Pasmanda Muslims convention: ‘BJP is the first choice of minority society’

Lone Muslim minister Danish Azad Ansari in Yogi Adityanath cabinet of Uttar Pradesh on Sunday said that the “BJP is the first choice” of Muslims as they are getting “benefits without discrimination” under the current dispensation at the Centre and state. Ansari was speaking on the occasion of the ‘’1st Ever’ Pasmanda Muslims convention in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.

UP Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak is the chief guest at the meeting, called the ‘Pasmanda Buddhijeevi Sammelan’, which will also be attended by Danish Azad, a Minister of State in the UP government. He is the only Muslim minister in the Yogi Adityanath-led government and also a Pasmanda.

In an effort to expand the party’s base, the BJP has tried to reach out to the so-called ‘lower castes’ Muslims an ‘outreach strategy’ as part of which it held the mega event in Lucknow. The party claims it is the first such meeting held by a political party with the Pasmandas.

Ansari, Minority Minister of BJP government and General Secretary of Morcha, said that BJP was getting benefits without discrimination in this government. “Efforts are being made to raise Muslims at every level. A direct example of this is the victory of BJP in the recently held Azamgarh and Rampur Lok Sabha by-elections. The number of Muslim votes in both the seats is decent. This shows that the choice of Muslims is now becoming BJP,” he reportedly claimed.

The meeting is said to focus on the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision”. Three months ago Modi urged the party to reach out to “the deprived and downtrodden” sections among all the communities at the BJP National Executive in Hyderabad, seen as an outreach to the Pasmanda (backward class) Muslims, according to News18 report.

Newly nominated Rajya Sabha MP from Jammu and Kashmir, Ghulam Ali Khatana, a BJP leader from the Gujjar Muslim community, said that the Muslims will not get anything from opposition parties. “The BJP will address the intellectuals on how over 4.5 crore people from the community have benefited under various government schemes rolled out by the Modi-led Union government and the Yogi Adityanath government in the state. This event will be a major platform for dialogue with the community,” Ali, the state president of the UP BJP minority wing, said.

He claimed that three crore Muslims in UP, belong to the ‘lower caste’, have received free rations, more than 1.25 lakh have got benefits of the Ayushman health card, 75 lakh have benefitted from PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi, over 40 lakh have got free electricity connections, 20 lakh have got houses, etc.

Who are Pasmanda Muslims?

The saffron party is trying to assert the three lesser-known formulations – Arzal Ajlaf and Ashraf – and view them as ‘caste groups’ among the Muslims. Arzaal is plural of razeel (humiliated) or Dalit Muslims; Ajlaf is working class or say backward Muslims; and Ashraaf are the nobles or honourable comprising the Syed, Mughal, Pathan clans.

Demands of Pasmanda Muslims

The Constitution (Scheduled Caste) Order, 1950, had restricted SC status to Hindus, keeping Dalits from other religions out of its ambit. The order was later amended (in 1956 and 1990) to include Sikhs and Buddhists, reported DNA. The implementation of the report of the Mandal Commission brought the non-Ashrafs — Ajlafs and Arzals — under the OBC category. “Pasmandas include Dalits as of now, but all Pasmandas are not Dalits. Constitutionally speaking, we are all in one category — the OBCs. But going forward, we want Dalit Muslims to be recognised separately,” Ali Anwar Ansari, a former Rajya Sabha MP and national president and founder of the All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz, was quoted by The Indian Express as saying.

Reality check

While BJP leaders and the Muslim attached to it have been making claims of “treating the Muslims impartially”, the reality is that the anti-Muslim rhetoric rent high in the air ever since the ascendance of Narendra Modi on political horizon. The Muslims lag far behind in all human development indices. The only place where Muslims’ representation is high is the jail. The Muslims made up almost 30% of all detainees in Indian prisons in 2021, despite the community having a demographic percentage of only 14.2%. (as of 2011).

-INDIA NEWS STREAM