Gujarat:
Who will Muslims vote for?
Ram Puniyani
Gujarat is going to have the
assembly elections in December 2012. As per the surveys and the claims of BJP
and Narendra Modi himself, the ruling Chief Minister, will be winning with
great majority. The media has created a larger than life image for him, Modi’s
own media management firm has been creating the image of Modi as a man for
‘development’, and the big industrial houses are pitching for his victory. The
big industrialists are having a great time in Gujarat. Despite the claims of
Modi and company, the average people are facing a rough weather as indicated by
different indices of development, nutritional levels, hemoglobin levels of
pregnant women etc. Still the popular perception in large sections is that Mdoi
will romp home and thereby stake his claim to become the Prime Ministerial
candidate from the BJP side.
At the same time Modi has been
trying to win over sections of Muslims to his side, businessmen, affluent
Muslims in particular. Some of them have openly advocated for Modi. One thing
should be clear that till a decade ago, it was a myth that the whole community
votes in unison. In earlier riots the major victims of violence were poor
Muslims. Since Gujarat carnage the class divide of victims has been abolished
and now even if one is as affluent person with reach, like Ahsan Jafri, he can
also be the victim of violence. That’s the logic of communal violence today.
Accordingly majority of Muslims may evolve a uniform policy of voting for a
candidate, who can defeat BJP. This was sometimes contemplated and exercised in
practices.
There is also a dilemma or confusion
amongst some Muslims that since BJP and Congress both are equally bad, how does
it matter as to who comes to power. This unfortunate perception of situation is
due to the vacillations of Congress on communal front, its opportunism at times
and its collusion with communal forces at times. Its lack of principled stand
against communalism has given rise to this perception. Still on deeper thinking
large sections of Muslims do become clear about the basic difference of BJP and
Congress. The difference is that Congress is ‘pragmatically communal’ and BJP
is ‘programmatically communal’. That BJP is part of RSS combine whose agenda is
Hindu nation and to bring in such a state by working through the liberal space
offered by Indian democracy, should be well known by now. And in that sense
Congress or no other party can be compared with BJP. BJP is one of the vehicles
of communalizing the society as far as RSS, the patriarch of communal politics
in India is concerned..
BJP has been propagating that more
communal riots have taken place in the rule of Congress so how come, Congress
is better than BJP as far as communal violence, communalism is concerned. It is
a clever use of the fact that though the Congress has been in power, the real instigator
of violence, by and large is the BJP and its affiliates. Congress merely
colludes or looks the other way around. Also here the role of police becomes
important, as large sections of police are not only very communal; police force
is also heavily infiltrated by those who have sympathies with communal
politics. In this complex situation, who do the Muslims vote for? The noted
Islamic scholar, the liberal face of Indian Islam, Asghar Ali Engineer, points
out that though the Bohra Muslims and their religious leader Dai, has good
links with Modi for business reasons, still most Bohras will not vote for Modi
due to the larger picture on political scene. Maulana Vastanvi, who had earlier
said that Muslims are doing better in Gujarat, has also said that Muslims
should not vote for Modi.
Modi has been trying his best to woo
over the Muslim community by tying up with businessmen from Gujarat like Zafar
Sareshwala. Still the larger section of Muslim community remains fearful of
Modi. Despite his Sadbhavna stage shows the Muslim community knows that at root
Modi has no sympathies with minorities. Modi’s fasting and Sadbhavna meetings
were well managed stage shows where many with ‘beard and cap’ paid their
obeisance to Modi, but at the same time Modi got exposed as he refused to wear
the skull cap offered by one of the clerics who came to meet him. This at a
time when he was putting on all sorts of caps and pagadi’s (head gear) offered
by Hindus and Jains. The Muslim community knows that in this stage managed
state show Modi has spent millions to project his image of amity. But can the
deeper wounds be done away by such attractive coverings?
The Muslim community recalls that
the human Rights activist Dr. Bandookwala had asked of Modi to atone for his
role in Gujarat violence and the Muslims community will forget the carnage and
will move one. But that expression of remorse never came. In contrast Modi went
to have more sophisticated defense to hide his crime in the carnage of
Gujarat. Now ex-MP Syed Shahabuddin has come out with an open letter to
Modi (Nov 2012) saying that if he wants Muslims to vote for him, he should
apologize for the Gujarat genocide of 2002. Failing this Shahabuddin said that,
Muslims will vote massively and united for one
candidate, irrespective of party or religion who is likely to defeat the BJP in
their constituency,”
Syed Shahabuddin landed up in
another controversy due to the tone and tenor of his letter and the letterhead,
but some of the points which he raises are very valid for the Muslim community
of Gujarat. Shahabuddin has asked Modi to give full rehabilitation, reimburse
medical expenses, suitable compensation, rebuilding of the places of worship
which were ruined due to the violence amongst other demands. The basic flaw in
Shahbuddin’s letter is that to presume that Modi may be amenable to such
suggestions and the very process of writing a letter to Modi itself is a
misplaced one. Some may call it optimism but it is nothing short of a delusion
about Modi.
The core question dodging the Muslim
community is that they have been effectively relegated to the status of second
class citizenship in Gujarat. It is a part of their daily experience.
Politically marginalized, economically pushed back and facing the step motherly
treatment from state, it is unlikely that Muslims can even think of voting for
Modi. Surely, there will be some like Sareshwala, who will ask for the votes
for Modi, but barring such elements, average Muslim has suffered and travails
of living in the ‘Hindu Rashtra of Gujarat’, where the affiliates of BJP, the
VHP, Bajrang Dal, Vanvasi Kalyan ahshram and ABVP are making the picture
complete by their brash ways of imposing their will on minorities. While
celebrations are already afoot for Modi’s victory, it’s unlikely that he can
have a cake walk in Gujarat this time as apart from M factor the whole
deprivation of dalits, Adivsis and other poorer sections of community are too
deep to be won over by the rhetoric of Vibrant Gujarat. While psephologists are
burning mid night oil to ratify Modi’s victory, the real outcome of Gujarat
2012 elections may be a surprise to many who are undermining the impact of
social development indices and the scars of 2002, which remain very much
painful even now!
