims nor has it given many tickets to Muslims in assembly and parliamentary elections. The Hindutva turn in Indian politics has made the utterance of the Muslim issue a political sin. Even the secular parties are increasingly playing the soft Hindutva card.
Indeed, the BJP and the RSS are less interested in showing proper pictures to the Muslim community, rather they are solely blaming the secular parties for the backwardness of Muslims to get their votes. Such negative trends should be taken note of by the secular forces if they are serious about defeating communalism and upholding democracy.
---
*Independent journalist,  has taught political science at NCWEB Centres of Delhi University; is PhD (Modern History),
Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Source: Sabrang India


 +91 9868660402

Comments

TRENDING

Right-arm fast bowler who helped West Indies shape arguably greatest Test team in cricket history

By Harsh Thakor*  Malcolm Marshall redefined what it meant to be a right-arm fast bowler, challenging the traditional laws of biomechanics with his unique skill. As we remember his 25th death anniversary on November 4th, we reflect on the legacy he left behind after his untimely death from colon cancer. For a significant part of his career, Marshall was considered one of the fastest and most formidable bowlers in the world, helping to shape the West Indies into arguably the greatest Test team in cricket history.

Andhra team joins Gandhians to protest against 'bulldozer action' in Varanasi

By Rosamma Thomas*  November 1 marked the 52nd day of the 100-day relay fast at the satyagraha site of Rajghat in Varanasi, seeking the restoration of the 12 acres of land to the Sarva Seva Sangh, the Gandhian organization that was evicted from the banks of the river. Twelve buildings were demolished as the site was abruptly taken over by the government after “bulldozer” action in August 2023, even as the matter was pending in court.  

Tributes paid to pioneer of Naxalism in Punjab, who 'dodged' police for 60 yrs

By Harsh Thakor*  Jagjit Singh Sohal, known as Comrade Sharma, a pioneer of Naxalism in Punjab, passed away on October 20 at the age of 96. Committed to the Naxalite cause and a prominent Maoist leader, Sohal, who succeeded Charu Majumdar, played hide and seek with the police for almost six decades. He was cremated in Patiala.

United organisations oppose privatisation of health services in Madhya Pradesh

By Our Representative  In a strong show of opposition, multiple health associations under the umbrella of the United Organisations for Action against Privatisation of Health Services have condemned the Government of Madhya Pradesh’s recent moves towards privatising public health facilities. They argue that these actions, including outsourcing and the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, will compromise the availability and accessibility of essential health services for the state’s citizens.

Outreach programme in medical education: Band-aids for compound fractures

By Amitav Banerjee, MD*  Recently, the National Medical Commission (NMC) of India, introduced two curricular changes in medical education, both at the undergraduate and the postgraduate levels, ostensibly to offer opportunities for quality medical education and to improve health care accessibility among the underserved rural and urban population.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah  The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Will Left victory in Sri Lanka deliver economic sovereignty plan, go beyond 'tired' IMF agenda?

By Atul Chandra, Vijay Prashad*  On September 22, 2024, the Sri Lankan election authority announced that Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led National People’s Power (NPP) alliance won the presidential election. Dissanayake, who has been the leader of the left-wing JVP since 2014, defeated 37 other candidates, including the incumbent president Ranil Wickremesinghe of the United National Party (UNP) and his closest challenger Sajith Premadasa of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya. 

Will Bangladesh go Egypt way, where military ruler is in power for a decade?

By Vijay Prashad*  The day after former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left Dhaka, I was on the phone with a friend who had spent some time on the streets that day. He told me about the atmosphere in Dhaka, how people with little previous political experience had joined in the large protests alongside the students—who seemed to be leading the agitation. I asked him about the political infrastructure of the students and about their political orientation. He said that the protests seemed well-organized and that the students had escalated their demands from an end to certain quotas for government jobs to an end to the government of Sheikh Hasina. Even hours before she left the country, it did not seem that this would be the outcome.