Muslim Political Futures: What Lies Ahead for Indian Muslims?
By
Arshad Alam, New Age Islam
26 August
2020
A series of
political moments have produced a level of anxiety within Indian Muslims which
is unprecedented since the partition of the subcontinent. The almost routine
lynching of Muslims, their otherization in the political discourse, police
brutality to the extent that even Muslim educational spaces have become unsafe,
arbitrary arrests of Muslim political activists and doubts on their very
citizenship have singed Muslims.
What is
most painful for India’s Muslims is that except for a handful of individuals,
no political party wants to be seen to be defending even their genuine
interests. Not just the political class, but increasingly it appears that even
the judiciary has abandoned them. All this has produced a condition of
perpetual anxiety amongst Muslims as they are trying to understand their place
within this new imagination of the nation state. There is churning within the
Muslim community as they try to find answers to remain relevant within the
national space.
One of the
important suggestions doing the round is that Muslims should float their own
all India political party. The latest articulation of this strategy comes from
none other than the fugitive Zakir Naik. It is hoped that this political party
will become the voice of the beleaguered Muslim minority. But this is better
said than done. We already have an aspiring party of Asaduddin Owaisi which has
been trying to transform the Hyderabad based AIMIM into an all India party. In
the recent elections, it has had meagre success in pockets of Maharashtra.
However, largely, Muslims themselves have rejected it. In Bihar and Uttar
Pradesh, Muslims have been rather cold to the overtures of AIMIM, despite the
fact there is a fan following of Owaisi amongst the Muslim youth.
Muslims
need to think if an all India party is a viable option for them. Muslim numbers
vary in different regions of the country. Also, Muslims face issues which vary
from state to state. It will be far better if Muslims form regional parties
instead of a single all India party. In places like West Bengal and Assam,
where Muslims have a substantial presence, they must float their own political
party. While in Assam, this is already in practice, some Muslim groups are
trying to do this experiment in Bengal also. One of the first obstacle that
such parties are going to face is to convince the Muslim electorate to vote for
them exclusively. Through years of political socialization, Muslims have been
led to believe that their interest will be best served if they are represented
by others. For this reason, Muslims have voted for parties ranging from the
Left to its arch rival the Trinamool Congress. Muslims have developed a dependent
psychology and the first task of a regional Muslim political party would be to
fight against such tendency and instil political confidence in them. At some
point Muslims will realise that despite trusting various political formations,
they have only be used as vote bank and very little development has come their
way. Once this consciousness arises, Muslims will surely see that they should
decide their own political future. If such a Muslim party, say in Bengal or
Assam, ends up having a substantial number of Muslim votes, then it can enter
into any alliance of its choosing and on its own agenda. That agenda should
only have one focus: to better the educational and economic conditions of
Muslims.
Certainly,
this model will not work in places where Muslims are in a minority and where a
Muslim political party will not have much effect. In states like Uttar Pradesh
and Bihar, Muslims must adopt a different strategy and support only one
political party en masse. Before doing so, they must float an agenda of empowerment
and see which political party is most suited to fulfil this promise. This
agenda again, has to be truly educationally and economically empowering so that
it touches the lives of ordinary Muslims rather than serving the interests of a
select few.
Muslim
political presence at the national level is thin and it is going to be so for
years to come. Creating a national political party is not going to change this
reality. But at the same time, it should not be forgotten that Muslims are
being increasingly negatively defined in terms of their religious identity. It
is important therefore that Muslims should assert their voice at the national
level also. For this purpose, they should create multiple platforms to address
and amplify the concerns of Indian Muslims. Such platforms must regularly
liaison with all stake-holders like parties, bureaucracy and the intelligentsia
with a view to engage them on the Muslim question.
At all
these three levels, Muslims must be clear on certain things. First they must
realise that their interest will be better served by becoming an interest group
rather than an ideological force. Muslims are counted as reliable partners by
other political parties only with the express intention of defeating the
‘communal forces’ represented by the BJP. Muslims will do well to remember that
‘riots’ have occurred even when so called secular regimes are in power, like in
Uttar Pradesh. While in other cases, where riots have not happened, they have
remained backward, uneducated and heavily under-represented like in West
Bengal. Thus Muslims have no option but to rely on themselves. In this process,
they should become de-ideological and should have no hesitation in allying with
any political formation to secure its own interests.
Second,
efforts should be made to make Muslim politics as diverse as possible in terms
of gender and caste. Traditional Muslim politics has been driven largely by men
of upper caste which needs to change. Over the years, women and Pasmanda Muslim
leaders have emerged and they must be included into the leadership structure of
Muslim politics. The old patriarchal politics having the sanction of a few
outmoded Ulama of Deoband or Bareilly has created deep resentment within Muslim
women, apart from doing much harm to the Muslim cause. Similarly, keeping out
the majority of Indian Muslims, who are lower down the caste hierarchy has done
indelible damage to Muslim empowerment. Upper caste Muslim leadership, largely
educated abroad, have no organic connection with ordinary Muslims. Instead of
empathising with the everyday struggles of ordinary Muslim, the upper caste
leadership has largely remained aloof and has become the exemplar of
hypocritical politics. So while these politicians have educated their sons and
daughters in the best of English schools, they have at the same time defended
and advocated Urdu and madrasa education for the vast majority of Muslims. An
alternative Muslim politics is not possible without calling out such duplicity.
Thirdly,
Muslims must steer clear of the mistakes of the past. Muslim politics in the
past has revolved around largely symbolic issues which had no intention of
bettering the lives of millions in whose name such politics was carried out.
Issues like the preservation of Muslim personal law, protection of Urdu and
madrasas should be done away it. In its place, Muslims must demand the complete
abrogation of good for nothing state sponsored institutions like the Muslim
Personal Law Board. Through its retrograde defence of decadent traditions
within Muslims, the Board and its activities have created a very negative image
of the Muslim community. Instead of madrasa and Urdu medium schools, Muslims
must demand to be educated in the English language. Without acquiring the
language of power and a modern idiom, Muslims will never be able to inaugurate
a transformative politics.
Another
major problem with Muslim politics has been its exceptionalism. It demanded
from the state which it was not ready to concede to others. Muslims wanted the public
sphere to bow down to its demands while not recognising that living together
with other communities demanded a more secular and tolerant attitude from their
side too. The argument that faith cannot be legislated upon came first from
Muslim leadership but then Hindus also started raising the issue of their faith
and the polity of the country has never been the same ever since. It is in the
interest of Muslims to talk in a more secular language, engage all parties and
operate within the limits of constitutional morality. An alternative Muslim
politics can only begin with a genuine critique of its past mistakes.
---
Arshad
Alam is a columnist with NewAgeIslam.com
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-society/muslim-political-futures-lies-ahead/d/122729
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism