On January 17, 2023, BJP has started the assembly elections and Lok Sabha elections 2024 to be held in 9 states this year through the national executive meeting. During this meeting, the PM asked all the leaders of the party to connect the people of the country.
He said, ‘Don’t make wrong statements about the Muslim society. Take the policies of the government to the Bohras, Pasmandas and educated people of the Muslim community. Our aim should be to connect and connect with all parts of the society’
He said that we should meet Pasmanda and Bohra community. Have to maintain communication with the workers. Meet all sections of the society. Vote or not, but meet. Many people in the party still feel that they are in the opposition. Many people in the party should speak dignified language.
Earlier in the year 2022, in the Hyderabad National Executive, the PM had announced that the party’s mission should be to reach closer to the Muslims. One of the biggest examples of this is the Rajya Sabha of Kashmir leader Ghulam Ali Khatana. Taking such a decision clearly shows that BJP is trying to get closer to Muslims.
Amidst all these rhetoric and efforts, the question arises that what is the reason for this change in BJP towards Muslims? And what is the role of Muslims and other minorities in electoral politics?
First understand what percentage of total population in India is minority
- 6 religious communities namely Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Parsis were notified as minority communities by the Ministry of Welfare, Government of India on 23 October 1993 by notification.
- Jammu Kashmir- 68.31
- Punjab- 1.93%
- Haryana- 7.03%
- Rajasthan- 9.07%
- Gujarat- 9.67%
- Madhya Pradesh – 6.57%
- Uttar Pradesh – 19.26%
- Bihar – 16. 87
- Bengal – 27.01
- Delhi – 12.86
- Uttarakhand – 13.95
- Himachal Pradesh – 2.18
- Sikkim – 1.62
- Assam- 34.22
- Meghalaya- 4.40
- Maharashtra- 11.54
- Odisha- 2.17%
- Jharkhand- 14.53%
- Manipur- 8.40%
- Nagaland- 2. 47%
- Karnataka- 12.92%
- Tamil Nadu – 5.86%
< li>According to the census conducted in the year 2011, the population of minorities is about 19.3 percent of the total population of the country. In which the maximum population of Muslims is 14.2 percent. Whereas Christians are 2.3 percent, Sikhs 1.7 percent, Buddhists 0.7 percent, Jains 0.4 percent and Parsis 0.006 percent. The Jain community was also notified as a minority community, in exercise of the rights under clause (c) of Cr."text-align: justify;">India Which states have how many Muslim community members
Now we know that in which state of the country there is a Muslim population, from this we will also be able to estimate the present population of Pasmanda Muslims.
< li>Mizoram- 1.35%
< li>Lakshadweep – 96.58%
8 percent Muslim voters in UP voted for BJP
There is a perception that Muslim voters vote against BJP, but according to a CSDS-Lokniti survey, the party managed to garner at least eight per cent Muslim votes in the UP assembly elections. The Samajwadi Party got about 79 percent of the votes and the BJP eight percent of the 19.26 percent Muslim votes during the assembly elections in UP, which is an increase of one percent from the 2017 elections.
How many Muslim voters in Bihar
According to the 2011 census, the total population of Bihar is 10,40,99,452. At the same time, the percentage of Muslims in the total population is 16.9. At present the total population of this state is 1,75,5,78,09. In which males are 90,44,086 and females are 85,13,723.
The support of Muslim population is behind BJP’s record breaking victory in Gujarat
There is an interesting discussion about the record breaking victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat in the assembly elections held in 2022 that the party won in those areas where there is a sizeable population of Muslims. Talking to the BBC, the party’s spokesperson in the state, Yagnesh Dave, claimed that his party got a large number of Muslim votes because of the abolition of triple talaq and raising the issue of Uniform Civil Code. Congress gave tickets to six Muslim candidates and Aam Aadmi Party to four Muslim candidates in these elections.
Pasmanda and Bohra communities can act as game changers
Atif Rashid, who is associated with BJP working among Pasmanda Muslims, says, ‘The report that was submitted to PM Modi after the results of the last assembly elections of UP. In it, a paragraph was specially highlighted that the BJP got more votes than expected from Pasmanda Muslim-dominated areas. This is an indication that the most backward section of the Muslims are happy with the policies of the central government, which needs to be sustained and their faith in the future also needs to be maintained.
Perhaps this is the reason why in the BJP’s national executive meeting held in Hyderabad before Delhi, Modi insisted that all party MPs and MLAs go to the backward Muslim areas and see that they get all the welfare schemes of the Center. Whether getting the benefit or not and if any shortcoming is found, then give immediate instructions to the local administration to complete it.
What is the mathematics of Pasmanda Muslims
There is no doubt that BJP never got the votes of Muslims in UP or other states of the country. It has definitely happened that the party which showed the power to defeat the BJP got the votes of the Muslims outright. But wherever this vote bank is scattered, BJP has benefited from it. But BJP has also made a strategy regarding this. This is also being linked with the plan to win all 80 seats in UP in the Lok Sabha elections.
Who are the Pasmanda Muslims
The word Pasmanda is spoken for those castes of Muslims who are socially backward or they were deprived of many rights from the beginning. These include backward, Dalit and tribal Muslims. But this math of castes among Muslims is as complicated as the math of castes among Hindus. And here also the social status is decided on the basis of caste.
In the year 1998, for the first time ‘Pasmanda Muslim’ was used Daya. When former Rajya Sabha MP Ali Anwar Ansari formed the Pasmanda Muslim Mahaj. At the same time, there was a demand that all Dalit Muslims should be identified separately and they should be kept under OBC.