Md Asif Uzzaman
Abstract: This article looks at the uses of Pasmanda political discourse during the Indian general elections of 2024 by the two contending sides represented by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) in order to bring out a larger process of invisibilization of the politics based on Muslim castes. While the INDIA alliance rode on the bandwagon of social justice enshrined in the Constitution, it failed to defend the peculiar concerns of those who have been left behind even by the Indian Constitution. What seems like a withering away of the Hindutva politics in favour of a politics based on socio-economic justice comes with an erasure of the Pasmandapolitical discourse through its many appropriations and suppressions.
Keywords: Pasmanda, 2024 General elections, Hindutva, Constitution, Reservations, Appropriation, Invisibilization
Introduction
The Indian general election of 2024 witnessed a process of withering away of Hindutva politics which has dominated the Indian politics at the centre since the entire past decade. The Indian National Congress, as part of the INDIA alliance, posed a tough challenge to the ruling National Democratic alliance led by the BJP even though it could not defeat it. What was remarkable about this election is the visual representation of the Indian Constitution and a promise of socio-economic justice by the Congress-led alliance throughout its campaign. A promise for socio-economic census, with caste at its centre, infused India’s national politics with a discourse of social justice which was not seen in decades. However, the Congress was not the only political party to talk about caste-based economic injustice in their campaigns. It was in fact, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who began talking about benefits to the marginalized in his campaigns way back in 2023. In one of his speeches in June 2023 in Bhopal, the PM talked about the destitution of the Pasmanda Muslims in India. While Muslim anti-caste politics is not a new phenomenon – it goes back to the British era, when the All-India Momin Conference was a major voice of the backward Muslims – it was a first for an Indian Prime Minister to take up the term Pasmanda to address the issue of caste and economic injustice within the Muslim community in India. The following sections of the paper shall look at the ways in which the Muslim anti-caste politics figured in the electoral campaigns of the 2024 general elections to ultimately evaluate the ways forward for this political disposition in Indian politics.
The ‘Pasmanda’ in National Politics
“Yeh vote bank ki rajneetikarnewalon ne, humare jo pasmanda Musalman bhai behen hain, unka toh jeena bhi mushkil karke rakha hua hai. Wo to tabah ho gaye; unko koyi faida nahi mila hai…”[The politics of vote bank has made life miserable for our Pasmanda Muslim brothers and sisters. They have been devastated and have not received any benefits…] said the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi on 27th of June 2023 addressing a rally in Bhopal (CNN-News18 2023). Thus began not only the campaign for the then upcoming general elections of 2024 but also, as I would like to argue, the appropriation and ultimate erasure of Muslim anti-caste discourse from mainstream Indian politics. What sounded like a concern for the majority of Muslim population who happen to be Pasmanda and have not been benefited in modern India turned out to be a ploy to take their own political discourse away from them and their allies in order to ultimately suppress it.
One might wonder why should a mention of the Pasmanda Muslims by the Prime Minister be considered a ploy to suppress their discourse, especially since he had only shown concern and had not even mentioned their politics, let alone criticizing it? While the mention of the word “Pasmanda” from the Prime Minister of the country was seen as a positive step, it was interesting to see how the articulation around the Muslim subjects (a majority of whom happen to be Pasmanda) changed over the course of the campaigns by the time it neared the election dates. Initially, the confidence shown in Prime Minister’s mention of the backward Muslim community was welcomed by some who saw it as a promise for the upliftment of those Muslims who have been left behind by most political parties and assertions. The following statement by one of the Pasmanda activists as a part of an interview with India Narrative exemplifies this:
“When a PM talks about social change in the Muslim society, it must be seen as a positive step. You know that social justice for Pasmanada Muslims, which means the equivalent of Hindu OBC, SC, ST, is at the lowest level. On the other hand, Hindus are moving fast towards attaining social justice in their community. In such a scenario, nothing can be more encouraging for Pasmandas that the PM of the country is talking about justice for them” (Anas 2023).
The same PM who was talking about justice for Pasmanda Muslims turned to calling the Muslims as infiltrators whom his electoral rival was allegedly trying to give benefits to if they came into power. In his speech in Banswara on 21st of April 2024, the PM, attacking the Congress party said, “When they were in government earlier, they had said that Muslims had the first right to the nation’s property. This means they will collect this property and distribute it to whom? To those who have more children. To infiltrators” (Modi 2023).
One could argue that the two statements are talking about two different issues and that his jibe at the Congress for trying to unfairly benefit the Muslims does not contradict his support for the Pasmanda Muslims shown earlier, since there is no mention of the Pasmanda Muslim in the latter statement. Moreover, a politics based in Muslim identity has always been criticised by the Pasmanda leaders for yielding unfair benefits to the upper castes or Ashrafs in the name of backwardness of all Muslims within the country. To support the claim of Ashraf castes getting most of the benefits of supposed Muslim marginalisation, while the majority Pasmandas are still dispossessed, Ajaz Ashraf mentions a figure about the disparity in representation of the two aforementioned sections of Muslim population in the Lok Sabha since Independence, in one of his articles. He writes:
“The Ashrafs are over-represented in the power structure. Here are figures for people to ponder: between the First and the Thirteenth Lok Sabha, around 7,500 MPs were elected. Of them, 400 were Muslim. Of all Muslim MPs, only 60 were Pasmanda. The Ashrafs are just 2.01 percent of India’s population, but their representation between the First and the Thirteenth Lok Sabha was 4.5 percent, or double of their population” (Ashraf 2019).
Such a criticism of the Muslim upper castes having always had an over-representation in political power-sharing seems to align with the PM’s accusation against the Congress unfairly benefiting the Muslims, since the term Muslim is often a metaphor for the upper caste Muslims in Indian politics. One needs to keep in mind that this is a mere similarity in the object of criticism which is coming from completely different standpoints. However, the slight commonality in the object of criticism has prevented the Pasmanda activists from openly criticising the Hindutva right wing, despite increasingly being at the receiving end of the hate crimes that it either carries out or catalyses. The perpetual silence of the opposition in this regard contributes to the distancing of the promoters of the Pasmanda political discourse from putting their firm belief in the opposition and opposing the Hindutva narrative. The campaigns which the general elections followed was one of its kind, with the Congress taking up a radical stand against the socio-economic disparity in the country. The promise of a nationwide caste census (or doing the nation’s DNA test, as Rahul Gandhi called it in his speeches) by the INDIA bloc was the dialectical alternative to the Hindutva politics of the BJP if looked at through the historical lens of their inception a few decades back. Hence, the PM’s concern for the Pasmanda Muslims and his jibe against unfair advantage to Muslims could only be considered in sync with each other if there was evidence to prove his commitment towards upliftment of the Pasmandas. The discontinuation of the Maulana Azad National Fellowship for students in higher education is one of the many examples which prove otherwise. Looked closely, the PM’s two statements quoted above grossly contradict each other if we look at the attitude towards reservations in them. While the PM mentioned that the Pasmandas have not benefited from the existing politics of the Congress party, it is precisely a possible path towards their betterment through reservations in education and jobs that he opposed in order to antagonise the opposition and the Muslim community in his campaign in Banswara and other places. Why did he mention the Pasmanda Muslims at all? While vilifying the Muslim community could be one of the major motivations behind such an statement, an attempt at discrediting an emergent politics should also not be ignored.
Appropriation of an Emerging Political Discourse
The Bhartiya Janata Party’s dependence of religious identities for its politics is well known. However, the issue of reservations which the PM took up in his election campaigns is interesting for multiple reasons. The manner in which a supposed reservation for Muslims was antagonised was by protecting the existing reservations for SC, ST and OBCs. It is interesting to note that Muslims are already part of ST and OBC categories owing to their same socio-economic background as their ‘Hindu’ counterparts. If there is one category from which Muslims have been systematically kept away is the Scheduled Castes list against which there has been voices challenging it, both politically and legally. The Indian state and the Constitution have had a peculiar relation to Muslim castes which Shireen Azam calls “the simultaneous acknowledgement and undermining of Muslim caste” (Azam 2023). On the one hand it acknowledges the existence of caste groups and hierarchy among the Muslims, and on the other hand, it denies access to Muslim Dalit communities the Scheduled Castes status. The Dalit Muslims’ inclusion into the SC list has been the only demand regarding the furthering of any reservations for Muslims—a group which constitutes less than a percentage of the entire population.
In PM Modi’s jibe against a supposed extending of reservation for the Muslims could only be against the rights of the Dalit Muslims since any survey meant for extending reservations to Muslims would reveal the over-representation of the Ashraf castes, if the earlier data and the popular claim is to be trusted. How should one then understand the peculiar statement in the support of Pasmanda Muslims which the prime minister made in 2023? It needs to be understood as an appropriation of a genuine Pasmanda discourse which has only recently started to make a social media presence. In an age when a major part of election campaign takes place over the internet, appropriation of an emergent political discourse on the internet which does not yet have a clear electoral commitment is a smart move if successfully executed—a part of the ‘social engineering’ which is so central to winning elections. In an age of rampant Islamophobia and emergent Hindutva politics, would a transfer of votes from any section of the Muslim society to the right wing be possible? It might be difficult to conceive but is not impossible if we look at similar instances from the past.
This is not the first time that an attempt at appropriating the Pasmanda discourse has taken place. For a long time, Ali Anwar Ansari’s All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz was a major voice of the backward and Dalit Muslims in the state of Bihar. Ali Anwar became a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha twice on Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United’s ticket. While Ali Anwar was made an MP, the JDU has had a lot to gain from a voice of the most marginalised in Indian politics. The party, in certain quarters, came to be seen as a benefactor of the Pasmanda Muslims against the Ashraf-backed Rashtriya Janata Dal which has been its rival. However, this reputation of the JDU as a Pasmanda ally came to burst in 2017 when the party chose to leave the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar and sided with the BJP-led NDA at the centre. Not only was this sudden change in alliance a shocker for people and political observers alike, but the expulsion of Ali Anwar from the party for a having dissenting stand came out as an important revelation of the JDU’s appropriation of Pasmanda populace and political discourse for its own benefits. In this event, one can clearly observe an appropriation of the voice of a Pasmanda leader for the benefit of a political party for its electoral support which it did not take a lot to stifle when the time arrived—even as the leader was only opposing a U-turn of ideological commitment by the party. The Hindutva right wing’s use of the term Pasmanda needs to be understood as another instance of appropriation—a much clearer manifestation of the same than even JDU’s stifling of AIPMM leadership.
The Opposition’s Ambiguous Response and the Way Forward
Looking at the unfolding of the past few months, what could be observed throughout the election campaigns for the 2024 general election, however, was both a lack of clarity as well as ambiguous stand by the opposition bloc as well as the Pasmanda activists who initially supported Modi’s concern for the Pasmandas. If the former failed to address the caste problem in the Muslim community, the latter mostly stayed away from commenting on the hate-filled campaigns of the NDA. The INDIA bloc, remarkably, failed to bring into its discourse the voices which have been neglected by all fronts since the modern Indian nation-state came into existence. Not only was it crucial for the opposition, which was riding on the bandwagon of social justice and constitutionality, to finally speak out about the marginalised castes among the Muslims but also the ruling party’s allegations against the Congress had made the situation ripe for it. While Narendra Modi flared hatred against Muslims by attacking the Congress for its supposed plan of giving reservations to the Muslims, the INC or any of its allies failed to counter that with a defence of reservations for the Dalits among the Muslims who have been denied Scheduled Caste category since the Constitution came into effect in the past century. In responding to Modi’s allegations, the Congress decided to play safe by denying any such plan. With its denial for having a plan for giving separate quota for Muslims (or its Dalit caste groups), the Indian National Congress has ensured that not only the Hindutva right wing but also its most competent political opponent would not take up thePasmanda Muslim’s cause or incorporate its discourse in its politics. An emergent political discourse which one bloc in the elections initially tried appropriating into its fold only to abandon later was not even taken up by the other bloc. Even if there were a few responses from the DMK, one of the allies of INDIA bloc, regarding the issue, it is notable that it did not come with a commitment to uphold a political discourse centring the Pasmanda community. Neither did it field any leader from the community to respond to it. The absence of any outspoken Pasmanda political leader as a contestant for the Lok Sabha was yet another notable phenomenon during these elections.While the politics of socio-economic inequality marked the electoral campaigns of the INDIA bloc, the Pasmanda discourse as a counter to Hindutva politics could not be developed. While the INDIA alliance rode on the bandwagon of social justice and constitutionality, it failed to defend the peculiar concern of those who have been left behind even by the Indian Constitution. What seems like a withering away of the Hindutva politics in favour of a politics based on socio-economic justice comes with an erasure of the Pasmanda discourse through its many appropriations and suppressions. The Pasmanda political discourse– much like any emergent disposition with no clear political commitment in contemporary national politics – has a long road to cover for reaching the centre stage. Foremost, it would have to fight against its invisibilization at multiple fronts, understanding the terms and conditions in forming allies if it does so.Moreover, it will need to protect itself from attempts of appropriation into larger political discourses which engulf the marginal ones in the name of giving it voice.
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References
Anas, Mohammed. “Why PM Modi’s Call for Justice to Pasmanda Muslims Will Be Taken Seriously: Dr Faiyaz Ahmad Fayzie.” Indianarrative, 4 Sept.2023, www.indianarrative.com/opinion-news/why-pm-modis-call-for-justice-to-pasmanda-muslims-will-be-taken-seriously-dr-faiyaz-ahmad-fayzie-151096.html.
Ashraf, Ajaz. “For Indian Muslims, Elections Bring Caste Divide Among Ashrafs, Pasmandas to the Fore.” Firstpost, 25 Apr. 2019, www.firstpost.com/long-reads/for-indian-muslims-elections-bring-caste-divide-among-ashrafs-pasmandas-to-the-fore-6499661.html.
Azam, Shireen (2023). “The Political Life of Muslim Caste: Articulations and Frictions within a Pasmanda Identity.” Contemporary South Asia 31 (3): 426–41. doi:10.1080/09584935.2023.2237417.
CNN-News18. “PM Modi Bhopal Speech: Pasmanda Muslims Outreach and the Promise of Uniform Civil Code in India.” YouTube, YouTube, 27 June 2023, www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG8i99AHRUo.
Modi, Narendra. “PM Modi Addresses a Public Meeting in Banswara, Rajasthan.” YouTube, 21 Apr. 2024, www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LWA-rP5TKw.
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Md Asif Uzzaman is a research scholar of English literature in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Kanpur.
Email: uzzaman.asif2000@gmail.com
Image courtesy: the internet
