Out of 36 states and union territories, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance is in power in 21. This includes the biggest states in the country like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, to name a few. In all, the BJP/NDA rule 72 per cent of India. This is besides ruling over the country since 2014. This is obvious that an overwhelming majority of Indians are continuously reposing their faith in the BJP and its allies.
Of the 1654 MLAs the BJP has in 21 states/ UTs, it has only two Muslim MLAs, one each from Tripura and Manipur. It does not have any Muslim MP in the Lok Sabha. It has only one nominated Rajya Sabha MP Ghulam Ali Khatana from Jammu and Kashmir, who was nominated to the Upper House in 2022.
It may sound strange that the biggest minority community with about 14 per cent population practically has no representation in the ruling party. There is a reason. An overwhelming Muslims not only “do not vote” for the BJP, but they make it a point that they “will” vote for anyone. Not just that, they actually vote to get the BJP “defeated”. Not voting for a particular party is one thing. But voting for getting a particular party defeated only shows the deep hatred and hostility towards that party. Unfortunately, an overwhelming majority of the Muslims not only “does not vote” for the BJP, but “votes only to get the BJP defeated”.
Then there are many critics and apologists who will question and point out that there are no BJP MPs, MLAs or ministers in the BJP governments. That is a fact. There is a counter question. Leave aside joining the party, how many people do vote for the BJP? Independent estimates suggest that about 8-10 per cent Muslims voted for the BJP in the last General Elections held in 2024. A majority of them was from Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh and most of them from the ‘pasmanda’ Muslim community, which are extremely backward and have benefitted from various welfare schemes of the state and Central governments. Otherwise, the educated and well-to-do Muslims, who are opinion makers, not only “do not vote” for the BJP, they also build up a narrative presenting the BJP as the enemy of the Muslims which has to be defeated, necessarily.
It is not that the BJP has not given tickets to Muslim candidates in the past. It did, but even they could not get enough Muslim votes to sail through. Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, BJP’s prominent Muslim face, was fielded from Bhagalpur in Bihar in 2014. He could not win despite a sweeping pro-BJP wave across the country and Bihar also, just because the Muslims did not vote for him and they voted for, what they believed to be, the pro-Muslim party Rashtriya Janata Dal. He was defeated by a Hindu candidate belonging to the RJD by about 10,000 votes from the constituency with about 25 per cent Muslim voters.
The current narrative against the BJP from the “Muslim opinion making class” exactly parallels the anti-Congress narrative by the same “class of Muslims” during the freedom struggle. When the Indian National Congress was at its peak during the freedom struggle and when its credentials were undisputedly secular, these still are, the same opinion making class of Muslims, mostly educated in Aligarh, but also from other educational institutions, including some from abroad, paddled a narrative that the Congress was a “communal Hindu organisation”. ‘Hindu firka-parast tanzeem’ was how this section of the Muslim population described Congress before partition.
Their influence was so overwhelming on the community that the Muslims across India, particularly those living in United Provinces (modern day Uttar Pradesh), Central Province (Madhya Pradesh), state of Hyderabad, Bengal got so carried away that they overwhelmingly supported the Muslim League against the Congress. The Muslim League won an overwhelming majority, more than 90 per cent, from Muslim constituencies. Muslims had separate constituencies under the infamous “Communal Electorate” law of the British that eventually led to the partition of the country.
Also read: Who poses real threat to democracy? BJP or Congress?
Interestingly, “united Punjab”, despite being a Muslim majority province, rejected both the Congress as well as the Muslim League. Here, the Unionist Party won a majority of the seats and also formed the governments. The Unionist Party had members from all the major communities of the province, including the Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs.
It is a separate story that the province that remained secular and strongly resisted Muslim League before the partition, was the worst hit by the communal frenzy once partition took place leading to killing of lakhs of people belonging to all the three communities, which had lived, till then, in complete unity and harmony.
Whether one likes it or not, the BJP has been accepted by a majority of Indians who are voting regularly and repeatedly for the party. Criticism against the party governments notwithstanding, the BJP governments have not shown any sort of discrimination against any particular community anywhere.
Rhetorical rants by people like Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and the recently appointed West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari are only aberrations. While Adhikari became the Chief Minister just recently, there is nothing on the ground to suggest that Sarma’s government has discriminated against the Muslims in any way.
At the national level also, the BJP/ NDA has been in power for 12 years. There has not been any obvious or subtle action from the government that would suggest that it was pursuing any “majoritarian” agenda, as it is often accused of doing.
An overwhelming majority of the Muslims, by far, has at best been indifferent towards the BJP and at worst, hostile towards the party. The community continues to get carried away by the parties like the Congress, Samajwadi Party, RJD, Trinamool Congress and their own “opinion makers with vested interests” to adopt a “hostile posture” towards the BJP. It is high time that the community rethinks its approach towards the BJP.
At the same time, the BJP will need to continue reaching out to the community. The party must not give up on its agenda of ‘sabka sath, sab ka vikas’. It does practice inclusive governance when it comes to welfare schemes and other government policies, but it will be better once it succeeds in involving and engaging the Muslim community in the process of governance as well. The party has undoubtedly broken certain myths, particularly the one that it will be impossible to form a government in India without Muslim support. The party should be graceful in repeated victories.
The Muslim community will need to rethink and redo its approach towards the BJP. The party, for sure, is not their enemy.
Follow us
