A section of Muslim voters is getting mobilised in favour of BJP too
The parliamentary election-2024 is going to be held soon. Like other elections, various speculation are doing the rounds as to who Muslims are going to vote for. There is a common perception that Muslims in India ,especially in North India, may vote for the non-BJP political parties and alliances. Our media, academics and political analysts usually believe that Muslims always vote against the Bhartiya Janata Party or the BJP in elections. There is argument that since Bhartiya Janata party (BJP) is popularly known as Hindutva political party, Muslim get polarised against it and usually go in the favour of political party who keeps potential to defeat BJP in elections.
However, during my field research in the villages of various parts of North Indian regions, I observed that the political choice of Muslim is not singular but diverse.
It is true that non- BJP political parties such as Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, Rastriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Bihar and Congress in the states like Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh attracted the major percent of votes of the Muslim communities in previous elections. But slowly BJP is emerging as another political alternative for a section of the people of Muslim communities especially poor and marginal who are called Pasmanda(Backward) Muslim. We observed that there is no homogeneity in voting choice of Muslims either in favour or against BJP in various parts of Northern India.
During various field visits in the villages of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, We observed some trends. First, many Muslims admire the BJP but have not yet made up their mind on voting for the party. Second, some admire and will vote for the BJP. Third, in some others there is a clear mobilization in favour of the winnable parties of I.N.D.I.A alliance. And fourth, some Muslims admire the parties like, Congress, AIMIM lead Asaduddin Owaisi, but don’t want to waste their votes given the party’s absence at the grassroots.
In Barethi, a village situated 30 kms from Prayagraj (Allahabad) located in Uttar Pradesh, we met a few Muslims who call themselves Baghel Muslims. Many among them admire Prime Minister Narendra Modi and showed an inclination towards the BJP. “Gaon me sadak, muft anaaj aur bank me paise aaye hain. Modi ji achha kaam kar rahe hain (the village has a road; we get free ration and we have received money in our bank account. Modiji is doing good work),” some of them said.
In various Muslim dominated villages in Northern part of India, we observed a very interesting but almost similar political situation. When we entered in the village, most of the road side houses are belongs to Ashraf Muslims (high stature Muslim communities-such as Saiyaad, Shekh, Pathan. Some of them have also opened shops in the ground floor-road facing spaces of their houses. Whenever we talked to them, they mostly say-we will vote for the party who can defeat BJP. When we entered deep inside of the village-we found beasties(hamlets) of the poor Muslims. When we started conversing with them, they use to say -we will vote for cycle (symbol of Samajwadi Party). When we engaged long time with them, some of the old male and female opened up with us. Some of them said-Bhaiyya! We will vote for Kamal, but please don’t disclose our views with others of our village, otherwise, they may oppress us. I further engaged with them and asked-why will you vote to BJP? Some of them said-Who is taking care for us? At least Modi ji is giving us 5 kg rice, house, pension etc. A middle age women entered in this discussion and added-Teen Talak Bhi to khatam kiya(He abolished teen talaq system by law)
We also observed in various Muslim dominated village that Many people escaped from expressing their political opinion. Some of them said that “elections are still far” or “let the elections come” and that they will make up their mind closer to the date. Some of them avoided to give clear answer about their political choice.
It is true that polarization exists among a section of Muslims in the villages located in some of the part of Northern India. But we did not find any homogeneity among Muslim voters. It is also true that their political choices will be consolidated closer to the election date when the campaign gets intense. We also observed that the BJP through its state and central government-sponsored welfarism evolved a beneficiary consciousness among them and also through constant contact with them has evolved a beneficiary community which works beyond caste and religious identity and mobilised in the favour of BJP. BJP has launched various campaign to outreach among Muslim communities. Its minority cell is engaged in disseminating campaign like ‘Modi Bhayi Jan’ to impress Muslim communities in the favour of the Party.
We observed during our field work in various part of North India since many years that there is heterogeneity in the political choices of Muslim communities but still a large block gets polarised in the favour of non-BJP political parties. The AIMIM lead by Asaduddin Owaisi may fracture a small percent of votes on few seats in Northern part of India and may form -third choice of Muslim voters, but there number may be not much. A new phenomenon in the context of Muslim votes is being emerged that a section of Muslim voters is getting mobilised in the favour of BJP too. Let’s see how these inclinations of a section of Muslim voters are going to be translated in votes in coming 2024 parliamentary election.
