Calling ‘Sarvjan Hitay’ Bluff as BSP Tries to Woo the Muslims

As BSP tries hard to woo the Muslims in polls, the party errs in treating the community as a monolithic votebank.

As BSP tries hard to woo the Muslims in polls, party is erring by treating the community as a monolith vote bank. (Photo: Rhythum Seth/ The Quint)

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has approached the Muslim voters of UP in a very straightforward manner. The party, it seems, recognises Muslims as a monolithic political constituency, which could be mobilised for creating a much-vaunted Dalit-Muslim coalition.

This portrayal of Muslim voters as a votebank is not specific to BSP alone. The SP-Congress alliance and the BJP also rely on this perception of Muslims as a political community. For SP-Congress, “minority” means Muslims and for the BJP, Muslim means a clear other – which should not be named directly but always projected as “a group” that is responsible for cow slaughter and Hindu exodus!

Also Read: Indian or Muslim? Why This Binary Needs to be Done Away With

How BSP is Trying to Tap Into the Muslim Votebank

BSP’s attitude, however, is significantly different in at least two ways. Firstly, the party does not hesitate to call upon Muslims as a group of voters to reiterate its political opposition to BJP and its ideological disapproval of caste-based Brahmanism.

Secondly, and most importantly, the party focuses on the question of Muslim political representation as an electoral agenda, to persuade voters belonging to the minority community. In fact, BSP is the only political party in UP in these elections that has argued for adequate and proportional distribution of tickets.

BSP’s enthusiasm for mobilising Muslims is clearly reflected in three tactical moves the party has taken so far. The party began its election campaign by announcing the caste- and community-based ticket distribution in the first week of January 2017. At a press conference, Mayawati categorically described the Muslim-Dalit alliance as a winning configuration. Highlighting the fact that BSP would give 97 tickets to Muslim candidates, she said:

“Yadavs constitute merely 6 percent while Dalits form 25 percent of the state’s population. The winning combination of Dalits and Muslims can bring the BSP to power.”

I have given tickets to 87 Dalits, 97 Muslims, 106 other backward castes and 113 upper castes candidates… Rival parties allege that the BSP cares only for Dalits.

Mayawati, BSP Supremo

Figures are in percentages and rounded off; Source: CSDS-Lokniti Post Poll Survey, 2007. (Infographic: The Quint)

Mukhtar Ansari’s Induction and Shahi Imam’s Support

The induction of Mukhtar Ansari, a prominent Muslim leader of eastern UP (known for his criminal background and for being the founder of the Quami Ekta Dal) into the BSP on 26 January 2017 was another such tactical move. Mayawati not only defended Ansari’s entry into the BSP by arguing that the criminal charges against him had not been proven, but also made a conscious attempt to reconfigure electoral arithmetic, at least in eastern UP. Mukhtar Ansari has a significant influence in this region. His electoral performance in Mau assembly constituency has been remarkable. He has always managed to secure more than 40-45 percent votes in Mau.

The political support offered by the so-called Shahi Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, to BSP might be described as the third important tactic deployed by the party. Although Imam’s appeal in favour of BSP should not be exaggerated as his ‘political fatwas’ have always been a creation of the media, the party, it seems, is aiming at consolidating its Muslim support.

This active Muslim mobilisation by BSP raises two important questions: what has been the attitude of Muslims towards the BSP? And, is it appropriate for the BSP at least ideologically, to address Muslims of the state as a homogeneous group?

Also Read: Mukhtar Ansari’s Move to BSP Will Affect Mayawati’s Clean Image

Figures are in percentages and rounded off; Source: CSDS-Lokniti Post Poll Survey, 2012. (Infographic: The Quint)

BSP Doesn’t Evoke Caste Among Muslims

CSDS-Lokniti surveys of the last three UP elections introduces us to a few interesting factual aspects of UP politics. BSP’s performance among Muslims is quite stable. More broadly, SP has emerged as the first choice of Muslim voters in last decade, followed by BSP and the Congress.

The gap between SP and BSP is very significant.

On an average, around 40 percent of Muslim voters prefer SP; while it remains around 17 to 20 percent for the BSP. The decline of Congress is also evident in UP. The party usually gets 10-14 percent Muslim votes. These figures underline BSP’s quest for Muslim support. If the party gets an extra 6 to 8 percent Muslim votes, it would certainly be able to reconfigure its social engineering project.

BSP, it appears, is not keen to evoke the caste diversity among Muslims as an electoral issue. Surveys show that although the SP has managed to get overarching Muslim electoral support across the Muslim caste-lines, the Muslim OBCs, which also includes Muslim Dalits, find BSP an attractive alternative. In purely ideological terms, BSP could have evoked the Dalit unity argument by underlining the plight of Muslim Dalits in UP. This is what Nitish Kumar has been doing in Bihar for at least a decade.

In contrast, BSP not merely ignores Pasmanda politics in UP but also keeps itself away from the controversial issue of religion-based SC reservation. In fact, the party’s stand is not clear on the Presidential Order of 1950, which says that persons belonging to Hindu, Sikh, and Buddhist religions can only be included in the Scheduled Caste category.

Also Read: Muslim Vote Remains Divided in Western UP: Is It Advantage BJP?

Figures are in percentages and rounded off; Source: CSDS-Lokniti Post Poll Survey 2014. (Infographic: The Quint)

‘Sarvajan Hitay’ Philosophy

One may argue that that BSP’s ambivalent attitude towards Muslim Dalits might be seen in relation to party’s new political rhetoric of sarvjan hitay. The party does not want to make upper caste Muslims unhappy and therefore it is trying to project Muslims as a homogeneous social group.

Mayawati has also been evoking this argument. In a recent press conference she said: “I wish to make it clear that the BSP works on the formula of ‘sarvjan hitay’ (welfare of all communities). This philosophy reflects in ticket distribution as well.”

But this justification does not convincingly answer the larger question: Are Muslim Dalits not part of BAHUJAN of the Bahujan Samaj Party?

(The writer is assistant professor, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, and Rajya Sabha Fellow 2015-2016. He can be reached @Ahmed1Hilal. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)

Also Read: Will SP-Congress’ Anti-BJP Politics Become the New Poll Weapon?