What Shahabuddin Was For the Atal-Advani Duo, Owaisi Is For the Modi-Shah Pair
By
Ajay Gudavarthy
30.12.20
Asaduddin
Owaisi, who was a Muslim leader confined to Hyderabad, is now staking a claim
to become an all-India Muslim leader. He is being credited with bringing back
the question of political representation to Muslims who have been witnessing a
steady marginalization. Is the decline of Muslim representation the truth about
Indian secularism or is the rise of Owaisi and his party, the All India
Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, the result of Indian secularism? Is voting for
the AIMIM any different from voting for the Bharatiya Janata Party? Is it not
true that the consolidation of the Muslim vote for a Muslim party, moving away
from the Congress and the regional parties, results in the consolidation of the
Hindu votes for the BJP?
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Also Read: Sultan Shahin, Not Owaisi, Represents
India’s Muslims
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The rise of
the BJP on a polarized narrative made it difficult for other parties, including
the Congress, to not be accused of appeasement. In response, most of them
resorted to what is known as ‘soft Hindutva’, avoiding explicit support to
Muslim-related issues of culture, identity and social opportunities. The BJP
not only polarized the elections but also gained by accommodating wider
representation among subcastes within Dalits and the OBCs. As a result, the BJP
expanded its social base, created a pan-Hindu constituency, and arrested the
Opposition parties from claiming the support of the ‘Hindu’ base apart from
rendering their support for Muslims suspect. They ended up being branded
pseudo-secular from both ends. Aggressive and resurgent Hindu consciousness
blamed them for Muslim appeasement while Muslims blamed them for ‘soft
Hindutva’.
It is in this context that the AIMIM provided much needed relief for Muslims by coming forward to voice their grievances and expand their representation. After Owaisi’s bid in Maharashtra, his party won five seats in Bihar. The AIMIM is confident of doing well in Bengal. On social media, middle class Muslims are glad that Muslims are regaining the lost space. Poorer Muslims are left with little choice but to vote for the AIMIM to get an assurance of protection. However, wherever the AIMIM is performing well, it seems to be aiding the BJP by splitting the Muslim vote. The impact of this was most profound in Bihar where the elections were closely fought. The outcome became even murkier with Owaisi announcing that he would wait and decide which party to support in the eventuality of a hung assembly.
His reasoning seems to be that as far as
Muslims are concerned, it makes no difference whether it is the Congress
led-secular formation or the BJP-led ‘communal’ formation as both have
shortchanged the Muslims and robbed them of their rightful dues. This argument
is similar to the Dalit-Bahujan view that the Congress and the Left parties are
no different from the BJP when it comes to providing opportunities to the
marginalized castes. The support of marginalized castes and now Muslim votes
cannot be taken for granted by highlighting the impending threat of the BJP.
Dalit-Bahujans and Muslims prefer to improve their own footprint. Significantly,
Owaisi is pitching for an independent Muslim politics in alliance with Dalit
parties like the Bahujan Samaj Party in Bihar and the Republican Party of India
in Maharashtra.
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Also Read: Left-Cong Combine, Not AIMIM, Will Play the Role of
Vote-Cutters in Bengal Assembly Elections
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The
accusation made by the Dalit-Bahujans and, now, by Owaisi that the Congress,
Left and regional parties did not do much to fulfil their aspirations cannot be
denied. But it is also relevant to ask if representation alone would make a
difference. Did Dalit representatives succeed in bringing about radical
transformation to the community? What kind of a difference can Owaisi make with
a few MLAs and perhaps a few MPs in the future? Would it be any different from
what Congress and others achieved in the past, except that now
Dalit-Bahujans-Muslims themselves will be able to make their own demands? The
core problem is that the gap in social and economic power among castes, classes
and religious groups is so humongous that representation has become the only
possible mode of forging marginal but palpable change.
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Also Read: Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM
Plays Spoilsport By Making A Dent Into Muslim Votes In Bihar Elections
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It is,
again, similar to the policy of reservations that benefited a small segment of
Dalits but this does not justify critiquing reservations. Similarly,
representation cannot bring about much change, but there cannot be a political
or moral critique of it. On the scale of real-time economic opportunities and social
mobility, the BJP does not seem to present a threat as things were no better
before it rose to power; the BJP will only consolidate the power of Hindus over
Muslims, upper-castes over Dalit-Bahujans and higher-end middle and corporate
classes over the working classes. It will, in addition, provide an ideological
justification for removing reservations, for disenfranchising Muslims and
aggressively supporting the corporates, even as it offers more representation
to smaller castes.
Majoritarianism
is pushing marginalized social groups to a corner, forcing them to succumb and
surrender. This is not being done through force alone, even though intimidation
plays an important role. This end is also being achieved by producing a
strategy where, in Owaisi’s case, legitimate aspirations of Muslims become a
template for consolidating the grip of the BJP.
In a way,
history is repeating itself. Syed Shahabuddin was encouraged into active
politics by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and his aggressive posturing on Babri Masjid
and personal laws took the BJP from 2 seats to 182. What Shahabuddin was for
the Atal-Advani duo, Owaisi is for the Modi-Shah pair. Owaisi’s consolidation
of Muslim votes will result in a counter-consolidation of Hindu votes and the
BJP will surge forward.
Original
Headline: The AIMIM and Indian secularism
Source: The Telegraph, India
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-politics/shahabuddin-atal-advani-duo,-owaisi/d/123923