Muslims are always at the center of Indian politics. Some political parties lured them and some offended them for the vote but no party ignored them.
Congress as appeaser
Rajiv Gandhi failed a Muslim women’s fight for social justice and equality. In order to appease Muslim voters and garner Muslim fundamentalist’s support during the election, he passed Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act of 1986.
Congress has always been at the front foot of appeasement politics. There were many instances which substantiate this point like
Mr. Khurshid announcement of quota for Muslims in UP government jobs, Rahul Gandhi’s move to engage Muslim Intellectuals, Congress Haj subsidy policy, Shashi Tharoor “Hindu Pakistan” remark, Congress leaders questioning the authenticity of the Batla house encounter, Congress party silence over the conversion of Buddhist to Islam to secure a government job through Jammu and Kashmir state public service commission, Exodus of Kashmiri Hindus, Congress response to 1984 Sikh riot.
For Congress, it seemed Minority was Muslim and Muslims were the only minority.
BJP as follower
Rising on the tide of anti appeasement policies of Congress Came BJP. BJP did the same thing as congress but in reverse order. Congress divided Hindus on caste line and lured Muslims for group vote.BJP narrowed the caste line among Hindu to give rise to Hindutva face to garner vote.BJP started taking policy decisions which were close to Muslims in order to garner Hindu support.
Renaming places, Roads, uniform civil code, Babri Masjid issue, NRC and latest CAB, etc are sufficient to clarify BJP intensions.
CAB clearly discriminates on the basis of religion. The bill has two faces. On one hand, it showcases India’s long tradition of protecting persecuted refugees. On the other hand, it discriminates based on religion. This puts a question mark on Government intention.
The bill does not protect all religious minorities, nor does it apply to all neighbors.
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We the looser
We always supported political parties religious propaganda, So we stand as a looser. Talking about Muslims They were merely used as a vote bank by most of the prominent political parties. Muslim’s socio-economic status shows they have not gained much by there popularity in Indian politics. If you go by 2011 census One in 4 beggars in India is a Muslim. Muslims, come out pretty much at the bottom of most socio-economic indices. Sachar Committee report found high poverty and low literacy levels among Muslims.
Way forward
Mixing religion in its political campaign and policies might be problematic for constitutional democracy like India. Secularism should not only be the part of the preamble, but it must also reflect in our political, social and economic life.
We will never be secular.