Narendra Modi and reinventing the Indian Muslim identity

[naveen mishra]

The formalities to elect the 16th Lok Sabha are complete. The BJP has won an overwhelming mandate of 282 seats and has emerged as the single largest party to form the Government at the Centre. Its Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi led his party from the front and as a result, today the BJP is in a commanding position from which it can form the Government on its own without having to rely upon the allies.

The 16th Lok Sabha election results are indicative of the fact that the people of India were sick of the successive coalition Governments at the centre. Hence India decided to give a thumping majority to Narendra Modi who has promised unprecedented development right through his electioneering. At last, Indian democracy can bid farewell to the coalition era.

Apart from the coalition era, the results of this election have shown that the regional parties with local clouts will not be in a position to partake in the Government-formation at the Centre. The advantage of this mandate will be that Narendra Modi’s Government will not be held hostage by any regional allies’ whims and fancies. And that will enable him to exclusively focus on the mammoth task of rebuilding India. Narendra Modi could successfully convince his countrymen to give him sixty months to change the face of India. His countrymen – who were reeling under the severe impact of the Congress’s misrule of several decades – have finally found their saviour in Narendra Modi who will give them in return a prosperous India in the years to come.

Narendra Modi and India’s new secularism

That said, the 16th Lok Sabha election has also brought the politics of communalism to an end. The parties that believe in promoting the politics of appeasement by treating Muslims as their vote banks have lost heavily. During the electioneering the Muslim votes were in a huge demand but the election results have shown that neither the Muslim votes nor the Muslim candidates have managed to impact or influence the final outcomes of this election.

For the first time the Indian parliament will have no Muslim MPs. The BJP’s prominent Muslim face and ex MP Shahnawaz Husain has also lost his stronghold of Bhagalpur in Bihar strangely enough. It is not that the BJP has failed in Bihar. In fact, the Modi tsunami has trounced the JD(U) and RJD by turning the tide in the BJP’s favour. Unfortunately, Shahnawaz Husain could not win taking advantage of the Modi tsunami.

The BJP is often asked the question as to why it does not give tickets to Muslims. The BJP gave tickets to seven Muslim candidates but all the seven candidates lost which is both baffling and a huge mystery. What does this development indicate? Has India rejected the politics of religious identity? Have the Muslim voters and candidates alike become ‘person non granta’ in the Indian politics?

Is this end of bogus secular-communal discourse?

The Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi ran a campaign which was based on development that promised inclusion of all sections of the society without any discrimination whatsoever. The mainstream media and the pseudo-secular parties tried to create polarisation by resorting to the fear mongering using Narendra Modi’s name. In turn, this ploy hugely benefited the BJP by rendering the Muslim votes irrelevant.

Another damaging developments were such as Azam Khan and Abu Azmi of the Samajvadi Party who kept issuing statements that further exacerbated the polarisation created by the media. Imran Masood of the Congress was caught on tape threatening Narendra Modi. Shazia Ilmi of the Aam Aadmi Party was caught on tape advising Muslims to be communal. Salman Khurshid of the Congress was focusing only on making personal attacks on Narendra Modi. The Abdullahs from the valley kept issuing statements criticising Narendra Modi. All these Muslim leaders from the pseudo-secular parties caused immense harm to their co-religionists by indulging in activities that angered the rest of the society even as the polling was on.

Modi victory shows corrupt Congress its place in history

The result is today not even a single Muslim MP has been able to make it to the Parliament. Even the political parties will exercise great caution while asking for the Muslim votes in next elections if these parties have learnt any lessons at all. The Muslim community is at a crossroad now. With Narendra Modi as the prime minister of India, it has got a great opportunity to join the mainstream by stepping out of the religious identity. It ought to improve its conditions by way of education as hinted by Narendra Modi himself in his various television interviews. Whatever has happened in the 16th Lok Sabha elections should serve as a wake up call for India’s largest minority. If it does not get its act together now, it will be too late for its relevance in the Indian politics.

Narendra Modi and reinventing the Indian Muslim identity | Niti Central

 

[hussain0216]

Muslim vote was divided between different parties, that cost them this election a more unfied vote is the best answer.

There should never be the option of being forced to support a bigot, fanatic and murderer

The Muslims of indian need to stand frm in the face of hindu extremism

 

[Kurama]

Muslim vote was divided between different parties, that cost them this election a more unfied vote is the best answer.

There should never be the option of being forced to support a bigot, fanatic and murderer

The Muslims of indian need to stand frm in the face of hindu extremism

then call those Muslims to ur country..
nobody cares for them.. votes divided or not...
appeasement policy over...if they want to live in India then they have to live like Indian first and Muslim second...if they can't understand this..they are free to go..

 

[hussain0216]

then call those Muslims to ur country..
nobody cares for them.. votes divided or not...
appeasement policy over...if they want to live in India then they have to live like Indian first and Muslim second...if they can't understand this..they are free to go..

They are indian muslims, not from anywhere else. India is their home, where they live, where they were born.

If they are in danger in india because of india's extremist shift to the right wing then India needs to be partitioned so Indian muslims can have a home of their own & not live at the mercy of bigots and a biased and useless police force

 

[abjktu]

They are indian muslims, not from anywhere else. India is their home, where they live, where they were born.

If they are in danger in india because of india's extremist shift to the right wing then India needs to be partitioned so Indian muslims can have a home of their own & not live at the mercy of bigots and a biased and useless police force

LOL...it reminds me a bible quoting....''why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye???''

 

[Gandhi G in da house]

Muslim vote was divided between different parties, that cost them this election a more unfied vote is the best answer.

There should never be the option of being forced to support a bigot, fanatic and murderer

The Muslims of indian need to stand frm in the face of hindu extremism

As the election results show, clearly a lot of Indian Muslims don't agree with you. They were never forced to vote for Modi. They had many other options. AAP, Congress and regional parties.

They are indian muslims, not from anywhere else. India is their home, where they live, where they were born.

If they are in danger in india because of india's extremist shift to the right wing then India needs to be partitioned so Indian muslims can have a home of their own & not live at the mercy of bigots and a biased and useless police force

If shift to the right wing is the criteria for partition, then Pakistan should have been partitioned on the bases of religion, ethnicity and sects more than 10 times at least by now.

 

[hussain0216]

As the election results show, clearly a lot of Indian Muslims don't agree with you. They were never forced to vote for Modi. They had many other options. AAP, Congress and regional parties.

And thats what cost them, a divided vote amongst a series of parties.

a more unified vote bank is what is required and will protect them from bigots and extremists getting into power (to an extent)

 

[SRP]

And thats what cost them, a divided vote amongst a series of parties.

a more unified vote bank is what is required and will protect them from bigots and extremists getting into power (to an extent)

Okay don't cry. Next time please suggest them to vote unitedly. But I don't think Indian Muslims give a woot to your concern, do they?

 

[kṣamā]

Isn't it clear by now, all that vote bank thingie was creating a divide between equals... NM did the right thing addressing them as people of India, they can be Hindu,Muslim,Sikh,Christian or heck even Scientistologist but they are Indian first. His agenda was Development and Clarity. It's not that one sect wants development and the other is just happy to be whatever they have.

We NEED this way of life, we NEED to omit the "Religion" option form all government records, we NEED to abolish the system to classify people according to the name of building they visit for spiritual peace/enlightenment. This will not happen overnight. What NM did is the first stepping stone. Give it a decade or so, let few generation feel the change, they will never come back to present way of life.

 

[notsuperstitious]

The article makes juvenile error of saying no Muslim MPs made it to parliament. Actually 20 did.

 

[scrumpy]

And thats what cost them, a divided vote amongst a series of parties.

a more unified vote bank is what is required and will protect them from bigots and extremists getting into power (to an extent)

The article argues that because they were chasing the Muslim votebank, the parties standing against BJP ended up polarising the electorate and pushing people who otherwise wouldn't have voted for BJP to vote for the BJP. This is also evident when seeing the results of those parties which rely on caste politics in UP.
It is foolish to chase 20% of the votes when it could antagonise the remaining 80% of the votes.