There is nothing like a Muslim vote-bank. The famed cluster is nothing but a figment of the imagination, as discovered by psephologists doing a quick retrospective of the elections over the pat few decades.
Since the time of the Emergency in 1975, almost all the political parties in Delhi have made a beeline for the residence of the Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid. Praying for political bounty, they have all kow-towed to him, asking for a "fatwa" in their favour. Incidentally, the term "fatwa" is a misnomer, for no imam, not even the Shahi Imam of the largest mosque of the country, can issue a diktat on a political issue. He can at best issue an appeal which the masses are free to abide by or ignore.
The Shahi Imam, on his part, has played his cards in a manner reminiscent of medieval king-makers. After dithering on the issue, he has in the past thrown in his lot (and from his reckoning, that of the community, as well) with the party most likely to maintain the myth of his influence. Facts, however, do not endorse the belief.
In the last elections to the Lok Sabha, the Shahi Imam asked the community to vote for secular candidates. However, he made his displeasure with the Gujral-led government in particular and the Third Front in general clear in his address to the faithful on the Friday preceding the day of the hustings ... When the time came to cast their ballot, the masses forgot what the Imam had said and voted in favour of the candidates of their choice. Some of them even ... for the BJP ..
Incidentally, in the general elections before that, the same Imam had made an appeal to the Muslims to vote for the BSP and its allies. The effect of that appeal is too well known to bear reiteration.
... At the time of distribution of tickets, the parties keep in mind the community composition of the constituency under consideration. They even refer to the problems of the Muslims in their manifesto, promising to alleviate their lot. The underlying assumption being that all Muslims think alike, that they are guided by the herd mentality, that collectivity is paramount in the community and the individual is subservient to the whole. Neither of their.. is true. They merely reinforce the obnoxious popular perception of community members being steeped in ghettos beyond which they refuse to step, of needing a leader who will take them by the hand and show the way.
The fact is that a Mustim living in Delhi has more in common with the brethren of other faiths in the Capital than those practising the same faith but staying in Daulatabad or Darjeeling. His problems are as human as anyone else's. Employment, civic amenities, safety, freedom and dignity. These are the things he craves for. Much like every other responsible citizen for the country.
Only the political parties refuse to believe so. Hence the sops at the time of the hustings and the consistent tokenism afterwards.
The self-appointed Muslim leaders are no different. Come election eve and they get busy in congregations, confabulations. And in no time at all, an agenda ... I drawn up with the acolytes promising a "strengthening of the secular vote". They even promise to form a modern-day version of the Muslim League ...
... The community votes no more en block than people from any other faith or region. And there is another perspective. As a Jamia Millia Islamia sociologist asked, "Why is the term reserved only for the community. The Brahmins for the first 40 after Independence voted by and large in favour of the Congress. Why are they not referred to as a vote-bank. Of late, the Kayasthas and Ahirs have started voting predominantly for the BJP. Why are they merely called reliable supporters and well-wishers of the party?" ... With the Muslims masses refusing to vote on identical lines or following what the self-appointed leaders command, the representation of Muslim candidates in parliament has fallen appreciably ... The community leaders are making noises about the marginalisation of Muslim interests. It is time somebody saw through the design and called the bluff- of the so-talled Muslim vote bank. (Source: The Statesman, 19 November, 1998).
Shahabuddin's Comments Letter to The Statesman, 23 November, 1998
Mr. Ziya-us Salam is both, right and wrong, in his "Myth of the Muslim Vote Bank". Indeed there is no national vote bank, not even a State vote bank but there is a constituency level vote bank. Every social group, as pointed out by Mr. Salam, acts as a-vote bank for the party of its choice at the constituency and sore, even in a region or in the nation as a whole.
In a 'segmented society and sparse economy, with political parties based on weil-defined constituencies promotion of vote bank is a political method. Amazingly, even the Sangh Parivar seeks a Hindu vote bank. Minorities all over the world, as a sine quo non for survival and optimum participation, vote unitedly but the majority group never does, unless for some inexplicable reasons it nurses a minority complex.
The Congress and the BJP are interchangeable coins. Neither of them want the third front to survive.
- Ram Vilas Paswan, Janata Dal Leader
