BJP’s eye on Pasmanda Muslim vote bank

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Not just called a charismatic politician and game changer, he proves time and again that he thinks way ahead of other leaders. The next general elections are still more than a year away. Opposition parties are still trying to identify potential friends and foes, but Prime Minister Modi has caught BJP workers as the ‘key factor’ of the next elections. He has clearly said that about 400 days are left for the next Lok Sabha elections. In such a situation, the party officials and every worker should go to the door to meet each and every voter. The image of the BJP has to be changed especially among the backward and poor Muslims. Not only this, he has given a target to meet the Pasmanda Muslims door-to-door as soon as possible, know their problems, try to solve them and bring this community into the mainstream along with the rest of the society. Now the opposition parties can only accuse the BJP that Modi is playing a drama with Pasmanda Muslims. Such rhetoric of the opposition will not only distance them from the Pasmandas but will also bring other majority voters of the country closer to the BJP.
In the closing speech of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s national executive meeting held in the capital Delhi on January 17, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed to the workers that they have to take the government’s policies to the Muslim community. In his same speech, the Prime Minister also said, ‘We have to connect with all parts of the society and connect it with us.’ It is worth mentioning that earlier last year also, in the party’s national executive meeting held in Hyderabad on July 2 and 3, 2022, he had called upon the workers to go door-to-door affection yatra of Pasmanda Muslims. Its purpose was to take initiative to connect Pasmanda Muslims with BJP. In this sequence, on October 16, 2022, the BJP had also organized the Pasmanda Intellectuals Conference in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh. In this program, Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Brajesh Pathak had said that some parties marginalize Pasmanda Muslims after elections. Apparently he was referring to SP, BSP and Congress as some of the parties.

It is clear that BJP also needs the votes of Muslims in the next general elections. The BJP has also shown a glimpse of its blueprint to achieve these. It will not be surprising if the BJP gives tickets to some Pasmanda Muslims to contest the general elections this time. The question is, can Pasmanda Muslims join the BJP’s camp as part of its strategy? The backward and downtrodden Muslims in India, called Pasmandas, are socially and educationally very backward, as they also include the downtrodden castes. Like the Hindu Dalit castes, they do not even get the reservation given to the Scheduled Castes, because theoretically Islam claims that there is no untouchability or high and low in Muslim society. Whereas in practical terms, the big thing is that the population of Pasmanda Muslims is around 80 percent among Indian Muslims. From this their political importance can be known.

If BJP manages to bring 20 to 25 percent Pasmanda Muslims to its side by changing their hearts, then it will change the election game of 2024 and if even five to ten percent Pasmanda Muslim voters come with it, then it will be able to win its victory till now. Will change the anti-Muslim image in a jiffy. Certainly Prime Minister Modi’s repeated mention of Pasmanda Muslims is not only strategic but also a political master stroke, because Pasmanda Muslim community has always been complaining that Ashraf people use them to stay in power. Therefore, by removing this grievance of Pasmandas, BJP can attract some people of this community towards itself. If BJP takes some concrete political and economic initiatives to them from the point of view of ‘Sneh Yatra’, then the biggest thing will be that if BJP gives priority to Pasmanda community, then not only those fanatic intellectuals will peep the armpits who have been telling BJP against Muslims. Rather, in one stroke, his image will improve even in the Islamic world. If you look carefully, BJP wants to associate Pasmanda Muslims with itself to improve its image at the international level. Also this can increase his vote share which can play an important role in his return for the third time. This is also a matter to consider because in the last Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, Vikassheel Adhyayan Samaj claimed in one of its analysis that Yogi Adityanath returned because more than 8 percent of Pasmanda Muslims in Uttar Pradesh voted for the BJP. . Although this analysis is not necessarily correct, but the way BJP won the Rampur Lok Sabha seat with 45 percent Muslim population of Uttar Pradesh by 42 thousand votes in the by-election, it forces us to take a look at the analysis. Therefore, the conclusion of the Society for Developmental Studies that Pasmanda Muslims played an important role in BJP’s victory in Uttar Pradesh seems to be closer to the truth.
However, in the capital Delhi, the Prime Minister has not only raised the political temperature here by calling upon the BJP workers to unite the Pasmanda Muslims, but has also forced all the opposition parties to wake up and become active.
-Image Reflection Center

Dr. Anita Rathore