The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will not have any Muslim representatives in the Rajya Sabha once the term of three lawmakers --MJ Akbar, Syed Zafar Islam and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who is also a minister in the union council--ends in June-July.
Akbar, who was also a junior minister of external affairs till October 2018 will retire on June 29, and Islam and Naqvi will retire on July 4 and 7 respectively.
In the Lok Sabha, Mehboob Ali Kaiser of the Lok Jan Shakti Party is the only Muslim representative of the NDA.
Muslims account for little over 14% of the population as per 2011 census.
While the absence of Muslim faces is seen as under representation of the minority community in the party, BJP leaders assert that not giving tickets to Muslims to contest elections to assemblies and Parliament is not a reflection of the party’s policies.
“Legislation cannot be prevented or passed because of support from just one community, you need support from a cross section of parties,” said a BJP leader who asked not to be named.
The disengagement between the party and the community, manifest by the lack of electoral representation, can also be attributed to the lack of response from the minority community, the leader said.
{{/usCountry}}The disengagement between the party and the community, manifest by the lack of electoral representation, can also be attributed to the lack of response from the minority community, the leader said.
{{/usCountry}}“Since there is no response, the party has decided to end tokenism and focus on its core constituents.”
A second BJP leader, requesting anonymity said the party doesn’t follow a policy of exclusion, and blamed the situation on the narrative that its political opponents have woven over the years, that, according to him, makes Muslims themselves maintain a distance from the party. “There is a sense of alienation…and it has cemented over the years. None of the policies of the Modi government can be faulted for being anti Muslim, but has the community shed its apprehension and dislike for the party?” the leader asked.
The BJP, which won 303 of the 543 seats in the Lok Sabha in 2019 managed a win with only Khan in WB. In 2014 too, the party gave tickets to 2 Muslim candidates in West Bengal, one each in Lakshadweep and Bihar and three in Jammu and Kashmir, but none of these candidates were elected.
The second BJP leader claimed that though the number of Muslim lawmakers went up from 22 in the 16th Lok Sabha to 27 in the 17th, the overall trend suggests that other parties too are weighing their choices.
“It is a myth that the BJP is responsible in some way for the under representation or lack of representation of Muslims in electoral politics. If you want to take just the case of Lok Sabha, the representation has been more or less the same over a period of time. In 1952 they were just about 4% Muslims in the Lok Sabha, this trend continued for a few years and it was only in 1980 that the figure rose to 9%. But then it again began to decline and has hovered between 5 to 6%,” the second leader said.
He went on to say that the “so-called secular parties” such as the Congress too have, over the years, given fewer tickets to Muslim candidates. “One must also take a look at the regional parties; barring the Samajwadi Party and TMC that count Muslims as an important votebank, most other parties too have given nominal representation to Muslims.”
National president of the BJP‘s minority Morcha, Jamal Siddiqui said the party does not believe in propagating vote bank politics. “The country‘s first education minister was a Muslim, yet look at the literacy levels among the community. To assume that a person from a particular community, in a position of power, will work only for the betterment of that community is erroneous. When ministers takes oath of office, they pledge to serve all and this is also at the core of the Modi government’s governance mantra of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas.”
What its critics dub as anti-minority sentiment, BJP asserts is the reverse of appeasement. To a question on the widening schism between the minorities and the BJP, party president JP Nadda while addressing the media on Monday said the party believes in “justice for all and appeasement of none.”
The BJP along with its ideological mentor, the RSS has been striving to create a coalition of Hindu castes and the articulation of the “no appeasement, no tokenism” sentiment is seen as an attempt to keep its flock of supporters close.
Sanjay Kumar of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies said the BJP is clear in relaying the message that it is not interested in appeasement of the minorities. “…And when I say minorities, I mean the Muslims. Not having a Muslim representative is not seen by the party as a move that will dent its impression nationally or internationally. On the contrary it will help them consolidate the core support base.”
(This copy has been corrected. HT earlier erroneously mentioned that Saumitra Khan is the BJP’s lone Muslim MP in the Lok Sabha.)