— ✍️ Osama Rawal

"You will find that in the course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims; not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the State". These were the words of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, on 11th August,1946 to the constituent assembly of the nascent nation yet to be born.

Ironically , these words more faithfully echo secular and constitutional aspirations of the founding fathers and mothers of independent India, than the man who drenched the subcontinent in blood to carve out a separate state for Muslims.

From Separate Electorates to Universal Adult Franchise 

Immediately after independence, Communal representation introduced and institutionalised by the British was abolished in favour of Universal Adult Franchise, which is popularly described as ‘One Person, One Vote’ (though it must be One Citizen, One Vote).

Though legally and constitutionally abolished , communal representation has continued to shape political realities in Independent India. Even becoming the crux of our electoral democracy, the pre-independence loyalties of caste, clan, community and religion have remained as it was though now in a somewhat democratic setup . These loyalties were exercised in favour of one of ‘their own’ in elections now .

Since 2014 the lack of Muslim representation in the parliament and legislatures has somewhat been seen as offensive on one more front against Indian Muslims . The First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) method through which Indians elect their representatives to the Parliament and legislature has no scope for representation on the Basis of religion . 

No organ of the State including the judiciary and civil services appoints an individual on the basis of their religious identity, the state does not recognize communities as political groups, the political subject is the citizen , the aspect of individual gets a lot of emphasis in the Part -lll of the constitution , under FPTP representatives are chosen from a constituency , and they are supposed to represent all the citizens of their constituency not the community that they were born into . 

Tokenism in Guise of Representation 

This urge for Muslim representation often overlooks  , separate electorates were the electoral basis which canvassed for the division of the subcontinent on Communal lines , fracturing forever the fragile Communal harmony of the subcontinent and making religion and religious identity ever relevant in the political discourse , we must interrogate the real dangers of Positive Communalism instead of demanding muslim representation , A Muslim Legislator or Parliamentarian doesn’t represent Muslims, he/she represents only their constituency. 

The obsession with Muslims has also resulted in pigeonholing of Muslim concerns into only ‘their’ hijab , masjid and triple talaq by the state and even a large section of Muslims themselves, imagination itself is ghettoized, severing Muslims from the common struggles for education, healthcare and employment.

The fascination with symbolic Muslim figures in legislatures and Parliament - who only push for narrow issues - has in reality communalized every problem of Muslims and left no space for a genuine democratic movement to develop. The representation offered by all parties is tokenistic at its root; all parties on the secular side of the spectrum play into this tokenism to maximize their chances of coming to power. This tokenism has long been an impediment to the true empowerment of a socio-economically marginalized community.

Instead of Asking for tokenistic bread crumbs to be thrown at them, Muslims as a group must become part of the developing democratic if there is no such thing ,then they must initiate a framework in which their everyday existential and material issues could be resolved.

But the stark reality is that vote, a basic democratic right, has also been communalized , if we are unable to stop this communalization we are headed to full blown disaster . This polarisation has already built walls of hate around them. If this continues the informal hate would be formalized.

Reimagining the Discourse

The way forward in my view is not to communalise democracy but democratise socio-economic and material concerns of Muslims , to incorporate the fight against bulldozer (in) justice , mob lynchings and in general human dignity in the larger fight for human rights.

Let us therefore think critically about words and phrases that are thrown around so commonly and instead call spade a spade , it is never about how many Muslims are elected, it is about how citizens of the republic who happen to be Muslims , exercise their citizenship.

- The author is a graduate in Political Science from Elphinstone College and is involved in People’s movement in Thane and Mumbai .

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of The Mooknayak. The publication does not endorse or assume responsibility for any opinions or claims made herein. This article discusses complex socio-political issues, and readers are encouraged to engage critically with the arguments presented.