Muslims are a fifth of population in India, but Muslim parliament representation is less than 5%
\n RAMPUR
\nMore than half the voters in the Indian city of Rampur are Muslim, but its member of parliament is a staunch supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s muscular Hindu-first agenda.
\nIt is a situation repeated across Hindu-majority India, where many consider victory for Modi\u2019s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in upcoming general elections a near certainty \u2014 and see Muslim candidates as a recipe for defeat at the ballot box.
\nWhile India\u2019s 220 million Muslims make up a little under a fifth of its 1.4 billion population, Muslim representatives in parliament have almost halved to less than five percent since the 1970s. \u201cEveryone wants a connect with BJP,\u201d said Ghanshyam Singh Lodhi, who is confident of re-election as MP for Rampur in Uttar Pradesh state when the six-week-long elections begin on April 19.
\nLodhi, a Hindu, replaced Rampur\u2019s Muslim MP in a 2022 by-election, jumping ship from the last lawmaker\u2019s party to become a BJP loyalist.
\nMuslim leaders worry at the lack of representation. There were just 27 Muslim MPs in the 543-seat lower house in parliament \u2014 and none of them were among the BJP\u2019s 310 lawmakers. Ziya Us Salam, author of a book on Muslims in India, says members of the faith had for decades placed their trust in secular parties, a process that created an \u201cacute absence of Muslim leadership\u201d. Today, an overtly Muslim leader would be challenged as stoking sectarian divisions, yet few question when Modi champions constitutionally secular India as a \u201cHindu Rashtra\u201d, or Hindu state. \u201cNobody talks of (Modi) being the leader of only Hindus,\u201d Salam said.
\nHe also argues that successive gerrymandering policies since independence in 1947 have redrawn electoral boundaries to split areas with substantial Muslim populations. Rampur has elected Muslim MPs 15 out of 18 times since 1952. But Kanwal Bharti, a 71-year-old activist and writer from the city, said the BJP\u2019s dominance means that it \u201cdoesn\u2019t seem possible anymore\u201d for a Muslim candidate to win Rampur.
\nRampur\u2019s last Muslim MP was veteran politician Mohammad Azam Khan \u2014 but he quit after more than 80 legal cases were brought against him, ranging from land grabbing to intimidating government officials. His supporters said many of the accusations were years old and that charges had only been belatedly brought after the BJP won state elections in 2017. Khan was jailed for three years in 2023 for hate speech against BJP rivals.
\nPast elections were marred by allegations that security forces blocked Muslims from voting. A legal challenge that a 2022 parliamentary by-election vote was manipulated \u201cby using every unconstitutional means\u201d to stop voters from Muslim-dominated areas was dismissed on a technicality. Some Muslim voters in Rampur worry about casting a ballot later this month.
\n\u201cIf the conditions during the last election are repeated, I will again not be able to vote,\u201d said 75-year-old Mohammad Salam Khan, reading a newspaper in his son\u2019s electrical repair shop.
\nIt is part of a wider shift, said Asaduddin Owaisi, one of two lawmakers in the last parliament from the All India Council for Unity of Muslims.
\nOwaisi believes even secular parties avoid selecting Muslim candidates because they fear they would not appeal to Hindu voters.
\n\u201cThey are afraid to even give a ticket to a Muslim candidate,\u201d Owaisi said, accusing the ruling party of stoking fear against Muslims.
\n\u201cIt is very difficult for the Muslim candidates from any political party to win\u201d.
\nThe BJP denies \u201cactive discrimination\u201d based on religion, pointing out that representation depends on candidates winning elections.
\nA handful of Muslim candidates the BJP fielded in the last two national elections all lost, with critics accusing the party of showing disinterest in their campaign.
\n\u201cWe have this aspiration, ideally, to have people from every community,\u201d BJP national spokesperson Mmhonlumo Kikon told AFP.
\nBut Salam, the author, believes Muslims are being squeezed out of the democratic process.
\n\u201cSo, you don\u2019t give tickets to Muslims at one place, you redraw constituencies at another place… or you don\u2019t allow Muslims to vote,\u201d Salam said.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s not just intimidation,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s also elimination.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Muslims are a fifth of population in India, but Muslim parliament representation is less than 5% RAMPUR More than half the voters in the Indian city of Rampur are Muslim, but its member of parliament is a staunch supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s muscular Hindu-first agenda. It is a situation repeated across Hindu-majority India, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399459,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-399449","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n