The invisibilisation of Pasmandas from the Uniform Civil Code debate is disconcerting and needs to be analysed. The current government’s grit and determination to implement the UCC has engendered fervent deliberations within diverse factions of Indian society, ranging from Muslim clergymen to women activists. However, amid the clamour of these divergent opinions, the absence of one group remains conspicuous — the voice of the Pasmandas, meaning those “broken” or oppressed”, who constitute the majority of India’s Muslim population.
Dissent epitomises the quintessence of a living and vibrant democracy, yet dissenting voices ought not to solely emanate from ruling elites but also from those whom it seeks to govern. The Sachar Committee and other government reports have indicated that there is no monolithic Muslim identity. Pasmandas, who have been socially and culturally marginalised and excluded from the minority discourse, constitute 80–85 per cent of the Muslim community. There is a need to restructure the discourse with a greater emphasis on defining the margins within the minorities. Politics based on gulfs like majority-minority, secularism-communalism, etc, solely represent the interests of a few upper segments. When it comes to those who are at the margins, intersectionality is critical to the debate.
Pasmandas have struggled to find a place for themselves and their interests within the larger Muslim community as they face economic and social marginalisation and have less access to education, employment, and land ownership.
Currently, official details regarding the UCC are lacking and speculations have taken centre stage. But in essence, UCC sets forth to codify laws, inter alia related to marriages, civil partnerships, adoption, inheritance, and divorce. It also wants to reform and bring parity to the relationship between individuals and the State.
It is trite to say that UCC will only regulate or reform women’s rights; it can become a significant tool to prevent further marginalisation and invisibilisation of the marginalised within minority communities. We stand at a critical juncture, wedged between repressive religious practices and reasonable restrictions; between tools of marginalisation and uniform application of laws; between Uniform Civil Code and Personal Laws.
The powerful speech of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Bhopal last month emphatically underlined the caste blocs that exist within the Muslim identity — of Ashraafs, Ajlafs, Arzals, and the Pasmandas. It marks the transition from the conventional narrative of Islam being egalitarian in its nature. It’s a shift from deniability to acceptance that marginalised groups do exist among the larger Muslim community, and that there exists a hegemony of Ashraaf interests and identity, which is presented as the community’s interests.
This abjection and unjust exclusion of Pasmanda Muslims and their interests from the community narrative has resulted in a disproportionate representation of Ashraafs in power structures. The current political dispensation is serious in its call for Pasmandas’ inclusion into the polity. As such, the implementation of UCC goes beyond electoral agenda.
Also Read: How did UCC become a Muslim issue? There’s an invisible apparatus at work
Cultural erosion
The cultural identities and realities of Pasmandas have been overshadowed by those of the Ashraafs, which are derivative of larger Arabic Islamic culture.
The rituals and practices of Pasmandas are culturally entrenched with local traditions and more colloquial than codified. For instance, the brides in Buxar, Bihar will do a sindoor-daan ceremony after their nikah. The rituals before the nikah are also very similar to what local Hindus practise.
Ashraafisation of Islamic practices and rituals eclipsed the culture of a majority of India’s Muslims. With the cultural influence of Pasmandas wearing thin, they merely imitate the practices of Ashraafs.
Considering that most Muslim bodies are run by Ashrafs, it is not surprising that the major opposition to the UCC is coming from them and non-indigenous Muslims. They codified the personal laws that UCC questions. Ashraafs control major institutions such as the Muslim Personal Law Board, Darul Uloom Deoband, and Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama. The Muslim Personal Law is unfortunately tilted towards the hegemonic assertion of Ashraafs and the continuation of their way of life and culture. The proposed Code seeks to mend these uneven power structures, which systematically oppress Pasmandas.
Also Read: Muslim Dalits Halalkhors are the same as Valmikis. They need legal protection too
Fight for equality, dignity
In much of eastern Uttar Pradesh, as per my study, as well as in Hyderabad it’s a common practice among Ashraafs and sometimes rich Muslim men from the Middle East to marry a Pasmanda woman by giving substantial mehr to her parents. These women are subjected to systematic sexual and physical abuse and are sometimes used as domestic labour since they do not have the same stature as the men’s other wives. They are often divorced at the whims of the men, destroying their lives. The ban on triple talaq in 2019 has given Pasmanda women a sense of security and protection. Now, with the UCC, there is hope that such practices that perpetuate the domination of the elites would come to an end.
Another factor in the marginalisation of Pasmandas is the lack of access to education. Most Pasmanda children and youth can only afford the madrasa system of pedagogy. It often teaches just religion and theology, which takes away the opportunities one might have had with modern education. Despite this, Pasmanda youth who have years of education in religion aren’t allowed to take up the positions of maulvi and other such religious roles. These positions are almost exclusively reserved for Ashraafs of ‘high lineage’.
A Pasmanda man once said to me, “We are the most backward among the minorities.” He added that the politicisation of religion affects them adversely because their identity — Muslim and backward — is a double-edged sword. There is little acknowledgement of the class struggle between the ‘noble’ Ashraafs and them. “Our struggle is not to achieve dominance of any kind over any other group inside or outside the Muslim society. Our fight is for equality and dignity. The hostility towards us should be eliminated. We are glad that the current government is focusing on empowering us not only as a religious minority for vote banks, but also as a socially and economically disadvantaged section that needs empowerment,” he said.
Aditi Narayani is an assistant professor of sociology at Lakshmibai College, Delhi University. She tweets @AditiNarayani. Views are personal.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)