http://www.mathrubhumi.org/news.php?id=15587&cat=1&sub=0&subit=N
Yogendra Yadav
Here are five very common beliefs about the political behaviour of the Indian Muslims. First, Muslims vote in large numbers and participate more in politics, much larger than the rest of the electorate. Second, Muslims tend to vote 'en bloc' for one candidate or party. Third, Muslim voters are more 'strategic' in their voting decision and tend to hold back their decision till the last moment. Fourth, Muslims voters tend to be less autonomous in their decision and more likely to be dictated by clerics or traditional community leaders, more guided by pan-Islamic or community issues rather than by quotidian interests. Fifth, followers of Islam are less supportive of democracy compared to the rest of the population. In its Indian version this belief holds that the Muslims harbour a deep sense of alienation vis-à-vis the political system and feel excluded from the democratic mainstream.
All these beliefs assume that Muslims are an extra-ordinary kind a political community, internally monolithic and case apart from everyone else. Many of these images conflict with one another. Yet, there is something about the coming together of modern politics with India and Islam that makes this subject a special case of political myth making.
The assumption is that, unlike other social groups, divisions of region, class, age, gender and caste either do not matter or play a very secondary role in shaping the politics of the Indian Muslims.
These images are not just or no longer held by outsiders: Muslim and non-Muslim, political activists as well as laypersons, tend to share many of these beliefs. Like all stereotypes, all these images contain an element of truth which has been blown out of proportion and distorted.
Let us examine these one by one in the light of available evidence.The impression about high turnout of Muslims is due to the fact that constituencies that have high concentration of Muslim population (above 30 per cent) tend to see higher than average turnout. But this is largely due to communal polarization that leads to both Muslims and Hindus voting more in these areas. In any case the number of such constituencies is very small. Muslims are only 13.4 per cent of the country's population, perhaps still fewer on the Electoral Rolls. Most Muslims live in constituencies where they do not account for even 10 per cent of the electorate. The evidence gathered by the National Election Studies carried out by CSDS shows that Muslims turnout in elections and participation in politics is not much different from the rest of the electors. In the last four general elections, the turnout among Muslims was 59 per cent while the all India figure was 60 per cent. Actually the figures suggest that in 2004, the turnout among the Muslims was much lower than the rest. When it comes to more active forms of engaging with elections like participation in election campaign, there is virtually nothing that separates the Muslims from Hindus or indeed from any other religious minority. Education and class location makes a difference to who takes active part in politics, but religion is not a factor here. Muslims are as likely to identify with any political party (though a little more likely to dislike any party) and declare themselves as members of a party as the Hindus.The evidence on voting preference of the Muslims in the national elections does not confirm the image of Muslims as a 'vote bank'. Congress and all its allies got 53 per cent of the Muslim vote while the BJP and its allies did secure about 11 per cent. The biggest voter getter outside these two was of course the Samajwadi Party at 16 per cent.
That is hardly en-bloc voting. If we break it down at the state level, we find that the Muslim vote tends to consolidate. But the truth is nowhere close to the image of en-bloc voting. The Muslims resort to en-bloc voting only in states like Rajasthan, Gujarat, MP and Delhi when faced with a situation of no-choice, when the main competition is between the Congress and the BJP. The Muslim support for the Congress goes down in states like Andhra Pradesh and Assam where there is third option or Kerala and West Bengal where the main competition is between parties that exclude the BJP or its partners. In general the pattern of Muslim voting is more like that of a large caste like Jats or Brahmis at the state level. While gender and age do not account for major differences in voting choices of Muslims at the national level, class does make a difference.Again, there is little evidence to support the third and the fourth belief that the Muslim voters go by considerations different from that of the rest of the population.
The main consideration for the Muslim voters, as with everyone else, is the party, followed by the candidate and then caste etc. Muslim, men or women, are as much influenced by clerics or anyone else in deciding who to vote for as is the case with any other section of the population. If one goes by the timing of the decision to vote, Muslims do not appear to be any more strategic than the rest. If 33 per cent Hindus reported that they made up their mind on the polling day or the day before, the figure was 31 per cent among the Muslims.Finally, on the question concerning support for democracy, India provides a solid evidence against the prevailing Islamophobia. Clearly, the Indian Muslims are not opting out of democratic politics.
There is no difference whatsoever between the Hindus and the Muslims when it comes to their stated support for democracy and their sense of political efficacy. This evidence from NES 2004 is supported by evidence from State of Democracy in South Asia, a five country comparison carried out by the CSDS.We should place the evidence about these five myths with two large well known and well documented facts about the Indian Muslims.
The first set of facts was brought out most starkly by the Sachar Committee Report. It showed that the Muslims are the not just disadvantaged but often discriminated minority in the field of education, employment, housing and economic opportunities. The second fact has been brought out by an impressive analysis of the Muslim MPs and MLAs by Professor Iqbal Ansari. His data shows that barring 1980 and 1984, Muslim representation has been less than half of their share in population. At the state level too the proportion of Muslim representatives has been around half or less, compared to their share in population. The proportion improves in those states (Kerala, Assam, West Bengal) where there are pockets of concentration of Muslim population or where there are parties (IUML in Kerala, AUDF in Assam and SP in UP) which seek to represent the Muslims. The proportion drops dramatically in states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat where the Muslim population is dispersed and the BJP constitutes one pole of a bipolar political competition.
If we bring the five myths and the two large facts about Muslim politics together we begin to see the political tragedy of the Indian Muslims.
They are like the Blacks in the US politics: the Republicans are not keen to do something to improve their lot for they know that they won't get the Black vote, the Democrats also don't do very much for they know that they would get the Black vote irrespective of what they don't do. The myth about homogenous Muslim vote bank serves to keep the Muslim community a political hostage, earlier with the Congress and now with the Congress and some regional parties like the SP and the RJD.
In this context the current election offers an opening for the Indian Muslims. In many states, newer formations are coming up to challenge the monopoly of established claimants to the Muslim 'vote bank'. The AUDF in Assam challenges the monopoly of Congress, the Milli Council in UP challenges the SP in UP, the RJD is faced with the rise of pasmanda (backward) Muslim politics and the IUML faces the PDP in Kerala. No doubt much of the challenge still comes from within what can be called communal politics. Many of these new formations might prove to be short lived and opportunist. Yet this opens the way for integration of Muslims as any other political community in democratic competition: distinct but ordinary.
[This article draws upon an ongoing research project in collaboration with Dr Sanjeer Alam and Dr Hilal Ahmed.]
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