The politics of wooing Pasmanda sections among Muslims has its limits. While the BJP has popularly launched its “Muslim outreach” policy to attract support of such groups, other parties are also promoting leaders from such groups to gain their votes. However, voting in recent and past elections confirm that Pasmanda don’t vote separately from their parent community.

Pasmanda Who?

The word Pasmanda is derived from Persian and it means “left behind”. According to the leaders of the Pasmanda Muslims, these sections make for 85% of the total Muslims in the country.

Even as they are in the majority, the Pasmanda Muslim community groups are socially and economically backward. They include Dalit (Arzals) and backward Muslim (Ajlafs) population. The rest, 15% Muslims, are considered upper class or Ashrafs.

The castes within Pasmanda Muslims are generally decided by their profession. Among the Pasmandas are Malik (Teli), Momin Ansar (weavers), Qureshi (butchers), Mansoori (those who make quilts and mattresses), Idrisi (tailors), Saifi (iron smith), Salmani (barbers) and Hawari (washermen).

BJP’s Outreach

Muslims from the Pasmanda community have alleged that Ashrafs or higher class Muslims have historically discriminated against them. The fact that Pasmanda Muslims are less affluent than upper-class Muslims may be the motivation behind PM Modi’s desire to connect with them. Despite having varied occupations, Pasmanda Muslims’ financial situation largely stays steady.

The BJP has appointed Danish Ansari, a member of the Pasmanda Muslim community, a minister in the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet rather than feudal Mohsin Raza, demonstrating its desire to care for Pasmanda uplift.

Additionally, some BJP MPs and MLAs have started organising “sneh yatras” (affection rallies) to create acceptance among the Pasmanada sections. In these rallies, these social groups are asked to take advantage of government’s schemes specifically launched for them. And if some government claims are to be trusted, Pasmanadas are major beneficiaries of such schemes.

The BJP strategists believe that the welfare schemes of the Modi government such as Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Ujjwala Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, Ayushman Bharat, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Suraksha Yojana, etc., will be most effective in connecting the Pasmanda community with the party.

Pattern of Pasmanda Politics

Keeping in mind the general elections of 2024, new political equations are being introduced involving Pasmanda Muslims. Will the 2024 general election put an end to the politics of the Muslim vote bank and theocratic hysteria, as the separation of Pasmanda will destroy the ability of Muslims to influence elections as a block?

In a revealing answer to this question, the analysis of voting patterns of Muslims, Pasmanda naturally included, says that they haven’t favoured any particular party based on their social group affiliation. They have voted as part of the Muslim community. Only traction of their votes are said to have veered away from this trend.

Even contrary to claims like some Pasmanda groups voted for BJP in 2022 Rampur and Azamgarh Lok Sabha bypolls, the ground realities convey an entirely different story. BJP registered victories in these two seats with a very short margin. If the Pasmanda Muslim community had contributed to their victory, the margin would have been much higher. In fact, the BJP even conceded that these seats had a three-party fight and it benefitted the party.

It is true that the BJP gets some votes from Muslim community here and there. Some Shia and Dawoodi Bohra Muslims are also reported to be voting for the BJP in some pockets regularly.

Now take the case of much-hyped UP Assembly polls in 2022. According to several election-specific websites, the Muslims there were content with many of the Yogi government’s plans. On the basis of that, they had even indicated a desire to support the BJP. But if you look at the election results, you’ll discover that the Muslim community finally did cast their votes as a bloc and supported the Samajwadi Party. Some votes certainly went to Bahujan Samaj Party too. For context, the Pasmanda Muslim population in Uttar Pradesh is above 3.5 crore and they make for the biggest voting bloc in the country.

Another glaring example is recent municipal elections in Delhi. BJP had fielded around four Muslims for councilor posts. All of them bit dust, shattering the saffron party’s “Plan Pasmanada.” Muslims in fact voted in herds for Congress’ Muslim candidates in every area where they are living as a community like in Okhla, North-east Delhi, Munirka and the Walled City.

Most recent example is assembly elections in Karnataka. There, two parties were claimants of Muslim votes – Congress and JDS. Muslims voted in hordes for the Congress and now around 12 of them are MLAs, out of them at least half are Pasmanda.

Case of Bihar, Epicentre of Pasmanda Awareness

In Bihar, Muslims have been voting majorly for Lalu Prasad Yada’s RJD in recent years. When the JDU-BJP alliance was created in Bihar in 2005 under Nitish Kumar’s leadership, the Pasmanda card was used to sway voters. More than 1.5 crore Pasmanda Muslims live in Bihar. Ali Anwar, a popular Pasmanda community leader, was sent to the Rajya Sabha by the JDU.

Kumar’s Pasmanada card paid dividends in the 2010 Assembly polls. Due to the split of Pasmanda votes, JDU was able to score exceptionally well in those seats where Muslim votes are crucial. Lalu Yadav’s RJD was defeated in those elections as a result of the Muslim-Yadav vote’s divide. But, even in those elections, Pasmanda voted for opposition parties where the JDU-BJP alliance had put up a BJP candidate.

The entire Muslim votebank supported Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav in the 2015 elections, which they ran in tandem. That indicates that even though a portion of the Pasmanda population joined Nitish’s JDU as a result of the NDA’s benefits, that group never really supported the BJP. Even the Pasmanda leader Ali Anwar walked away in 2017 when JDU and RJD split for the sake of Muslim unity. Later, the community supported the RJD in the 2020 elections. That implies that not even Nitish Kumar’s political gain was long-lasting. When the advantages of government programmes were still new, they cast their ballots as “Pasmanda,” but in later elections, they did so as “Muslims.”

In upcoming elections, be it Assembly polls  and  Lok Sabha elections, the pattern of Pasmanda politics is likely to remain the same. They will assert their position and seek equality, but they will stand by their community.