In what could potentially expose a hidden wound within the Muslim community, BJP has gone hammer and tongs demanding the redressal of historical oppression of the Pasmanda Muslims by the Ashraf Muslims. The BJP OBC Morcha, at the Pasmanda Muslim Sneh Milan Evam Samman Samaroh, demanded a 50% reservation for the Pasmanda Muslim community in Muslim institutions like Aligarh Muslim University, Jamia Millia Islamia etc. This is a continuation of the outreach program by BJP, launched to expand its base among Pasmanda Muslims.
Speaking at the Pasmanda Muslim Sneh Milan Evam Samman Samaroh in New Delhi, Laxman said, “I draw your attention to the centuries-old injustice and exploitation of the Pasmanda Muslims within the community. The Pasmandas are socially, economically and politically weak. Their condition has not improved even after 75 years of Independence. The issue of Pasmandas has been drowned under the noise of Hindu-Muslim drums. The Pasmanda Muslims should have the benefit of 50% reservation in AMU, JMI and JH.”
BJP has launched a program to reach out to Pasmanda Muslims, who are “lower caste” Muslims, historically oppressed by the “upper caste” Ashraf Muslims. Earlier in July, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given a clarion call to unite Pasmandas. In the National Executive meeting that concluded in Hyderabad earlier in July, PM Modi had asked BJP workers to reach out to the downtrodden and oppressed Pasmanda Muslim community.
Earlier, the former Chairman of the National Minorities Commission, Atif Rasheed, who is the chief of the BJP Minority Morcha, had written to the Vice-Chancellors of AMU, JMI and JH, requesting a reservation for Pasmanda Muslims in the universities. The new comment by the BJP OBC Morcha comes in the light of these Muslim Universities not responding to these letters so far. In a letter dated June 15, Rasheed wrote, “We wrote to the three V-Cs of the minority institutions asking them to reserve 50% within the Muslim quota for Pasmanda Muslims. It should not upset anybody or change equations within the universities as we are only asking for a quota within the quota already in practice.”
The letter by Atif Rasheed was not just limited to central universities. He had written to several political leaders and other institutions that are Muslim-controlled. “We wrote to every Minister of the Central government and also to around 250 MPs. The OBC Morcha chief K. Laxman responded and supported us. He has raised the question in Parliament”, he had said. Reportedly, letters were written to 5,200 Muslim educational institutes with minority status across the country to provide 50% reservation for Pasmanda Muslims.
The churn in the Muslim society with Islamists and Ashrafs up in arms against BJP outreach to Pasmanda Muslims
The Muslim community with fissures like Shia-Sunni also existing, is up in arms against the call by BJP to end discrimination against Pasmanda Muslims. After the call by PM Modi, while some Muslim organisations came forward to publicly postulate, there are some who have been silently aggrieved. As reported by The Hindu, a senior leader of Jamaat-e-Islami said, on the condition of anonymity, that BJP is reaching out to Pasmanda Muslims to create a divide in the Islamic community, essentially, refusing the acknowledge the caste problem inherent in Islam and the ill-treatment to Pasmanda Muslims by the Ashrafs.
“There is nothing called caste in Islam. The government cannot be serious about uplifting poor Muslims. A majority of lynching victims have been men from the supposedly Pasmanda community but nobody has been given justice. The demand for reservation for Pasmanda Muslims is to create a Mandal-like situation for the community”, said the Jamaat-e-Islami source to The Hindu.
Atif Rasheed has, however, rejected the claims that this move could be a ploy to divide the Muslim community. He has said that the Pasmanda Muslims constitute 80% of the Muslim community in India, however, the 20% Ashraf community take most of the benefits that accrue to the community. “Whenever a Pasmanda talks of his rights, the same question of division of the community is put up in front of him. We are not dividing followers of Islam. Rather we want to get rid of the caste system that has seeped into the Muslim community in India”, he said.
