The rise of a new national Muslim party in India can be ascribed to the same reason any minority political grouping emerges, namely that this faction believes its concerns have been ignored by the political establishment.
The Tea Party in the US felt that its anxiety over big government and taxes were being disregarded by both the Democrats and the Republicans. In Britain, the UK Independence Party has emerged as a new force owing to the belief among a minority that their concerns over immigration and fears of being left behind, were not being taken seriously.
Among Indian Muslims, the feeling has grown that the Congress party is a lost cause. When in power, it paid only lip service to Muslim needs. Now, with the BJP at the helm, many Muslims feel insecure.
Moreover, the May general election left Congress in a pitiful state and seemingly unable to revive itself. These two factors alone prompted some Muslims to decide it’s time they had their own party – the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, better known as MIM.
Based in Hyderabad in the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and led by two brothers, Akbaruddin and Asaduddin Owaisi, MIM is not a new party but it has been a regional, not a national, force. Now the brothers are expanding outside Andhra Pradesh. The aim is to become a national party for Muslims.
In the Maharashtra state assembly election last month, MIM won two seats. It plans to contest elections in other states.
Predictably enough, some politicians have said MIM will tear India's social fabric apart and polarise Hindus and Muslims. A Congress state legislator, Praniti Shinde, described MIM as "antinational" and called for it to be banned.
You can criticise the brothers’ rhetoric as retrograde. It’s true that Akbaruddin has been arrested several times for making Hinduphobic-hate speeches. But it’s pointless to ignore the factors that have led to Muslim disenchantment.
May’s election highlighted their increasing political frustration.
Congress and other regional parties used to put up Muslim candidates, but the number has been decreasing in recent years to the point where Muslims won only four per cent of the seats in parliament in the general election, despite constituting 13 per cent (138 million) of the population.
Mainstream parties have become too scared to give a ticket to a Muslim, even in constituencies where they form 20 per cent of the voters, as in some constituencies in Uttar Pradesh.
Even the ostensibly pro-Muslim Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh failed to put up a single Muslim candidate.
Nearly 11 per cent of Maharashtra’s population is Muslim, but it too has not sent a single Muslim MP to parliament. In fact, the number of Muslim MPs – 22 – is an all-time low.
Where does that leave Muslims? Condemned to being forever marginal and voiceless? And what does it say about a country when only a handful of its 138 million strong minority can ever hope to be elected?
Since the mainstream parties are refusing to give tickets to Muslims, the MIM says it will put up Muslim candidates who will voice the community’s concerns. The fact that its perception of these concerns is likely to be controversial is another matter.
As Akbaruddin said during a recent speech, “What do Muslims want? We want that nobody should ask us any questions for growing a beard or donning a skull cap.
“We want that nobody should dare to refuse us a home on rent only because we are Muslims. We want to ensure that culprits of every riot get punished …” Now, who can argue with that?
Amrit Dhillon is a freelance journalist based in India