FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK

The 11th Lok Sabha and After - Course of Action for Muslim Indians

The most important results of the General Election 1996 were well anticipated: no party has obtained a majority in the Lok Sabha and the BJP has emerged as the single biggest party. The BJP is followed in order of strength by Congress(1), JD, CPM, CPI, SP and BSP among the national parties and TMC, DMK, TDP, AD and AGP among the State parties.

Secondly, no national party with the exception of Congress (1) is represented in more than a few states. Thus, all national parties have been reduced to regional status: the BJP, to UP, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan, the JD, to Bihar and Karnataka, the CPI(M) and the CPI to West Bengal and Kerala, the SP to UP and the BSP to UP and MP.

Thirdly, due to the inbuilt incongruitous of the electoral system, the number of seats do not reflect the vote percentage, either nationally or state wise.

BJP's pre-eminence

There is no doubt that BJP's pre-eminence is entirely due to the disunity of the secular parties and the consequent fragmentation of the secular votes. On the other hand, it would be perilous to overlook the dramatic rise in the BJP's percentage of votes since 1989 in UP, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Bihar and Karnataka

BJP's national vote of 23% in 1996 conceals more than it reveals. Even in UP its share has gone up to an all time high of 33.4%. On the other hand, out of 52 seats won by BJP in UP, in 46, Samajwadi Party and BSP have slaughtered each other. Had they come together and assuming that they had the capacity to transfer all their votes to each other, the BJP would have been reduced to 6 seats, and at most, assuming partial mutual transfer, to 15 seats!

In Bihar, the BJP's tally of seats and percentage of votes has gone up primarily because of the alliance with the Samata Party, whose core is formed by the Kurmi- Koeri combination. Both in UP and Bihar, the Congress tripped of Brahmin-Muslim-SC has totally collapsed: the Brahmins alongwith other high castes, Rajputs and Banias, have flown to the BJP; the Muslims, largely towards Mulayam Singh's SP and to some extent Kanshi Ram's BSP in UP and to JD in Bihar, the SC largely towards BSP in UP and partly towards JD in Bihar.

Only Ideological Conflict:

Secularism Vs Hindutva

The only silver lining in the dark clouds is the fact that in the country as a whole, at present only 25% of the electorate is for the BJP which, with all variations on the theme and with all its tactical maneuvers including the seeking a viable alternative to the Secular State in a projection of Atal Bihar Vajpayee's liberal face, is Hindu State.

The only relevant ideological conflict today is not Communism Vs Capitalism nor Brahminism Vs Mandalism nor Modernism Vs Obscurantism but Secularism vs Communalism. The issue is neither the reconciliation of class antagonisms nor of accommodation of caste groups but of management of religious and cultural plurality. We have come back to the battle-lines of yesterday. There is a national consensus that the Indian state shall be a democratic state; that the Indian economy shall move towards a free economy with emphasis on private enterprises and global linkages, that the Indian society shall modernize itself to the extent possible for an ancient civilization, that the power structure must, to some extent, admit the demands of the newly emergent castes particularly the unfortunately, an increasing rejection of Secularism and agricultural castes, the Shudras. But there is, multi-culturalism as principles of governance. The Indian society is yet to resolve the Communal Question and the Question of National Culture, to come to terms with foreign' religions and cultures; it is still faced with the eternal question; what to do with the Muslims? 120 million of them, forming 1/8 of the population, rising in proportion with every decade, making increasingly strident demands for recognition and participation!

In a scarce economy and in a developing society, it is not difficult to see why the anti-Muslim phobia and, therefore, pro-Hindutva and pro-BJP leaning rises with literacy, education and income. The rising Hindu bourgeoisie continues to see the Muslim as a competitor and worse as an adversary who having secured Pakistan, should not have been permitted to compete at all and should have been kept at the margin of the Society, perhaps to replace the SC and the ST, as the latter move up the ladder and are embraced as long-lost brothers.

Secular Front: Only Option to Contain Hindutva

The transition period is limited - the Secular forces, if they really believe in the letter and spirit of secularism, in a secular state not only in form but in content, have perhaps another 5-10 years, to come together and firmly rebuild the secular state which lies battered, ravaged and besieged. Beyond that, it will be too late. Once the BJP national vote crosses 30%, and 50% in the Hindi- speaking states, Hindutva as the principle of governance shall have become irreversible.

From a strictly national angle, under the present system, therefore, there is no option for the secular parties, including the Left, to come together with the U.F. and the Congress (never mind Narasimha Rao's pout!) and form a Secular Front, if they cannot merge themselves into a single party. Maybe, some merge, and others join hands, to form a front of viable, like-minded parties.

The lesser the number of parties, the easier will be the management of the front as so many ideological hang-overs of yesteryear, so many individual egos of the present and so many personal ambitions of the future may clash.

Systemic Change

The other option to rewrite the rules of the game, introduce the proportional system of representation, (which will ultimately lead to proportional representation of all identifiable social groups in the power structure), adopt the presidential system, with a run-off at every level, redistribute national territory into small socially and culturally homogeneous units of manageable size, and accommodate all contiguous particularities in largely homogeneous districts, blocks and Panchayats within the small state and legislate and strictly follow a National Code for Religious, Caste, Racial, Linguistic and Cultural Minorities, uniformly at every functional level to protect the rights of all minority groups, whatever the basis of their identity. But to reach that stage, India has to embrace and put into practice not only the principles of Equality and Justice but of Fraternity and translate into reality the vision of a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural state as a model for the humanity.

Poor Muslim Representation

To come back to more urgent, down-to-earth matters of vital concern, Muslim representation has reached an all-time low of 26, 5 of which, 3 in Kashmir and one each in Pondicherry and Lakshadweep, are marginal. In states in which 75% Muslims live the representation is as follows:

Imagine 50% of the Muslim population, UP, Bihar and West Bengal put together is represented by 16 and the rest by 5 MP's. Consider also that out of 80 odd so- called Muslim seats, only 15 seats have returned Muslim 65 Muslim MP's in the Lok Sabha. Consider also that of MP's. Consider also that proportionately, there should be the 26, 12 are first term MP's and of the others 7 are known to be silent MP's. Consider also that many well- known faces are not to be seen in the 11th Lok Sabha - neither Ebrahim Sulaiman Sait, nor Syed Shahabuddin nor C.K. Jaffer Sharief, the Muslim community has none but G.M. Banatwalla, who has staged a come-back and S.S. Owaisi, who rarely speaks, Tariq Anwar and E. Ahamed to look up to. Consider also that no stalwarts of the secular parties (with the possible exception of R.V. Paswan and he is a Minister now) ever raise matters of Muslim concern in the Lok Sabha.

Coming to the government there was no Muslim among the BJP MP's and therefore, there was none in the short-lived Vajpayee Government (Sikander Bakht is a member of the Rajya Sabha). In the Deve Gowda government, they have C.M. Ibrahim, who has no acquaintance with the Muslim community outside Karnataka, Taslimuddin, of whom the less said the better. and Saleem Sherwani, a civilized person and that is about all.

Whom will the aggrieved Muslims approach? The BJP MP's will refuse point blank. The Left MP's cannot be permitted to recognize that religious minorities can have problems. Only the few MP's elected from Muslim concentration constituencies on Muslim support may heed their SOS, if at all, out of electoral compulsion. But their cries of anguish will largely go unheard. Over a period of time, the Lok Sabha will create the 'patriotic" impression that the Muslim Indians face no problem and all's well with Muslim India!

Why?

Why has this happened? First, the so-called secular parties which appeal to Muslim voters for their support and sometime take a pro-Muslim stand, do not come together even in Muslim majority or in Muslim concentration seats to put up a common candidate and thus divide secular votes. Secondly, they do not put up Muslim candidates even from such seats or adequate number of Muslim candidates in other winnable constituencies. Thirdly, they put up rotten Muslim candidates who do not command any following in or rapport with the Muslim electorate, merely to fill up a blank and to gain a statistical point.

But the real fault lies with the Muslim community because

●          they do not enroll themselves as voters;

●          they do not vote massively;

●          they do not vote unitedly for an agreed candidate in a given constituency;

●          they do not build up and project politically promising material as other social groups do;

●          they do not participate in political activities and mass struggles.

Course of Action

Slowly but surely, a political alliance reflects a social combination. Every OBC, every SC, every ST has a political party. If the Yadavs have the Janata Dal, the Kurmis-Koeris have the Samata. If the Dusadhs of Bihar have the JD, the Chamars of UP have the BSP. If the Brahmins, Rajputs and Banias have the BJP, the Sikhs have the Akali Dal. Either the Muslim, nationally or regionally, should have a Muslim-dominated but secular party which should then link up with another secular party which represents another social segment, or, they should en masse back a party which they may not dominate but which may be sensitive to their concerns. It could have been the Janata Dal; but it has disintegrated in UP and been hijacked by the Yadavs in Bihar. It could have been the CPM but even the Muslims of West Bengal are distancing themselves; it can be the Congress now that it has the look of a haunted house! Can the Muslims take it over and make it livable?

Muslim Political Workers

§  Muslim Indians must, for their survival, evolve a course of action:

§  Muslims must raise their level of political New Delhi, consciousness and activity, enroll themselves as voters and participate in mass agitations, for example, of Kisans, workers, teachers, students and youth.

§  More and more Muslims should join a secular political party of their choice, subject to assurance of reciprocal support from the other social groups constituting its base, and act as a pressure group within, to steer it towards the Secular Front.

§  Muslim workers should strive to secure position of influence in their parties at least in Muslim concentration areas Panchayats, Blocks/ Towns, Districts and States.

§  Muslim workers should project potential and promising Muslims as candidates of their parties for elective positions in Prakhand and Zila Panchayats, Assemblies and Parliament.

§  Muslim workers should pressurise their parties for party tickets to Muslim candidates for Muslim concentration Constituencies, for their fair delimitation and for appropriate location of polling stations.

§   

Muslim Masses

§  At the time of election, it is for the Muslim masses to act they must use their votes

§  they must use it for a common candidate - the strongest secular candidate, preferably a Muslim in a Muslim concentration constituency and in other constituencies, a non-Muslim belonging to a social group which form part of the Social Alliance.

§   

Political Front Must Reflect Social Alliance

In short, the Muslim community has to act on two fronts the Political and the Social, for forming a Secular Front and a Social Alliance which would assure them their due representation in the power structure as well as their legitimate place in society.

New Delhi,

1 June, 1996                               

 (SYED SHAHABUDDIN)