Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent address in Bhopal, although mostly entailed the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code and an all-out attack on Opposition leaders seeking unity, he did manage to bring in the topic of Pasmanda Muslims and Muslim women.
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — After the poll setback it suffered recently in Karnataka, where an overwhelming majority of Muslims is reported to have voted for the Congress party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is trying to reach out to the community and devise plans to woo it in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Accordingly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address in Bhopal, the capital of the poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, although mostly entailed the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code and an all-out attack on Opposition leaders seeking unity, he did manage to bring in the topic of Pasmanda Muslims and Muslim women.
Harping again, as it is his wont, on the triple talaq, the prime minister said the practice “does not do justice to daughters…entire families get ruined.
“If triple talaq is an essential part of Islam then why is it banned in countries like Qatar, Jordan, and Indonesia?” he asked.
The BJP has now undertaken a special drive in 65 minority-dominated Lok Sabha constituencies across the country to reach out to the poorer sections within the community, euphemistically called Pasmanda Muslims. These sections are believed to have been benefiting from the central government’s social sector schemes.
Pasmanda Muslims in the country are said to be the most backward and socially oppressed in the community. About 85 per cent of the global Pasmanda Muslim population is in India, Ali Anwar Ansari, founder and president of the All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz, was quoted in the media as saying.
Modi’s emphasis on this section comes as no surprise, as the party’s vote bank from the Muslim community has mostly consisted Pasmandas.
“Had these people (Opposition) been Muslim sympathisers, the community would not have lagged as far as education and jobs are concerned,” Modi said, blaming past governments for the lack of development among this section of Muslims.
A recent Indian Express report said the Muslim community is divided along three lines — Ashrafs, Ajlafs and Arzals. The first are descendants of foreign rulers, Ajlafs are the converts and the Arzals are the most backward classes or converts. The Ashrafs, who are the minority, have mostly been the face of Muslims in Indian politics and the issues plaguing the Pasmandas (which comprise the Ajlafs and Arzals), such as social justice and welfare have been relegated to the back burner by the Ashrafs. This section has usually been vocal about issues such as personal laws and a distinct Muslim identity.
This, the report said, has led to the issues of Pasmanda Muslims being largely ignored, thereby rendering them backward. This is what the BJP seems to have caught on, by carefully identifying the opportunity to turn the Pasmandas into the vote bank for the 2024 polls.
The party’s carefully crafted ‘Sneh Milan’ and other such events are just one of the many attempts by it to woo the community.
It remains to be seen whether the Pasmandas warm up to the saffron party as several states go to the polls this year in the run-up to the general elections next year.
