During the colonial period, political management was in the hands of Muslims. But, the situation gradually changed and they became politically marginalized. The situation became worse when not a single Muslim leader irrespective of different political affiliations managed to win in 2014. This time in 2019, only six Muslims leaders managed to win the Parliament election from Uttar Pradesh. How did they become irrelevant? Was it a political game-plan or was the story written long back?
In my opinion, there are three stages which made the Muslims marginalized and they became irrelevant in the politics of Uttar Pradesh. First, the trauma of post-Independence politics in the state. Second, the absence of Muslim leadership in the state, and third, a contemporary division of Muslim votes despite the community being in position to shape the electoral faith of more than twenty parliamentary and eighty assembly constituencies in the state.
Post-Independence Political And Communal Scars
Post-Independence India was the time to heal the Muslim community of communal scars as well as to draw a political destiny wherein they would be forced to think afresh. The community had taken challenges to build new blocks of power negotiation with new leaderships having faith in the Indian constitution. In the last week of December 1947, the Indian Union Muslim Conference was convened in Lucknow, which Maulana Abul Kalam Azad presided over. Eminent political leaders and activists from across the India also attended.
The conference was convened to discuss the future of Muslims in politics. However, it started with Maulana Azad issuing a clarion call to shun all communal politics and declaring, “all communal organizations must be liquidated. The Muslim League must cease to exist. Communalism in political life must be buried forever…It has no place in the Indian dominion. If it has any place or purpose that is harmful, poisonous and destructive to the interest of the country.” Maulana Azad’s message was visionary at the time with respect to communalism.
Maulana Azad gave three-fold advice to the Muslims of India:
a) The Muslim League and other communal organizations should wind up their business in India;
b) Muslims should join the Indian National Congress; and
c) a “non-communal character” should be set up to look immediate concern of Indian Muslims. Further, he advised “do away with all communal organizations from the political field.” But, Dr ZA Ahmad, a communist leader from Uttar Pradesh urged that “we should not join it in sheer panic or fear of extinction. We must come into it with certain ideals, policy and programme.”
In the conference, the future shape of Muslim politics was discussed. However, sensing the mood, ZH Lari opposed the reservation of seats for minorities. The conference was representative of leaders trying to move away from the shadow of Muslim League and its communal politics, which left political scars that would last forever.
Absence Of Muslim Leadership In The State
Uttar Pradesh is often considered as the ‘heartland’ of India. Who rules UP has political advantages – either formation of or controlling the government at the centre. The recently held assembly elections in 2017 saw the BJP winning the state by a two-third majority. This narrated a different story from a state wherein Muslim leadership was supposed to be on the verge of extinction. It was, of course, a result of complex patterns. The reason for the defeat was mapped as majoritarian vs minority or socio-cultural-political reasons like the division of minority/Muslim votes.
Perhaps the answer lies in another BJP ruled state – Gujarat, where Hardik Patel, Alpesh Thakor and Jignesh Mevani changed the political game. Why is UP is unable to produce new Muslim leadership unlike Gujarat? What is lacking among Muslim youth and why are they unable to lead the community along with others in the state? Over time, Gujarat has emerged as political heartland for the BJP to shape and conserve the political legacy of Hindutva, albeit them reiterating that development is their new approach.
The difference between UP and Gujarat can amount in term of regional political parties. In UP, there are three strong regional political parties (SP, BSP and RLD) while other minor political outfits are restricted to some electoral pockets. In Gujarat, the absence of such strong regional political parties unlike UP who can make political dents makes itself felt.
Of course, there are many Muslim leaders who are in Parliament and the Legislative Assembly, but have a narrow base and their influence is limited to boundaries. Indeed, Hardik Patel, Jignesh Mevani, and Alpesh Thakur too have geographical limitations. The question here is: are Muslims kept away from social issues or they are not involved in politics? I feel Muslims are very much involved in politics but what reason could there be that the community has not shaped a single leader who can mobilise the community irrespective of issues like triple talaq, unemployment, education, lynching or love jihad?
The emergence of Hardik Patel, Jignesh Mevani, and Alpesh Thakor was the churning of time and long overdue in Gujarat. The possible reasons are:
a) first, the emergence of such leadership was due since Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel who made great contributions during the freedom struggle.
b) second, the 22-year rule of BJP created frustration among backward communities, thus, the emergence of these leaders who later challenged the incumbent government along with Congress leaders.
c) third, the growing unemployment among backward communities (particularly among Patidars) has increased the disparity between rich and poor.
Contrarily, in UP, there was no such political outrage reported, even though long political regimes have played an active role to suppress the emergence of Muslim leadership who would have had the potential to involve everyone inclusively.
Division Of The Muslim Vote
The idea of mahagathbandhan (coalition) was supposed to be about the opposition sacrificing their political egos to highlight the failures of Modi government collectively. But, really, who would have sacrificed their political space and up to what extent? Apart from the INC, the SP and BSP and RLD have their own vote share which is spread across the state. RLD is limited to Western UP but support for both SP and BSP can be found in all four regions – Purvanchal, Awadh, Bundelkhand and Western UP.
The idea of mahagathbandhan collapsed after three by-bolls held in 2018. Thereafter, when the SP and BSP made their own mahagathbandhan before the parliament election in 2019 minus the Congress, needless to say the Congress was infuriated. They entered the election without the SP and BSP. Thus, as a result, the Muslim vote was divided between the three parties. This situation was a repeat of the 2017 assembly election.
According to the 2011 census, UP has over two dozen parliamentary constituencies where the Muslim community is over 20% of the total population. Even more, over a dozens of these constituencies, including Rampur (50.57%), Moradabad (47.12%), Saharanpur (41.95%), Bijnore (43.04%), Muzaffarnagar (41.30%) and Amroha (40.78%), Balrampur (37.51%), Azamgarh (36%), Bareilly (34.54%), Meerut (34.43%), Bahraich (33.53%), Gonda (33%), and Shrawasti (30.79%) have a very strong presence of Muslims which stands out to be over 30%.
Out of the total 22 crore population of Uttar Pradesh, Muslims constitute a crucial 19.23%. And, out of 80 Lok Sabha seats, around 20 seats are such with over 20% Muslim population which can play a decisive role in making or marring the electoral fortunes of candidates in the fray. In 2019 parliament election, the mahagathbandhan, had fielded a total of 10 Muslim candidates in the state. While the SP had given tickets to four Muslim candidates, the BSP had placed six members of the Muslims community.
But, out of them six managed to win the election where three Muslim candidates each from the SP and BSP were declared elected. SP’s Muslim candidates, included Mohd Azam Khan (Rampur), ST Hasan (Moradabad) and Shafiqur Rehman Barq (Sambhal). Likewise, the BSP Muslim nominees declared elected in UP included Hazi Fazlur Rehman (Saharanpur), Kunwar Danish Ali (Amroha) and Afzal Ansari (Ghazipur), who defeated union minister of state for railways Manoj Sinha. The Congress, which had contested nearly 70 seats in UP, had given tickets to 8 Muslim candidates. However, none of them could win.
The handicraft of dividing the Muslim vote seems to be devised during elections and therefore, over a period of time, Muslim representation has reduced and become almost negligible in Uttar Pradesh, despite having the potential to win the state.
A brief profile of the author: Dr Shekh Moinuddin trained as a media geographer and is Assistant Professor at the Centre for Culture, Media & Governance (CCMG), Jamia Millia Islamia. He received his MA, MPhil and PhD from the University of Delhi. He has completed six funded research projects and is the author of five books: Media Space and Gender Construction (2010), Mapping Media (2015), Mediascape and the State (2017), The Political Twittersphere in India (2019) and Pani (forthcoming, 2019). His research interests include spatiality of media and social media, e-religiosity culture, and digital politico-culture in India.