HVK Archives: Growing Muslim support for BJP
Growing Muslim support for BJP - Organiser
Muzaffar Hussain
()
18 May 1997
Title : Growing Muslim support for BJP
Author : Muzaffar Hussain
Publication : Organiser
Date : May 18, 1997
These days the question who will form the ministry at the Centre is
being discussed everywhere. The United Front and the Left parties
are worried over the prospect of the BJP's forming the Government
in Delhi. Since Smt Mayawati has taken over the chief ministership
of UP, the Congress party has been thoroughly rattled. Kanshi Ram
and his Bahujan Samaj Party whom the Congress had taken for granted
have joined hands with the BJP. Now political equations in India
have been tending to favour the BJP with all those groups whom the
Congress believes to be their captive allies are going over to the
BJP. Therefore nobody can now say with confidence that in the
coming days other political parties may not coalesce with the BJP.
If the BJP's strength grows, the disintegrated and the breakaway
groups will gravitate towards it. It is natural for the rivulets
to merge into the main stream. Today Bharatiya Janata Party is the
biggest political party be it the strength or the extent of
influence. It will therefore not be surprising if. like the
erstwhile Socialist groups which broke up to join the Congress and
later travelled from the Bharatiya Krantidal to the present Janata
Dal via Lok Dal and Janata Party in the northern India, the
regional parties formed o n the slogans of regional pride and local
aspirations come to join the BJP. The Assam Gana Parishad, for
instance, was born of the movement spearheaded by the Akhil
Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). At present it might be
donning a Leftist visage but will it hesitate to revert to its
parent organisation when confronted with the question of sharing
power at the Centre?
The BJP's worst headache is the Muslims. Both the BJP and Muslims
are endeavouring to break the impasse without much success. The
force at the root of spreading misunderstanding between BJP and
Muslims is none but the Congress. Partition and Gandhiji's
assassination came handy for that purpose. The RSS was not even
remotely involved in the assassination of Gandhiji. A Congress
ministry at the Centre even appointed a commission to examine the
issue which has absolved the RSS of the allegation. The Congress
has always tried to keep Muslims away from the mainstream
nationalist forces for fear of other parties coming closer to them.
But with a number of facts coming to the fore, the myth built up by
the Congress. is exploding, with the result that the Muslims no
more constitute a Congress vote-bank. But its secular sloganeering
persists and the other parties have now joined in the chorus to
reap whatever advantages they can. The poison spawn by the Congress
continues to haunt them both. The Congress has a vested interest
in marginalising the BJP so that the Muslims could not come closer
to the Sangh Parivar. In order to sustain this myth when the
Congress dubs the BJP communalist it follows as an inevitable
corollary that it is anti-Muslim.
Whatever the earlier theories and propagandas were, the recent
parvartan (change of climate) is proof enough that the Muslims are
not anti-BJP. When the question who should form the Government at
the Centre comes up. the Muslim voter like any other Indian voter
also wonders sighs, it should not be the BJP. Since it is the
largest democratically elected party and its leader Atal Behari
Vajpayee commands the entire nation's confidence the party has a
right to form the Government at the Centre, which deserves to run
its full term. This is not the contention of the Muslim candidates
contesting elections on BJP's tickets but the overall opinion of
the mass of moderate Muslim voters. They are not aspiring to become
municipal councillors or trying to wangle membership of any
legislative body.
The daily Inquilab of Mumbai runs a column called "Bazgasht" which
carries readers' comments on various subjects. The subject of a
recent discussion was : Should the BJP get another opportunity to
form Government at. the Centre? The column published responses
from five readers, two women and three men. Only one reader's
response was negative. The other four said that the BJP deserved
to be given another opportunity. Qamar Parwez, a housewife was of
the opinion if a national party proves its majority it ought to be
given an opportunity. Abdul Hakim Khan. a teacher. said, since the.
BJP-Sena alliance has had a successful two-year run in Maharashtra,
there need be no hitch in the BJP's getting another opportunity.
for forming the Government at the Centre. Noor Mohammed Khan, a
salaried employee, wants efforts be made to continue with the
United Front Government so that it avoid a mid-term polls. Dr M.A.
Sheikh, a medical practitioner strangely pleads for a second
opportunity to the BJP. Sighed Mumtaj, a student. writes in her
response it is obligatory to give the BJP another opportunity; may
be after assuming power the BJP might revise its view-point.
Various surveys on Muslim voters following the 1991 polls
manifested that 34 per cent Muslim voters were in favour of the
BJP. The Muslim support to the BJP declined during the year'92,
bringing it down to a mere 14 per cent of the total Muslim votes.
The Lok Sabha polls of 1996 and the following elections to the
State Assemblies showed the BJP's share of Muslim vote to have
reached 26 per cent. Among the Muslims more women than men vote
for the BJP. If the BJP goes in for a common civil code.
particularly if it succeeds in amending the laws governing talaq
ensuring subsistence for the divorced women through court orders
there is a distinct possibility of the party's garnering greater
support from the Muslim women. The various amendments to the
existing laws undertaken by the alliance Government of Maharashtra
is tangible proof of the reforms on the way. Muslim women have this
time rallied in larger number than that of earlier to cast their
votes in favour of the alliance Government. Elections to the
municipal, corporations, councils and zilla parishads bear
testimony to it.
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