Minorities in a Dilemma on Whether to Support Congress in the Absence of a Third Front

Naushad, kudos for the brilliant piece. It has got a full range of interviews to understand the elections situation in India.  We are pleased to share that with our friends at my India Blog. I just had called people of India to put together ideas to deal with the 2019 elections.  Who should Muslims Vote in 2019 - https://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2018/03/who-should-indian-muslims-vote.html

Mike Ghouse
 

Minorities had realised that nothing concrete had been done for them. The Congress failed to reciprocate the unconditional support they enjoyed for decades with progress and development.

Mohd Naushad Khan |

Updated:March 30, 2018, 10:49

OPINION | Minorities in a Dilemma on Whether to Support Congress in the Absence of a Third Front

Mohd Naushad Khan | Updated:March 30, 2018, 10:49 AM IST Image For Representation Only. (Getty Image)

Indian polity, since Independence, has been rotating on an axis of caste and religion. Either minority bashing or its appeasement has also been another hallmark of the Indian political mindset. 

Minorities, though, traditionally voted for the Congress but later became political fodder for several regional parties. They oscillated their support like a pendulum in anticipation that prosperity and, above all, sense of security would prevail.

Its revelation brought to light the picture that minorities, especially Muslims, have been cheated for decades. The findings of the report was food for thought and introspection.Minorities, without an iota of doubt, remained in the political basket of the Congress for decades. It was the Sachar Committee Report which, for the first time, pulled down the curtain of belief and trust towards the Grand Old Party. 

Minorities had realised that nothing concrete had been done for them. The Congress failed to reciprocate the unconditional support they enjoyed for decades with progress and development.

According to Afroz Alam, associate professor and head of Department of Political Science at Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU), "There has been a paradigm shift in the electoral chemistry between Muslim voters and Congress. Over the years, large number of Muslim voters have moved away from the Congress and fragmented their loyalties in favour of non-Congress, non-BJP regional political options. There is a growing realisation that the fundamental difference between Congress and BJP is blurring. Congress is shunning its centrist image. The party is trying to appeal to the Hindu core votes by not only cultivating its soft-Hindutva image but also by sidelining Muslims as a taken-for-granted junior partner.”

“We are witnessing another trend that Muslim voters are no longer susceptible to fall for mere projection of the BJP as a threat. There is, in fact, a substantial decline in their anti-BJP sentiments, for they have come to realise that even if it is in power, there is little likelihood of the hyperbolic threat translating into anything real. At the same juncture, Muslim voters are tired of being treated as ‘low cost’ voters due to the poor delivery of the policy pledges exclusively made to them at the time of election by the so-called secular political parties. In my view, Muslim votes will continue to be divided along the multiple lines if a coalition at the regional level does not happening before 2019 elections," argues Alam.

Putting forward his perspective, activist John Dayal, who also represents many National Christian Forums says, “Over the years, no single party has stood the test of the time as a protector of minorities. Every political party, when in power, has created laws which negatively impact minorities. For Muslims and Christians, the political spectrum extends from the Congress on the one hand to regional parties in UP, Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and the rest of South India. They look to the Left if they want to keep the BJP out, or at least in a reduced margin in Parliament and state legislatures.”

Dayal further adds, “The Congress has had a terrible past since the 1970s with the Emergency, the Sikh issue, the Babri issue and the laws against the Christians have worked to expose it as a soft-Hindutva party. But when compared to the BJP and the RSS, the minority voter is left with choosing the winning candidate from the Congress and the other non-BJP parties. There seems to be no other choice.”

Needless to say, Congress these days hardly takes any political stand of its own. Rather, it goes on a defensive stance or acts in a reactionary manner. Rahul Gandhi no doubt is gaining political maturity but his escalation does not mean it is being well-received on the ground or would translate into votes. Very recently, he tried his best political manoeuvring in Gujarat but his foot soldiers, as many believe, failed to provide him with the kind of support base he required. The campaign was further hampered by loose talks of his party men.”

Irtiza Quraishi, President of Muslim Association Rehabilitating Homeless and Mistreated (MARHM), says, “I hear a lot of different Muslim opinions about Congress. There are Muslims who talk in favour of the party and then there are those who prefer regional alternatives like the AIMIM, AAP etc. There are also Muslims who accuse parties like AIMIM and AAP of being the B-teams of BJP, wherein these parties contest elections in places to divide the votes in order to help the BJP.”

“Lately, Indian Muslims have started believing that at the national level, to defeat BJP, the only contribution they can do is to support Congress jointly without dividing its votes among other parties. I know people who talk about how Congress is responsible for the backwardness of Muslims in India, yet in the next General Elections; they talk about voting in favour of the party to defeat the BJP. There are Muslims, such as myself, who like AAP and even I intend to vote for the Grand Old Party in the next general elections and for AAP in the next assembly elections,” said Quraishi.

On the future political posturing of the minority, Mohammad Sajjad, Professor at Centre of Advanced Study in History in AMU, Aligarh says, “Muslims should not be seen identifying themselves with any given political parties and they should vote silently, confidentially.”

However, the result of the recently held by-polls in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar has sent the message for one and all ahead of 2019 polls. It has further rekindled the hope for a larger alliance within the regional groups. Both SP and BSP were quick to learn their lesson from the Tripura verdict. This by-poll result, no doubt, made it clear that 2019 polls may not be a cakewalk for the BJP. The by-poll message is loud and clear that no party should take the voters for granted.

Congress is still groping in the dark if we go by the trends in Tripura and the by-polls results in UP and Bihar. The dinner diplomacy was to feel the pulse of the regional forces and to get the glimpse of what is going on in the subconscious minds of the regional forces. It is yet to be seen how things would unfold ahead of the 2019 grand show. 

re there any takeaways for Muslims from the Narendra Modi government?

We should never let things ride, good governance comes from critical analysis and democracy survives because of journalists. 

Thomas Jefferson made a strong statement about the role of the media in a democracy when he noted, “If it were left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” Describing the role of the press, George A. Krimsky, the former head of news for the Associated Press’ World Services and co-author of Hold the Press, writes, “In the wake of America’s successful revolution, it was decided there should indeed be government, but only if it were accountable to the people. The people, in turn, could only hold the government accountable if they knew what it was doing and could intercede as necessary, using their ballot, for example. This role of public ‘watchdog’ was thus assumed by a citizen press, and as a consequence, the government in the United States has been kept out of the news business.”

This author M Reyaz has done it right, we need more of this. It is time to hold the leadership and Mr. Modi accountable.

Mike Ghouse
www.MikeGhouse.net


Are there any takeaways for Muslims from the Narendra Modi government?

 Image for representational purposes only. RNA Research & Archives

Courtesy - DNA Analysis

As someone who has been very vocal in criticising the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) – I have been critical of the previous UPA government’s policies too – and Narendra Modi, I was particularly restrained (self-censorship, you may call it) since May 16, when the BJP, under Modi, won a convincing mandate to rule the country for next five years. In the last two weeks, I have been thinking of writing a ‘reconciliatory’ piece and urge the Muslim leadership to not make the ‘historical mistake’ and try to engage with the new government in power for the betterment of the community. 

As I sit to write this article, I am afraid there are not many positive takeaways from the new government, and if these are the signs of things to come, the situation really appears to be glum. 

As the new government takes shape, there are reports from Karnataka of how right-wing Hindu organisations are demanding a ban on the morning calls for prayer, and another group demanding a total ban on loudspeakers in mosques in Maharashtra. There were also reports of vandalism by jubilant mobs celebrating Modi’s victory in Bijapur. These were all small news and hence did not really catch the attention of the national media. 

But in the light of the chauvinistic government at the helm, at a time when you see the top-rung of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), including Sadhvi Rithambara, an accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case, and Indresh Kumar, alleged to be a co-conspirator in the Samjhauta train blast case, seated along with other seers and spiritual leaders during Modi’s inauguration, such news cannot be ignored. 

Modi’s gesture of inviting leaders of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries, particularly Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, was seen by many as an overture to reach out to Muslims, like his political mentor LK Advani who visited Jinnah’s grave to project himself as more inclusive, much to ire of the RSS. Sociologist Dipankar Gupta tweeted on May 26, “SAARC leaders were called to legitimise, and give cover to the invitation to Pakistan and send comforting, positive signals to Indian Muslims.”


In fact, in the first message issued by the new prime minister immediately after taking oath, he talked of “a strong, developed and inclusive India that actively engages with the global community to strengthen the cause of world peace and development”. But that is the most we heard in a cabinet that has the full imprint of the RSS. 

One of the first controversies surrounding the new government is the statement made by Minister of State Jitendra Singh on Jammu and Kashmir and Article 370. The BJP had given a ticket to veterinary surgeon Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, who was accused of participating in the mahapanchayat and giving a provocative speech that led to the Muzaffarnagar riots last year. He has now been made a minister and already the theory that he was framed has begun circulating, like so many others in the past. 

This is not the end, senior police officers accused of being involved in extrajudicial killings and false implications of Muslim youth are being reinstated in Rajasthan and Gujarat already as former Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief Ajit Doval is slated to be National Security Advisor (NSA) to Modi. 

The most surprising was Modi’s choice of Dr Najma Heptullah as the minority affairs minister. To be fair, Heptullah is a doctorate in cardiac anatomy from the University of Denver, and thus educationally most qualified among the cabinet ministers. But that is not why she has been appointed minister, or else she would have been given a meatier portfolio. She is the grand-niece of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and was in the Congress and the Rajya Sabha for a long time. She has always been a political nobody whom the Congress kept in the Upper House, where she later became deputy speaker.

In 2004, when several people were hoping for a comeback of the NDA government, she switched sides apparently after differences with Sonia Gandhi. She had said she had been “humiliated” by the Congress leadership that has “moved away from the ideology of Nehru, Azad, Patel and Gandhi”. One wonders if the party she chose follows their ideology, according to her. Heptullah has been made a minister to reward her decade of loyalty to the party, clearly overlooking two other more vocal Muslim faces, Shahnawaz Hussain, who lost the election, and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. 

In 2006, the then UPA government formed a new ministry of minority affairs that has been assigned the responsibility of implementing minority welfare schemes. Clearly, Heptullah got this portfolio because of her name and because she belongs to a ‘minority’ community. However, immediately after assuming charge, in her first statement as a minister, she says Muslims are numerically too large to be called a minority, a line often taken by the RSS and its associates, though the Constitution too declares Muslims a minority. 

According to the 2001 census (data of religion-based census of 2011 not yet out), Muslims comprise 13.4% of the total population while Hindus are over 80%, and the remaining communities together form just about 6% of India’s population. Compare this to the Tamils in Sri Lanka, where 11.2% of the total population are Sri Lankan Tamils while another 4.2% are Tamils of Indian origin. 74.9% of the people are Sinhalese while the rest comprise other smaller communities including Moors, Malays, etc. Thus, roughly 15.7% of the Sri Lankan population is a minority, for which not only Tamils but even the current PM expressed his concern and urged President Mahinda Rajapaksa to implement the autonomy in spirit. In Bangladesh, with 8.2% of the population, Hindus are the second biggest community, and the third largest in the world after India and Nepal.

Our PM’s heart bleeds for minorities in India’s neighbouring countries so much that he has announced they will get asylum to protect them from persecution. Yet, despite the riots and despite the 2006 Sachar committee report clearly stating that the lot of Muslims is worse than even the Dalits, their representation as a minority is in question.

Heptullah also said on her first day as minister that reservations were not the solution. One may argue on whether communities as a whole deserve reservations, or only the backward amongst them are in need, but what is interesting is that reservation is seen as appeasement only in context of Muslims, not for SC-STs, or OBCs or Kashmiri migrants or when Jats are included in the list of OBCs. 

Another concern has been that several scholarships programmes meant for minority students already appear to be facing a financial crunch, and there are fears they may be stopped altogether. Heptullah also said the PM’s 15 point programme need a revisit. Certainly they do, but in if she attempts to abolish it altogether in an attempt to create a “level playing field”, it will only result in the marginalisation of the minorities, the pet agenda of the RSS.

Now that the new government is here, one hopes that in the 100 days’ programme the ministry of minority affairs would lay out plans to bring the minorities at par with the rest of the population, and only then can there be a truly level playing field. 

M Reyaz is a Delhi-based journalist.He tweets at @journalistreyaz.