In the recent Parliamentary elections, Muslims voters successfully adopted the principle of Tactical Voting wherever they had a political option among the competing secular parties, such as in UP, Maharashtra and Karnataka. This shows that the Muslim voters have become politically mature to use their vote to serve themselves and not any political party. Thus they have liberated themselves from enslavement to the will of any political party in the name of secularism. However, they realise that their political status in the country is linked to the survival of Secularism, Social Justice and Indian Nationalism and to the defeat of Hindu Nationalism, represented by the BJP and its allies.
Tactical voting implies that the Muslim community has not pledged itself to any one particular secular party throughout the country or throughout a State. It also implies that it does not harbour any ill-feeling or hostility towards any particular secular party. And it is prepared to support any secular party on a constituency-by- constituency, if its candidate in a given constituency is the strongest, with a strong social and party base of his own and is sympathetic to the legitimate Muslim aspirations of Dignity, Equality and Justice.
Muslim Political Objectives in the Coming Assembly Elections, 2000
In the coming Assembly elections in March-April, 2000, the Muslim Biharis have two major political objectives to achieve: 1. To defeat the BJP-led NDA candidates; 2. To increase their representation from the present deprivation level of 50% (24 out of 324).
Muslim Concentration Constituencies
The Muslim Biharis form 15% of the population of Bihar and as such have legitimate claim to 48 seats in the Assembly of 324. However they are dispersed widely and there are few Muslim majority constituencies. Roughly speaking, by population, they are entitled to at least one seat in most districts, two in some districts and 3 only in Kishanganj and Katihar. The attached Table gives the district-wise total and Muslim population, the no. of constituencies and the number due to Muslims .
We should identify, apart from Muslim majority constituencies, other constituencies, in every district, with high Muslim concentration, say, above 20%, to a total of around 50. To begin with, the Assembly Constituencies in which a Muslim candidate was placed in the first or second position in 1990 and 1995 may be identified, district-wise.
General Approach
Generally speaking, in 50 odd Muslim majority and high Muslim concentration seats: 1) Muslims should identify the strongest and the most winnable Muslim candidate and support him unitedly, irrespective of the party.
In case there are more than one Muslim candidates in any 'Muslim' constituency, the candidate belonging to the largest Muslim sub-community in the Constituency, and/ or to the party which won it in 1995 should be preferred In 275 odd other constituencies, Muslims should identify the strongest candidate against the BJP, irrespective of his religion and of the party.
Political Options in Bihar . BJP commands only 25% of the votes in the country.
Muslims, as a whole, and Muslim Biharis generally, do not vote for the BJP. That is one of the reasons why the BJP has established the network of alliance with local parties in order to attract anti-BJP votes indirectly. In Bihar this role is being played by the Samata and the JD(U) which have many 'secular' faces.
However, they are today no more than B-Teams of the BJP. Their object is to bring BJP to power in Bihar. They are hypocrite and opportunists. If a voter rejects BJP, he must also reject its alliance partners. The choice in Bihar is, thus, limited to the RJD, the Congress and the CPI which will all have their alliances. None of them commands strength all over Bihar. Since There is no point in voting for a weak candidate who is likely to be defeated, Muslims Bihars cannot support any of them all over Bihar. They should support only strong candidates likely to defeat the BJP and BJP-led alliance candidate and WIN, to whichever group he may belong.
Role of Imarat-e-Sharia Since there is no Muslim-driven political party in Bihar which could negotiate on equal terms with the other secular parties, the Imarat-e-Sharia, Bihar, the most representative Muslim institution in the State, should form a Political Committee to guide the Muslims to ensure effective use of their votes and thus revive the tradition of its foudner, the late Maulana Sajjad.
The object and purpose of the Committee will be :
1) To make Muslims conscious of the value of their votes and persuade them to cast their votes massively and unitedly for one identified candidate in each constituency.
2) To persuade Muslim voters not to have personal or local deals with any candidates.
3) To persuade Muslim voters to 'vote for the candidate, whatever the political party, as decided, on a constituency-by-constituency basis, by the Political Committee in accordance with the collective decision.
The Political Committee should formulate a Muslim Agenda for Bihar and place it before all secular parties/formations for acceptance. It should also request them to come to mutual understanding, at least in respect of Muslim seats to give one-to-one fight tothe BJP-NDA candidate.
The Political Committee should appoint a District Convener in every district who should form a District Committee of 5-7 Eminent Muslims, representing a cross section of the community who generally command respect and who are not themselves involved in politics but who are politically aware. The District Committees should assess the prospects of the candidates in their districts and recommend the name of the candidate whom they consider to be the strongest and the most acceptable to the Muslim voters and who are prepared to commit himself to work for the Muslim Agenda.
The recommendation should then be vetted by the Political Committee in Patna and the approved names should be formally announced.
The Political Committee should issue individual and collective appeals to the electorate in favour of selected candidates as well as urge the Muslim electorate to make full use of their voting power.
