by Khalid Anis Ansari
It is true that BJP is aggressively wooing the Pasmanda communities. Since none of the secular/social justice parties have accommodated
the Pasmanda demands so far, in fact not even registered the existence of the
Pasmanda category, BJP has the first mover’s advantage in this regard. If BJP persists
in its policy then there is a possibility of a significant Pasmanda vote
sliding towards it. This becomes more glaring because most of the secular
parties are not immune from the charge of fomenting/abetting communal riots
when they were in power.
If Pasmanda votes shift towards BJP then the onus must be
placed primarily on the champions of secularism and social justice and not on
the Pasmanda communities. Like all communities there are politically ambitious
individuals and organizations within the Pasmanda communities as well who may
align with right wing forces for their personal benefits. No community is
immune from this trend: Shazia Ilmi, M.J Akbar, Shahnawaz Hussain, Najma
Heptullah, Udit Raj, Ram Vilas Paswan, Anupriya Patel, Swami Prasad Maurya,
Upendra Kushwaha, etc., are illustrious examples. In the conference of Backward Muslims organized by BJP’s Sabir Ali on May 9 only about 2000 Pasmanda Muslims
from Bihar, U.P, Delhi and other states attended. None of the key Pasmanda
leaders were present in the conference and the strength was miniscule when
compared to the total population of Pasmanda Muslims in these states.
There are reports
that Sabir Ali is a Muslim thakur and therefore not a Pasmanda. His
caste thakurai got into the OBC list due to Laloo Yadav’s ashraf
appeasement just like high caste mallicks were inappropriately included
by Nitish Kumar's government subsequently. On the same day when this conference
happened our PM Narendra Modi also met a delegation of Jamiat-e-Ulema Hind, an ashraf organization, in Delhi. The Catholic Priests have met CM Adityanath Yogi in Lucknow recently. A few years back SIO (Students Islamic Organisation) had invited Indresh Kumar, a member of RSS to a conference
in BHU. So such events must be placed in their proper context and interpreted
without a prejudiced mind.
Any government,
including right wing ones, are constitutionally expected to address the concerns
of all citizens. If the Pasmanda communities face any issue—symbolic or
economic—they are within their rights to approach the government of the day for
redressal. Pasmanda movement believes in engagement and not withdrawal from the
State. So they will engage with both the BJP government at the Centre and U.P.
However, the
Pasmanda movement will continue to oppose fascist and manuwadi forces just like
all major dalit, left and progressive/democratic forces do. But the people are
open to other negotiations and influences and their electoral behavior cannot be
really predicted. In Uttar Pradesh 2017 assembly elections a significant number
of dalit and OBC votes went to the BJP (the savarnas obviously supported the
BJP wholeheartedly).
Should we merely
blame the voters for this without understanding what made the BJP attractive to
them? If secular/social justice parties continue with their slumber with
regards to Pasmanda demands then a significant shift of Pasmanda votes may
happen towards the BJP in 2019 general elections. In such a scenario should the
Pasmanda voters be held responsible for that? If the answer to this question
from the secular/social justice camp is affirmative then they must simply pack
up their bags and exit politics altogether.
[See also the news coverage of this note here]
