The electoral success of the BJP in the recent UP Assembly election seems to have rekindled one of the most unsettled political debates of postcolonial India: the question of Muslim political representation.
The opponents of the BJP question the politics of polarisation by which, we are told, the Muslims of the state eventually become a significant ‘other’ – a threat to the country.
The BJP’s clear refusal to give tickets to Muslim candidates, Prime Minister’s Eid, Kabristan remarks during the campaign, the alleged tempering with EVMs, and finally the fragmentation of Muslim votes, the argument goes, led to the victory of the BJP.
It is also contended that only 24 Muslims have been elected to the UP Assembly this time, which does not go well with the ‘proportional’ demography of the state.
This interpretation of the verdict ignores the fact that the Muslim community of UP is not a politically homogeneous entity. The social stratification among Muslims as well their political inclinations do play a decisive role in forming electoral preferences. Caste, sect, economic background and regional locations constitute a number of different and overlapping political configurations at various levels.
As a result, we do not find any single Muslim voting pattern in elections. This Muslim electoral heterogeneity is, rather misleadingly, described as ‘tactical voting’. In fact, this has been the reason why non-BJP parties evoke the idea of Muslim electoral unity beyond the more apparent constituency level.