New Delhi: The BJP may have been aggressively reaching out to Pasmanda Muslims across India, but it has chosen not to field any Muslim candidates in this month’s assembly elections in Rajasthan, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh, a scan of the candidates list has revealed.
The BJP Minority Morcha had demanded that across the three states, which have a combined assembly strength of 549, up to 10 Muslim candidates — a figure of less than 2 per cent — be fielded, ThePrint has learnt, but the demand was not met.
“We wanted 10 seats in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana, and there was no demand from the minority morcha in Chhattisgarh (another state which went for polls this month). The Rajasthan unit wanted at least five candidates standing from minority-dominated constituencies, while two seats were demanded in Telangana and three in Madhya Pradesh. But the party did not find suitable candidates,” a senior Minority Morcha functionary said.
BJP’s Rajasthan Minority Morcha chief, Hameed Khan Mewati, added that they had accepted the party’s decision and would not question it.
“More than 15 constituencies in Rajasthan are minority-dominated, with many having more than one lakh Muslim population. We were expecting to get at least four-five of these 15 seats but the party decided not to field any minority candidates. We have accepted it and can’t question the decision,” he told ThePrint.
He added: “The prominent seats we wanted were Tijara, Hawa Mahal, Pokaran, Sikar, Kota North, Tonk and Pushkar.”
According to the party’s Madhya Pradesh Minority Morcha chief Aijaz Khan, they “were expecting at least two-three seats for Muslim candidates — Bhopal Uttar and Bhopal Madhya, and one of Jabalpur or Indore — from the state’s two-dozen minority-dominated constituencies, but the party chose not to field any minority leaders. Our morcha has campaigned in all minority-dominated seats to get votes”.
Defending the BJP’s decision to not field any Muslims in the five states which voted or are to vote for a new assembly this month, a senior party member said, “In deciding tickets, winnability is the main criteria and the party did not find any winnable [Muslim] candidate in the high-stakes battle in these states”,
He further admitted that “fielding Muslims did not give an edge to the BJP in large constituencies, and rather the party’s Hindutva narrative was questioned”.
“Fielding Muslims in local body polls was experimented with in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, where tickets were given to over 300 candidates and 94 candidates, respectively, and many of them won,” said the leader.
The denial of tickets to Muslim candidates comes amid an exodus of prominent Muslim leaders from the BJP in Rajasthan — Yunus Khan and Amin Pathan — and Madhya Pradesh — Fatima Rasool.
Aijaz Khan admitted that during campaigning, people often asked Minority Morcha members why the BJP had not fielded any Muslims.
“We feel embarrassed and try to convince people not to look at the candidate’s religion but at the welfare policies of the Modi government which was not discriminating in delivery of services on religious lines,” he explained.
“(Prime Minister Narendra) Modi and (MP chief minister) Shivraj (Singh Chouhan) have not discriminated among Muslims, but when the party is making an outreach towards Pasmanda Muslims and other Muslims, people often ask such questions,” he added.
While BJP Minority Morcha national president Jamal Siddiqui admitted that ”a few of Muslim party members were hopeful [of getting a ticket] in these states”, he conceded that the “party decides candidature keeping in mind several factors”. “Once decision has been made, every one follows the collective decision,” Siddiqui told ThePrint.
ThePrint also reached BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra for comment over phone. The article will be updated once a response is received.
In January this year, addressing the BJP national executive in New Delhi, PM Modi had asked partymen to reach out to Pasmanda Muslims and Bohra Muslims. However, 10 months later, the BJP did not field any Muslim candidate in state polls, ignoring the expectations of its Minority Morcha.
Also Read: Muslim politics is shifting from religion to reservation. All due to Modi’s Pasmanda outreach
Madhya Pradesh & Rajasthan
Arif Beg, a key member of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh — the precursor to the BJP — and among the pioneering Muslim faces of the party in Madhya Pradesh, was the founding president of the BJP Minority Morcha. He died in 2016.
According to the 2011 Census, Muslims constitute approximately 6.57 percent of the state’s population and are estimated to be the dominant voters in 22 seats.
The BJP, however, fielded only one Muslim candidate in the state polls in 2018, while its main rival, the Congress, pitched three.
That year, Congress’s Arif Aqueel defeated BJP’s Fatima Rasool with a margin of 35,000 votes in Bhopal Uttar, while Congress’s Arif Masood defeated BJP’s Surendra Singh by 15,000 votes in Bhopal Madhya.
This election, the Congress has fielded two Muslim candidates — sitting MLA Arif Masood from Bhopal Madhya and Atif Aqueel, son of ailing MLA Arif Aqueel, from Bhopal Uttar.
Meanwhile, Fatima Rasool quit the BJP last week to join the Congress.
In Rajasthan, a prominent Muslim face of the party used to be Ramzan Khan, who died in 2004. He was a minister in the Bhairon Singh Shekhawat government and won as MLA from Pushkar several times.
In the 2003 and 2008 state polls, the BJP had fielded three Muslims. In 2013, it fielded four Muslim candidates, with two of them winning — Habibur Rahman (who joined the Congress in 2018) from the Nagaur seat, and Yunus Khan from Muslim-dominated Deedwana.
Yunus became a minister in the Vasundhara Raje cabinet and was said to be close to the CM. He was fielded again in 2018, as the BJP’s lone Muslim candidate, against Congressman Sachin Pilot from Tonk constituency, but lost the polls.
A senior Rajasthan BJP leader had earlier told ThePrint that Raje was a strong advocate of Yunus, but that other party leaders did not necessarily agree.
The decision to field him from Tonk in 2018 had reportedly come on Raje’s insistence. All the other three Muslim candidates who had contested in 2013 were denied tickets in that election.
“Yunus Khan was not a favourite of the RSS, but he was a favourite of Raje. The BJP fielded him against Pilot in 2018 to divide the Muslim vote in Tonk, which has a significant Muslim population,” he said.
Yunus’ ascent in politics started after former Rajasthan CM Shekhawat chose him to fight from Deedwana, which Yunus won in 2003 as well. However, his influence has waned over the years.
After being denied ticket for this month’s election, the leader quit the BJP earlier this month and is fighting independently against the official BJP candidate, Jitendra Jodha, from Deedwana.
Last week, Yunus told ThePrint: “I don’t know why the BJP did not field me this time. People in my constituency were angry and they have asked me to fight against the party’s decision. I was in the BJP for 25 years and did whatever I was asked to do. I did not ask for anything in return and followed orders. Now, I can’t disrespect the people who voted for me in the past.”
Another Muslim leader from Rajasthan to have quit the party is former state Minority Morcha chief and state minister Amin Pathan, who has alleged that the BJP is no longer following the path of Vajpayee and Shekhawat “who believed in ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’ in the true sense”.
Last week, Pathan joined the Congress in the presence of Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot.
The Congress had fielded 15 Muslim candidates in Rajasthan in 2018, with seven emerging victorious. This year, it has again fielded 15 Muslim candidates in the state.
Chhattisgarh & Telangana
In Chhattisgarh, while the BJP hasn’t fielded any Muslims, the Congress has fielded one — sitting legislator Mohammad Akbar from Kawardha. In 2018, the Congress had fielded two Muslims, but only Akbar had won while the other candidate, Badruddin Qureshi, lost from Vaishali Nagar.
In Telangana, where Muslims are reported to account for 12.68 per cent of the population, the BJP Minority Morcha had demanded two seats in Hyderabad region this year but got none.
In the previous assembly election, the party had fielded two Muslim candidates, including a woman — Shahzadi Syed in Chandrayangutta against four-time AIMIM MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi, and Haneef Ali from Bahadurpura constituency.
The Congress has fielded five Muslim candidates in Telangana this year, while the AIMIM has fielded eight such candidates. The Bharat Rashtra Samithi has fielded two Muslims.
Speaking to ThePrint, Pathan said the “BJP’s Delhi leadership at the last minute decided to not give tickets to Muslims in poll-bound states”.
“Even Vasundharaji was saying three candidates must be fielded from the community (in Rajasthan) to give it representation,” he added, pointing out that “in every previous election, the BJP got 15 to 20 per cent of votes from Muslims because of candidates in the fray from the community”.
“But now, the BJP doesn’t want votes from the community and their slogan (sabka saath, sabka vikas) is a farce.”
A senior BJP leader from Madhya Pradesh said that Chouhan, after taking over as CM in 2005, had cultivated the image of a leader who believed in “Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb” denoting the syncretic fusion of Hindu-Muslim culture.
“That is why, Chouhan got Muslim votes in consecutive elections in 2008 and 2013. But, after the assertion of Modi’s Hindutva politics, he was left with no option but to emulate the central BJP narrative. He can’t risk displeasing the Hindu majority by fielding Muslim candidates,” said the leader.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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