Breaking Shibboleths
The new Muslim MPs who have been elected to the fifteenth Lok Sabha from across political parties best exemplify the new India. Voted from multi-ethnic parliamentary constituencies, there is no question of an en bloc, so-called Muslim vote bank. In exclusive interviews with TSI, the MPs reveal that unlike some previous elections, this time votes were cast for candidates who adopted a more modern discourse affecting the lives of common people: security, development, employment and better opportunities.
Take Member of Parliament, Asrarul Haque Qasmi. Elected from the Kishanganj constituency in Bihar on a Congress ticket, he is an educator. As president of Talimi Wa Milli foundation, Qasmi has adopted 168 villages in his mission to make them totally literate. “The youth in Kishanganj remains backward so I am striving to create educational and employment opportunities. That is my priority area,” he says.
Qasmi, a former student of famed Islamic seminary, Darul Uloom Deoband, says overwhelming numbers of young voters today are not interested on old hackneyed tales.
They are looking for fresh ideas and given their age, they cannot be faulted.
Another MP with the Deoband tag is perfume baron, Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, president of the all India United Democratic Front, Assam. He triumphed from Dhubri by a comfortable margin of over 1.84 lakh votes and polled 51.66 per cent of the electorate.
“My immediate priority is relief for Assam flood victims and compensation for those killed in the Nellie massacre of 1983. They need compensation on the lines of what the Sikhs got in Delhi. My voters’ identified with me when I said that real empowerment can only be achieved through political power,’’ Ajmal — sometimes accused of only being the leader of Bangladeshi migrants — told this reporter. He had surprised poll pundits by winning ten assembly seats in the 2006 elections, leading a party that was formed months before the elections were announced.
Interestingly, the number of Muslim MPs in the current Lok Sabha has come down to 31 as compared to 36 in the last House. Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have sent seven MPs each while contribution from the other states remains sparse: Jammu and Kashmir 4; Bihar, Kerala and Assam three each; two from Tamil Nadu and one from Andhra Pradesh and Lakshadweep respectively.
Is the community under represented? “The number of Muslim MPs in the Lok Sabha is on the decline, since BJP emerged as a force. Since the BJP accounts for about one-third or one-fourth of the total seats, prospects of Muslim candidates have declined. Ideally, secular parties should be compensating for this loss by giving increased number of seats, but that does not happen. In UP, the BSP gave 14 seats to Muslims and 21 to Brahmins. Ditto with Congress and SP,’’ says M.J. Khan, president, national economic forum of minorities (NEFM). The lone Muslim MP from BJP, Shahnawaz Husain, won a third consecutive Lok Sabha election, this time from Bhagalpur in Bihar. Husain disclaims Muslim leader status. “I am not a Muslim leader. I have been elected by the Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and all. I do not ask for votes on the basis of caste, creed and religion. I believe in work and people support me for that.”
While it is generally believed that Muslims don’t vote for the BJP, Bihar provides the contrarian view. Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister of Bihar, leader of Janata Dal (U) and key BJP ally, got significant minority support. His mantra: using employment and development as poll issues and shunning sectarian agendas. It worked well in his favour.
