BJP’s National Executive Meeting on Sunday stressed the need to bridge differences between the party and Pasmanda (OBC) Muslims.BJP’s outreach plans may worry Opposition parties in UP.
BJP may soon launch an outreach plan for Pasmanda Muslims. The party’s National Executive Meeting in Hyderabad stressed the need to connect with the community. BJP should take out “sneh yatras” to reach out to the Pasmanda Muslims, PM Modi said on Sunday. “People should know that the party is pro-people and pro-development”, he said at the party’s National Executive meeting in Hyderabad.
Pasmanda Muslims usually vote against BJP in UP and Bihar. However, nearly 8 percent of Pasmanda Muslims voted BJP in UP state assembly elections. This was despite the principal opposition Samajwadi Party’s alliance with regional OBC parties. After BJP’s victory in the UP assembly elections, Yogi Adityanath’s government inducted Danish Ansari ( a Pasmanda Muslim) as their only Muslim minister. BJP has also appointed Pasmanda Muslims on various boards and academies regarding minorities in UP. 34 Muslim MLAs were elected in the UP Assembly Polls this year, 30 of them are Pasmanda Muslims.
Who Are Pasmanda Muslims?
Pasmandas consist of socially, educationally and economically backward castes among Indian Muslims. They make up the majority of Muslims in the country. Many castes are part of the Pasmanda Muslim community. Some of these are Ansari, Mansoori, Kasgar, Raeen, Gujar, Ghosi, Qureshi, etc. These castes have designated professions and run small-scale businesses. Therefore, they live on small earnings a Pasmanda leader said to the Indian Express
There are four crore Pasmanda beneficiaries of BJP’s welfare policies, claims Kunwar Basit Ali UP BJP’s minority morcha president. The party couldn’t reach out during the Assembly elections and thus couldn’t get their votes, he added.
May Create Problems for Opposition Parties
Even RSS’s affiliates want to concentrate on Pasmanda Muslims. The community remains marginalized owing to a lack of education and financial problems. Organizations have attempted to reach out to groups like Van Gujjars, Muslim Rajputs and Muslim Jats. These want to bring these low-scale farming groups into the political mainstream, sources claim to the Indian Express.
“There are religious hardliners among Pasmanda Muslims youths who follow the clerics and often become victims in communal disturbances. They are misled and later face incarceration. But a section of them has changed hardline views after benefitting from government schemes,” a BJP leader said.
Pasmandas usually vote for SP in UP and Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) and Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD. However, any shift in voter preferences may hurt these parties. An SP leader from the Pasmanda community in Lucknow expressed concerns about any shift of votes to the BJP. “ In the Assembly poll, an SP candidate in Barabanki raised concern about a shift in Pasmanda vote to BJP. This candidate asked me to speak to them, he said.
“ When I reached a village of Pasmanda Muslims there, the villagers said they got houses, free rations, toilets, LPG cylinders, and low-cost medical facilities under BJP. I tried to convince them to vote for SP but failed. They were less educated and hence they got influenced by such schemes,” he said.
(Inputs, Times Now, Indian Express)
