The BJP’s engagement offers an opportunity for Pasmandas to renegotiate the terms of their engagement viz-a-viz the dominant Ashrafs. It also spotlights welfare and socio-economic justice over identity issues

The BJP’s relationship with the Indian Muslim community is among the most contentious in the political history of independent India. However, of late, the emerging pattern of Muslim voting marked by the electoral success of the BJP in the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) suggests a turning point.
In the recently-held local bodies election, the BJP registered victories in several Muslim-dominated areas of UP for the first time. In the urban body polls, the BJP fielded Muslim candidates in 395 seats — five Nagar Palika Parishad (NPP) chairmen, 32 Nagar Panchayat (NP) chairmen, 80 corporators and 278 members for NPPs and NPs — out of which 61 candidates won with a little more than a 15 per cent strike rate. This is in sharp contrast to the results in the previous local body polls wherein only a single Muslim candidate had emerged victorious out of the 180 fielded by the party. Then, last month, the BJP-supported Muslim candidate won the assembly by-poll in Suar — a seat in which more than 70 per cent of the electorate is Muslim. Earlier, the party also won the Lok Sabha and assembly bypoll in Muslim-dominated Rampur.
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