Yogendra Yadav Is Afraid That If Muslims Start Voting For A Muslim-Led Party, The Secular Fronts Will Become Just Representatives Of Different Castes
21
November 2020
I have
forced myself to write a response to Yogendra Yadav’s latest column in ThePrint
in which he has stigmatised the rise of All India Majlis-e-Ittehad ul Muslimeen
or AIMIM as a worrisome news.
File photo | AIMIM chief
Asaduddin Owaisi | Facebook/Asaduddinowaisi
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Even though
the highly superficial critique of psephologist-turned-politician Yogendra
Yadav does not make sense logically, it does make sense as a public display of
bête noir. If we pay close attention, we will realise that what a wide range of
politicians say about the success of Asaduddin Owaisi’s party in the Bihar
assembly election comes from a sense of reluctance in accepting the fact that
Muslim votes are no longer their private deposit that they can keep taking for
granted.
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The rise of
AIMIM, outside Hyderabad, and more specifically in India’s Hindi heartland, has
rattled most of the secular political fronts equally. When the Bihar election
results were announced, giving the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) another
five years despite a decent fight from Tejaswi Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal
(RLD)-led Mahagathbandhan (MGB), many Congress leaders were unhappy. At one
point, it felt as if the Congress was more dejected with the AIMIM winning five
seats in what once used to be its stronghold, Seemanchal, than losing the
election overall.
One of the
Congress’ tallest Muslim leaders from Bihar, Tariq Anwar, wrote on Twitter
saying “NDA should thank Owaisi for helping them form government for another term
in Bihar”. The Youth Congress’ official Facebook page shared several posters
and cartoons suggesting the same thing — the AIMIM is the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP)’s B-team and that Owaisi has helped the NDA win Bihar. But the
election data destroys all such claims. This is not the first time, though,
that Congress leaders have made this superficial claim. During the Telangana
assembly election in December 2018, Rahul Gandhi had said: ‘TRS is BJP’s
B-team, AIMIM is BJP’s C-team’.
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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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Yogendra
Yadav’s critique is pejoratively clever. He alleges that the AIMIM is a
“particularly pernicious political outfit”. He explains the history of the
Hyderabad-based party and tries to delegitimise it by questioning its loyalty
and allegiance to India for its positioning in the ‘India or Pakistan’ episode,
when Hyderabad was an independent state. I am yet to see any other political
party’s loyalty being questioned for what its founding members did before 1947.
We know about the Congress celebrating Hindu Mahasabha founder Madan Mohan
Malviya, other Hindu nationalists like Lala Lajpat Rai and even V.D. Savarkar.
Even when
the Congress is criticised for its past, the criticism lies around its mistakes
and blunders, or at most for its ‘Muslim appeasement’. However, the AIMIM has
not been labelled ‘dubious’ by Yogendra Yadav for its mistakes. Instead, the
party’s loyalty and allegiance to India has been questioned.
Furthermore,
Yogendra Yadav also alleges that the AIMIM is a communal outfit. He, however,
is sincere enough to acknowledge that the AIMIM is not the only communal
outfit. He writes that the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), the Indian Union Muslim
League (IUML), the Milli Council, the All India United Democratic Front
(AIUDF), and various factions of Kerala Congress are equally communal. The
AIUDF, as Yadav suggests, is different only in the sense that it does not carry
‘communalism’ in its name. I wonder what stopped him from including the Indian
National Congress (INC), which represents Brahmins; Aam Aadmi Party (AAP),
which represents Baniyas; Samajwadi Party (SP), which represents Yadavs in
Uttar Pradesh; Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), which represents Yadavs in Bihar;
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which represents Dalits in UP, Suheldev Bharatiya
Samaj Party (SBSP), which represents Rajbhars; Apna Dal, which represents
Kurmis; and Bahujan Vanchit Aghadi (VBA), which represents Dalits in
Maharashtra, among others. It should be noted that Yogendra Yadav only chose to
name the parties that represent three minority communities — Sikhs, Christians
and Muslims.
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In the end,
Yogendra Yadav’s biggest concern is that Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM may well be
the right partner that Hindu majoritarian politics is looking for. I am afraid
that he needs to be reminded that Hindutva politics has already won two Lok
Sabha elections, and has seemingly compromised all the State institutions,
without the help of AIMIM. The Narendra Modi government has been re-elected
with a greater majority than before, and his popularity has been on rise
despite everything. Hindu majoritarian politics was indeed looking for
opportunities, which were served to them by the secular leaders themselves. The
reception of Ram Mandir Bhoomi Pujan by secular parties legitimised Hindu
majoritarian politics. So did the reception of the Ayodhya verdict by secular
parties and the repeated silence of these parties on issues that concerned
Muslims.
Shifting The Blame From Secular Parties
It is
easier for Yogendra Yadav to look the other way, but the reality is that since
Modi’s second term, Hindu majoritarian politics has shifted from ‘Hindu Khatre Mein Hai‘ (Hindus are in
danger) to ‘Musalmanoñ Ko Darr Ke Jeena
Padega‘ (Muslims have to live in fear). The BJP does not need Asaduddin
Owaisi’s party to make their point. Secular parties have failed to establish social
justice by failing to give Muslims their fair share of representation while
taking Muslim votes for granted until now. The reports of Sachar Committee,
Kundu Committee and numerous other researches clearly indicate the failure of
secular parties vis-à-vis Muslims. These parties have paved ways for Hindu
majoritarian politics to not just operate but to bloom. It is the inconsistent
policies of the secular parties that must be blamed. That was the only
opportunity Hindu majoritarian politics was looking for. We are past that.
Yogendra Yadav and others are afraid that if Muslims start voting for a
Muslim-led party, almost every secular front will have to become what they
really are — political outfits representing different castes. The AIMIM is not
a secular party because Hindus do not vote for it. The Samajwadi Party is a
secular party because Muslims also vote for it other than Yadavs.
Yogendra
Yadav is getting it wrong. He is trying to shift the blame of bringing Hindu
majoritarian politics from the Hindu majority to Muslims — as if Hindu
majoritarian politics would cease to exist had it not been for Asaduddin Owaisi
or any other Muslim political outfit. It is about time that members of the
Hindu community start owning their own mess instead of blaming Muslims as the
BJP does.
Yogendra
Yadav’s secularism demands Muslims to vote for Hindu-led parties just as they
have been doing almost religiously since 1947. Muslims voting for the AIMIM — a
Muslim-led party — in his view, means Muslims are rejecting secularism. This
binary is highly problematic. If Yogendra Yadav suggests that in order to save
secularism, Muslims should give up their best chance of getting truly
represented, this secularism must not be saved. Asaduddin Owaisi’s rise lies in
the response (or lack of it) of secular parties to the BJP’s Hindu majoritarian
politics. Yogendra Yadav must not assume the AIMIM will be a ‘Muslim BJP’.
Instead,
for a change, the Hindu majority should, for once, rally behind a Muslim leader
and save Indian secularism. After all, no politician stands as tall as
Asaduddin Owaisi in countering Hindu majoritarian politics or in displaying the
secular ethos of the Constitution in their public speeches. Yogendra Yadav’s
unwillingness to acknowledge that a Muslim leader who is not sanctioned by
existing secular parties can be secular, is Islamophobia.
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Sharjeel Usmani is a student leader and the
National Secretary of Fraternity Movement. Views are personal.
Original Headline: Yogendra Yadav is wrong to assume Owaisi’s AIMIM
will be a ‘Muslim BJP’
Source: The Print
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-politics/yogendra-yadav-afraid-that-if/d/123531
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