Leaders of the Passmanda community are bemused by the sudden attention accorded to these castes by the ruling BJP, after former Rajya Sabha MP Sabir Ali launched his series of outreach programmes on behalf of the party.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi too had said, in an intervention during a resolution on the Constitution 123rd Amendment Bill (OBC Bill), that backward class Muslims (Passmanda) too must be made aware of the provisions of the Bill, now before a parliamentary select committee after it was blocked by Opposition parties, several of whom command the support of both OBCs and Muslims.
Speaking to The Hindu , Khalid Anis Ansari, director at the Dr. Ambedkar Centre for Exclusion Studies and Transformative Action in Saharanpur and someone who has remained engaged with issues related to the Passmanda community, said that while his own view was to oppose “right wing” and “manuwadi” forces of all kinds, the community would not back down from engaging with the ruling party. Nearly 39 castes in Bihar and 84 castes among Muslims in Uttar Pradesh are considered backward.
“The Passmanda movement will continue to oppose fascist and manuwadi forces just like all major Dalit, Left and progressive/democratic forces do. But the people are open to other negotiations and influences and their electoral behaviour cannot be really predicted. In U.P. in 2017, a significant number of Dalit and OBC votes went to the BJP. Should we merely blame the voters for this without understanding what made the BJP attractive to them?” he said.
Votes may shift
“Since none of the secular/social justice parties has accommodated the Passmanda demands so far, in fact not even registered the existence of the Passmanda category, the BJP has the first mover’s advantage in this regard. If the BJP persists in its policy, then there is a possibility of a significant Passmanda vote shift and the blame for it will be laid at the door of the secular/social justice parties,” he added.
“Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad added the high-caste Ashraf category as backward as did Janata Dal (U) leader Nitish Kumar with the ‘Mallik’ community. Mr. Sabir Ali, who is leading these Passmanda conferences, is said to be a Muslim Thakur as well. Therefore, the community is watching the developments carefully,” Mr. Ansari pointed out.
The political ramifications of the OBC Bill are unfolding in very new ways.
