Prakash Ambedkar is the grandson of Babasaheb Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian constitution, and the VBA is the political baby of his Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh (BBM) and the Owaisi brothers’ All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).

This formidable Dalit-Muslim brotherhood, virtually untested in state politics, though tried out marginally in Uttar Pradesh between the Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party (SP), poses an unprecedented challenge in Maharashtra this time.

Turning the screws on both the opposing alliances by targeting their support among Dalits and Muslims, the unprecedented VBA experiment could probably change the attitude of the major mainstream parties vis-a-vis the two sections.

Until now, the major Dalit and Muslim groups/parties had to be content to be in alliance with the other major groupings, but not anymore as the VBA offers a clear-cut option to both sections, inclusive of others like tribals, Dhangars, Kolis and several fringe or deprived sections.

The huge turnout in Solapur and Akola has started giving nightmares to the BJP-Sena and Congress-NCP on what it could spell in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) vote-catch.

The show of strength comes barely a month after Ambedkar and Owaisi addressed a mammoth public rally in Mumbai and earlier in Aurangabad, which had sent alarm bells clanging in political circles.

Ambedkar, 64, a three-time parliamentarian, including one term in the Rajya Sabha, has also decided to field VBA candidates in 47 Lok Sabha constituencies, leaving Aurangabad for the AIMIM, which has nominated its high-profile legislator Imtiyaz Jaleel, a TV journalist-turned politician.

In Solapur, Ambedkar will lock horns with Congress strongman Sushilkumar Shinde, a former Union Home Minister and state Chief Minister, while the BJP has nominated well-known spiritual leader Jaysiddheshwar Shivacharya Swami.

In Akola, won by Ambedkar twice in 1998 and 1999, the challenge will be against three-time BJP MP Sanjay S. Dhotre and Congress’ Hidayatullah B. Patel, who finished second in the 2009 and 2014 general elections.

Interestingly, earlier this week, Shinde – who has won from Solapur thrice in 1998, 1999 and 2009 – created a political stir by claiming he and his legislator daughter Praniti were lured by the BJP. The BJP retorted that Shinde was making such claims as he sensed defeat in Solapur.

Though the Congress-NCP has dismissed the VBA as the BJP’s “Team B”, Ambedkar hit back, saying his main fight is with the BJP-Sena combine as the Congress-NCP is a weakened force in the state.

His grouse stems from the fact that the Congress-NCP unceremoniously spurned his offer for a Grand Alliance which included the VBA. The Congress-NCP found his demand for contesting nearly half the 48 seats in Maharashtra too pricey.

In the minority-dominated Aurangabad constituency, Jaleel will challenge the might of Shiv Sena stalwart Chandrakant Khaire and Congress’ Subhash Zhambad, amidst speculation that the party may drop Zhambad and opt for rebel MLA Abdul Sattar A. Nabi.

With the BSP-SP alliance also fielding Dalit and Muslim candidates in Maharashtra, political pundits forecast a tough time for the BJP-Sena and Congress-NCP alliances in the Lok Sabha polls.

However, the BSP elephant has barely impressed Maharashtra voters in the past few Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, though the SP has cycled its way through in Mumbai and surroundings with a legislator and some municipal corporators.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at q.najmi@ians.in)
 

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On April 24, the slum near Ambedkar Nagar in Pune caught fire due to a short circuit and gutted around 74 homes in just a few minutes. Thankfully, due to the help of locals and fire personnel, no lives were lost but the residents lost all their possessions.

Bandhubhau Bhaichara Foundation (BBF), an organisation set up in 2014, was one of the first to come to the help of the victims, says Swati, a resident who lost all her belongings in the fire. “It was a horrible day…we were on roads with kids with nothing to eat…Members of BBF came to help and provided us with food,” she says in a conversation with TwoCircles.net.

Shabbir Sheikh, the president of BBF, says that this effort is in line with the teachings of Islam. “Our religion teaches us humanity, and to help the poor. After visiting Ambedkar Nagar slums post-fire, we decided to build the homes. We announced our intentions in some of the mosques in Pune City and stood outside the mosques to collect charity. Alhamdulillah, we received a very good response. Our community donated cash and cement, sand and other construction material. Seeing our efforts, many people volunteered as labour also while others made several anonymous contributions. Within a very short period, we met our target and it is because of the community’s efforts that we managed to hand over the keys of all the 74 homes within seven months of the fire,” Sheikh adds.

Meena Shinde, another resident, said she had lost all hopes after the fire. “But thanks to the help of our Muslim brothers, I am happy to have returned to my home after seven months,” she adds.

The efforts of BBF has also helped changed the image of the Muslim community in the eyes of some of the residents.

Swati adds, “Earlier, I had misconceptions about Muslims as I used to here many negative things about the community. But the generosity of BBF during a period when we lost all everything and their commitment to give a roof to us once again has cleared my mind…I shall never think bad about the community again.”

Courtesy: Two Circles
 

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The chief speaker at the event was Dr Shamsul Islam, a noted historian and theatre personality, who accused Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of mending the history the way they want. “This practice is constantly underway. The country is turning into a laboratory of hate and violence,” said Dr Islam.

Dr Islam further added that such unity chapters — like the one held on Sunday — will help in countering the attacks against Muslims and Dalits.

Satyadev Ram, an MLA from Bihar and leader of Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), said, “The united voice of Dalits and Muslims against such fascist and dictatorial times has erupted from Varanasi, and I count that as a very good sign. This seminar will hold the place of a special chapter in strengthening such ties across the eastern UP.”

SN Prasad, a member of Arakshan Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, said, “In the idea of Hindu Nationalism proposed by BJP and RSS, there is no any place for poor, Dalits, and Muslims. Brahminical and Manuvadi forces are strengthening every day because of the patronage provided by the government.”

Courtesy: Two Circles
Speakers also announced that if needed, both communities will come on the streets.

Organisations involved behind the event are Insaf Manch, Arakshan Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, CPI (ML), Rhythm All India Edrisi Adhikar Manch, Al-Quraish Welfare Society, All India Secular Forum, Mahila Jagriti Samiti, Jan Adhikar Manch, and Veer Abdul Hamid Foundation. Manish Sharma, a member of CPI(ML) coordinated the event.
 

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via Sunny Mannumanam Kapicadu / Facebook.com
 

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Photo credit: New Delhi News

The recently held Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind Conference in Ajmer gave a call for Dalit Muslim unity. Laudable in its objectives because of the marginal positions of both these communities, it is but natural that they should come together to fight the perceived oppressions against them from the right wing parties, particularly the BJP which is understood as the party of Brahmanical dominance.

Given the fact that in a few months, there will be elections in Uttar Pradesh where both these sections can play a decisive role, the call assumed greater political significance. After all, Dalits have been out of power in Uttar Pradesh and Muslims have never been so marginal in terms of political representation in Uttar Pradesh.

Moreover, the Samajwadi Party (SP), the ruling party and the party of choice for Muslims ever since it came to power, has failed to protect the life and liberty of Muslims, especially in the last three years. With incidents like Muzzaffarnagar and the rhetoric of Kairana Hindu exodus, it was a natural thing for Muslims to look for a party other than the SP. They perhaps rightly think that it is only the BSP which has the potential to defeat the BJP electorally. 

From the Sachar Committee Report onwards, all analyses of the Muslim situation, particularly in the context of Uttar Pradesh, point towards the convergence of Muslim situation and the Dalit situation. In terms of representation as well as in terms of threat to identity, Muslims and Dalits today seem to be on the same scale of vulnerability. It would not be out of place to suggest that in terms of representation and other social indicators like education, Dalits seem to be catching up and in cases becoming better than the Muslims.

The Muslims, through years of faulty political choices, have lagged behind and are today in a situation where it would not be wrong to group them together with the Dalits. But more importantly, the threat to identity has assumed alarming proportions. Dalits and Muslims have been the victims of targeted attacks on the basis of their identity. While in some cases, it has been an assault from the right wing Hindu forces, in other cases, they have been attacked due to a perceived sense of upward mobility among them which is resented by the dominant middle castes.

It shouldn’t be surprising therefore if both these blocks come together under the umbrella of the BSP. The Jamiat Conference is merely articulating what seems to be the felt need within the Muslim community. The alliance will be formidable but will it also be sustaining and stable?

Historically Muslims have voted with the SP, the ruling party of Uttar Pradesh. In fact when Mayawati was voted out of power, it was the Muslim vote which shifted from the BSP to the SP. How then are we to believe that the alliance will stand the test of times? And what lies behind the ambivalence of the Muslim community to rally behind Mayawati?

Although all indicators suggest that Muslims are at the lowest rung of the ladder in Uttar Pradesh, the perception amongst Muslims continues to be that they are culturally the dominant community in Uttar Pradesh.

The answer perhaps lies in the self-perception of Muslims of Uttar Pradesh. Although all indicators suggest that Muslims are at the lowest rung of the ladder in Uttar Pradesh, the perception amongst Muslims continues to be that they are culturally the dominant community in Uttar Pradesh. There is an abject refusal to come to terms with the present situation and Muslims remain mired in the fantastic past in which they think themselves as large landlords, as the ones who brought civilisation to this part of India.

An average Muslim here is as caste conscious as an average upper caste Hindu. The problem is that even Muslims who belong to lower castes consider themselves to be firmly entrenched with the Ashraf culture of upper caste Muslims in Uttar Pradesh. The lower caste Muslim artisan or businessman who has seen economic upward mobility desires to be accepted within the upper caste Muslim subculture and for that reason denies his lower caste identity.

This denial is very important to understand why any lower caste Muslim mobilisation has not been successful within Uttar Pradesh. Because this denial leads them to consciously abrogate any ties which they have to other lower castes. Islam becomes the lone signifier in such a situation and secular identities like caste and region recede in the background. It is because of this that there is hardly any public proclamation of the acceptance of caste within Uttar Pradesh Muslim politics.

Thus in all probability, this alliance is going to be a political alliance of convenience. It would have been much better if this alliance would also become a social alliance between Dalits and Muslims. But for that to happen, Muslims have to engage with the entrenched caste practices and ideas within their own community. It is all very well to say that Islam does not recognise caste, but anyone who is familiar with Muslim society would say that Muslims are as casteist as the Hindu society.

Only through a thorough interrogation which is internal to the community, can one visualise a true Dalit-Muslim unity. It is heartening to note that the Jamiat has had the voice to articulate such a unity. A good start to show that they are serious about the issue would be to raise the issue of discrimination faced by the Muslim Dalits at the hand of upper caste Muslims.

(Arshad Alam is a NewAgeIslam.com columnist)

(This article was first published on New Age Islam).

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