The eyewash that is BJP's Pasmanda outreach

Last Sunday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) kicked off its campaign to connect with the 'Pasmanda', or (marginalised/backward) Muslims in Lucknow. The staunchly Hindutva party announced its plan to field Pasmanda Muslim candidates in the upcoming local body elections in Uttar Pradesh.

However, this "affection" for the Pasmandas seems like an eyewash. On international platforms, the saffron brigade wants to make a makeover of its image, tarnished due to the rise in anti-Muslim activities in the country. At the same time, it is also seen as an attempt to divide the minority community.

The BJP's Muslim outreach is part of its old agenda to divide the country's largest minority into sects and sections to reduce their political influence. It tried to create a rift between the Shias and the Sunnis, but both sects stood together against the discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act.

A sudden increase in anti-Muslim crimes was noticed soon after the rise of Hindu nationalist leader Narendra Modi in national politics in 2014. The atrocities committed against Muslims, such as lynchings, calls for Muslim genocide, blasphemous remarks about the Prophet Mohammad, and so on, tarnish the image of the Modi government and the 'Sangh' around the world.

No Muslim minister

The BJP vowed to give tickets to the backwards among Muslims while diminishing Muslim representation in the Union government. For the first time in history, the Union government does not have a Muslim minister, and there is only one Muslim parliamentarian in the ruling party.

After securing a comfortable place in national politics, the saffron party sidelined even its devoted Muslim leaders, notably Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Syed Shahnawaz Hussain. After Naqvi's Rajya Sabha term was over, Modi didn't bring any Muslims into his council of ministers, neither Pasmanda (for instance, Ansari, Qureishi, and Salmani) nor Ashraf (for instance, a Syed, Sheikh or Pathan).

Many people thought that either Naqvi or Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan would run as the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA)'s vice presidential candidate. But, the party denied the ticket to both of them and paved the way for West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar to take the post.

Since the last two assembly elections in the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, the BJP has turned its back on the state's largest minority group. In its two governments, the BJP has only appointed two junior ministers: Mohsin Raza (Shia) in 2017 and Danish Azad Ansari (Sunni) in 2022.

Despite having a roughly 20 per cent Muslim population, there hasn't been much Muslim participation in the saffron government. According to the BJP's top brass, they didn't find any electable candidate among the four crore Muslim population of the state.

Besides political negligence by the ruling dispensation, Muslims have also been facing several other threats, from lynching by cow vigilantes to police crackdowns, calls for their economic and genocide under the pro-Hindutva government. These threats are against all Muslims, not just one sect or group of Muslims.

Blasphemous remark

In a television debate, the former BJP leader, Nupur Sharma, made a blasphemous remark against the Prophet. The Prophet is the most revered personality among followers of Islam.

If the party is serious about taking Pasmanda Muslims into its fold, why did the BJP not take any action against her? even though massive protests broke out in the country following her blasphemous remarks?

After that, several countries, including Qatar, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia, sent diplomatic protests. To save its face, the BJP merely sacked Sharma as its spokesperson.

Lynchings

Several cases of Muslims being lynched have been reported in different parts of the country in the past few years. These are the names of some of the victims of lynching who lost their lives: Mohammad Akhlaq Khan, Pehlu Khan, Junaid, Mohammad Mazloom Ansari and Alimuddi alias Asghar Ansari. Many of them were Pasmanda community members who the cow vigilante groups killed.

But the leaders of the saffron party chose to keep quiet about oppression, and even a minister of the Union some years back, Jayant Sinha, garlanded the people convicted of lynching.

Release of rape convicts

The Gujarat government released the 11 convicts in the infamous Bilkis Bano rape case. Even though everyone was very critical of the BJP government's decision to free people who had been convicted of rape and murder, the government stuck to its decision.

People see these events as a sign that the saffron brigade has endorsed committing crimes against Muslims. After targeting Muslim sentiments, now the BJP leaders are giving a call for genocide and an economic boycott.

Call for a boycott

Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma, a BJP Member of Parliament from Delhi, urged Hindus at the rally to economically boycott Muslims (without taking the name of the community) in a rally called by a local branch of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP).

However, at a rally held in the national capital, BJP MLA from Loni in UP, Nand Kishore Gujjar, called Mohammad Akhlaq (without taking his name)—the man lynched in Dadri—a "pig" and made light of his 2015 murder in Dadri.

In the same way, the ban on hijab in Karnataka and the call to boycott 'halal' meat by Hindu Jan Jagruati have hurt the education of Muslim girls and the economy of Muslims in the state run by the BJP. It must be noted that most meat business people belong to backwards-class Muslims.

Take UP's case, where the Yogi government's eyes are on Waqf lands and madrassas (Islamic seminaries). Predominantly Muslim children from low-income families go to madrasas to study.

During the protest against the CAA in UP, Muslims and some non-Muslim activists were met with a harsh crackdown. As many as porters died, allegedly in police firing. However, the police never accepted it.

Muslim intellectuals believe that the BJP has never been honest with the Muslim community. Zia Us Salam, a prominent journalist, says he did not see any integrity or sincerity in the BJP's latest move. "Modi's venture came when Nitish Kumar, who has massive support of Pasmanda Muslims, broke his alliance with the BJP. The saffron party wants to dent the Pasmanda vote base of Nitish," Salam said.

"Are (Ashraf) Muslims getting special treatment in government schemes? If not, why is the BJP talking about Pasmanda Muslims separately?" he wondered. He said this was an attempt to divide the community, even though people who follow Islam don't treat each other differently.

Izhaar Ansari says that the BJP wants the Muslim community to repay the free food grains distributed since the Covid19 pandemic. "What does the BJP do for the community's welfare?" Ansari said that Muslims are at the receiving end in Modi's India. "Their lives and culture are under threat," he said.

(Asad Rizvi is a political commentator)

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