Nawab Malik: From just another politician to 'quam ka rehnuma'

Nawab Malik has been part of Maharashtra's ruling circles for decades, but he wasn't the name that came to mind when one spoke of "Muslim faces" in the government. One knew of him as a minister, sometimes handling labour, sometimes housing. Unlike other Muslim ministers, he was never photographed with maulanas, nor did he take centre stage when Muslims were released after spending years in jail on false charges, not because he has always maintained a low profile, but simply because he didn't get involved in such matters. He was no "qaum ka rehnuma" (leader of the community). He was just a politician.

Today, when identity has become paramount, and representation is the buzzword, it's difficult to imagine a time when it was commonplace for Muslims to be part of government without being noticeably Muslim. Grouses about representation have been there for a long time; before every election, politically active Muslims would get together and demand that parties allot them more tickets. The demand was rarely met, and things would go back to normal after the results.

But after Narendra Modi took over in 2014, things never went back to normal. It was no longer a question of not enough tickets. The question that began to be asked then had never needed to be asked: did Muslims matter anymore in our representative system of government?

Modi's BJP made it clear that the only community that mattered was the majority community; all others, especially those following what the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has always described as "foreign" religions, had to efface their distinctiveness. Asaduddin Owaisi took this logic to the other extreme: Muslims must have a share in power, but only a Muslim party that flaunted the community's religious identity could give it to them.

In this clash of arms, one reality continues to be ignored - the Muslim in government who is no different from his/her Hindu counterpart, who doesn't wear his/her faith like a badge. Does such a Muslim qualify in today's discussions on Muslim representation? So all-pervasive has the issue of identity become that we forget that for years Ghulam Nabi Azad was the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha; that Salman Khurshid is one among many who represent the Congress in TV debates and that Muslim MLAs from the South often talk about their parties on matters that have nothing to do with being Muslim.

Also read: No need for Malik to resign as he has not be proven guilty, says minister Jayant Patil

Nawab Malik has been the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) spokesman for more than a decade. He is also its Mumbai president. The NCP is Malik's predominant identity. But over the last few months, this low profile politician, who continues to live with his joint family in his old flat in the predominantly Muslim area of Kurla, has acquired a new identity: that of the "Muslim leader" who dared to take on the all-powerful Hindutvavadi Central government on behalf of an unfairly targeted Bollywood icon. And now that he's paying the price for that audacity, Nawab Malik has become the latest "Muslim victim".

That epithet seems like a cruel joke to the Muslims who live in the constituency where Malik began his political career. The man who's been minister thrice hasn't bothered to ensure for his earliest voters even the most basic of civic amenities. Malik now fights from another constituency, but this ghetto, dotted with piles of garbage and illegal constructions, remains under the menacing shadow of his brother.

Few of these voters joined the NCP's protest when Malik was arrested last week. It wasn't just their own neglect by the minister that made them stay away; it was also Malik's silence on the lynchings and everyday humiliation of Muslims that have been a hallmark of BJP-ruled states in the last seven years. As a spokesperson of an opposition party, Malik could have spoken up on these crucial issues. He chose not to. When he did take the BJP on, they point out, it was only to avenge his son-in-law's arrest by the Narcotics Control Bureau.

Yet, today, Muslims, in general, are proud that one of their own confronted the Centre. To the heroes and heroines of the fight against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA)-National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the hijab ban, a most unlikely hero has been added. One wonders, though, whether Nawab Malik sees himself as part of this galaxy of fighters for the community. Going by his record as minorities minister for the last two years, he doesn't quite fit the bill.

For thrusting this community halo on a man who shuns identity politics, credit must be given to the BJP and its relentless pursuit of Muslims at every level.

(Jyoti Punwani is a journalist.)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.

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