With the assembly election nearing, political parties are trying to
outpace each other in the race to grab Muslim votes.
MUSLIM VOTES are up for grabs. The hectic race among non-BJP parties to corner crucial minority votes in the State has begun. The parties have been trying to tap all resources to capture this constituency.
Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav is already on the job. His pre-poll dole distribution spree is to keep the fast eroding base in the community intact. From Lucknow to Malegaon and now the proposed Mumbai rally on November 21, ‘Maulana’ Mulayam is trying to send the message that none but he is the true saviour of Muslims.
BSP chief Mayawati has also undertaken the exercise to go beyond Dalit-plus-other-community vote politics. The BSP has been preparing its ‘Muslim manifesto’ to widen base in the community. The Congress has planned to come out with an action plan based on recommendations of Justice Rajinder Sachar committee report for overall socio-economic uplift of the community.
While providing largesse to the community, the chief minister had announced in his budgetary speech that, “In order to ensure participation of the minority community in government employment and boost their education, a commission will be constituted. It will submit its report within three months”.
The fate of this commission is not yet known. The government had also announced to establish coaching centres for minority community students appearing in all India and State civil services exams.
{{/usCountry}}The fate of this commission is not yet known. The government had also announced to establish coaching centres for minority community students appearing in all India and State civil services exams.
{{/usCountry}}The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), which is yet to decide on its electoral alliance, presumably has not given thought to the issue. The party had so far been thriving on the Jat-Muslim combination in Western UP. The equation is now under pressure because of the Muslim-backed United Democratic Front (UDF).
With the crucial UP assembly election round the corner, every party has been promising the moon to the community. Apart from sops, there are deliberate efforts by the SP to create fear psychosis of a ‘BJP comeback’.
However, the parties, which were in power on the last five governments, had hardly any credible record for the welfare of the community. Even though tall promises were made, there had been no attempt for policy intervention to remotely eradicate basic socio-economic problems of the community.
While the BSP had no specific action plan during its 15-month regime, the Mulayam Government adopted ‘Ulema-centric’ approach to keep tight leash over the community. Local bodies election however indicated that the strategy has backfired.
The SP’s ‘cash-n-kind’ support to turbaned Mullahs has not gone down well with the community. There is a strong feeling in the community that clerics could no longer be arbitrators of their votes.
Ulema have also been trying to directly fish in troubled waters in UP. Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawad’s People’s Democratic Front (PDF) was wound up in a few months. Simultaneous launch of the UDF headed by Jama Masjid Imam Ahmad Bukhari has also turned out to be a rudderless boat. Since politics is no longer taboo for the Ulema (clerics), they have been cleverly trying to mix religion with politics to retain their stranglehold on the community.
Encouraged by the Ajmal phenomenon in Assam, the UP clerics have been trying to replicate the Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF) experiment here.
Interestingly, the community is simply a bystander in the entire political drama.
The AUDF, headed by Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, exploited Muslims sentiments in Assam following the Congress failure to retain the contentious Illegal Migrants (determination of tribunals) Act, 1983, which was struck down by the Supreme Court as ‘ultra vires’ of the Constitution.
Bukhari, known for hobnobbing with political parties in the past, has been trying to project himself as the sole arbitrator of Muslims in the State, which has not gone down well with the community. The motives of all the Ulema are also suspected in the eyes of common Muslims. While clerics have been trying to win over support, the people have been making efforts to decipher the hand of political parties behind each cleric. “Who is working for whom”, is the question doing rounds in the community.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind has also split vertically. While JUH president Arshad Madni is close to the Congress, general secretary Mahmood Madni has become Rajya Sabha member with the help of the Rashtriya Lok Dal and the Samajwadi Party.
From 15 per cent in the 1991 Census, the Muslim population in the 2001 Census has gone up to 18.5 per cent in UP. Of the total 16.61 crore population in the State, Muslim constitute three crore.
The dominance of the community continues to be in Saharanpur, Bijnore, Meerut, Barielly, Moradabad, Muzaffarnagar, Pilibhit, Rampur, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Budaun and Lakhimpur Kheri and Lucknow. There are 130 assembly segments in which the community’s presence is more than 20 per cent.
Though a dominant player in vote bank politics, the socio-economic condition of the community is grim. While, the literacy rate of the community is 47.8 per cent, the female literacy rate is 37.4 per cent. This statistics, when seen in comparison to the literacy rate among Hindus (58%), shows the severity of the problem.
Significantly, there is also a considerable gap in the work participation rate between Muslims and Hindus. While the figure is 29.1 per cent for Muslims, it is 33.2 per cent for Hindus.
The Chief Minister had also targeted the largest segment of the Muslim community by bringing Muslim girls passing the ‘Aalia’ examination from the Arabi-Persian Board, which is equivalent to Intermediate in the State, under the Kanya Vidyadhan Yojana.
On the pattern of government-run junior high schools, the chief minister had also decided to provide free of cost textbooks to students of approved madarsas up to the Fauqania level (class VIII). Yadav said payscales of Arabi-Persian schools teachers would be upgraded. This will benefit 4500 teachers in the State. In 13 Muslim-dominated districts, primary and junior high schools would be established on priority with the provision for computer education in junior classes.
In order to give impetus to computer education, the government had earmarked Rs 52 lakh to 50 madarsas and also establish 25 ITIs in minority-dominated development blocks in rural areas.
However, Minister for Haj and Minorities Affairs Haji Yaqoob Qureshi told Hindustan Times that most of the announcements were only on paper. Qureshi said the government had done nothing for the welfare of the community during the last three years.
While the SP has been carrying on a campaign against Mayawati for her ‘Muslim-are-fanatics’ statement, she had come out openly in support of the community by demanding recall of India’s envoy to Denmark on Danish cartoon issue.
Mayawati had also sought restoration of minority character to the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). The BSP has veered round to the view that Dalit-Brahmin-Muslim tie-up could become unassailable electoral combination in the State. But the BSP has to go long way in regaining the trust of the community. mhasan@hindustantimes.com