The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is reaching out to the Pasmanda (backward members) of Muslim community. Prominent leaders of the party will interact with Pasmand Muslims to discuss their problems. BJP claims that it is the first such meeting held by any political party with the Pasmandas.
Functionaries will honour the newly nominated Rajya Sabha MP from Jammu and Kashmir, Ghulam Ali Khatana. Ghulam Ali belongs to the Pasmanda Muslim Gujjar community.
Who are Pasmanda Muslims
Apart from the doctrinal divisions, the Muslim community in India is divided into three broad categories. Those who claim their descent from Arabic or Turkic invaders call themselves Ashrãf. Consequently, the Ashrãfs look down upon local converts and call them Pasmanda.
There are no authentic figures about the percentage of the two categories. Estimates vary between 92-95% as Pasmanda and rest as Ashraf. Pasmanda Muslims think that, since Independence, the Ashraf class have cornered all the privileges and oppressed the Pasmanda population.
Ugly face of Muslim caste system
Caste divisions of Muslim community came to fore in March this year. Yogi Adityanath was the first CM to give prominence to Pasmanda Muslims when he appointed Danish Ansari as a Minister. UP CM appointed Danish as Minister of minority affairs in the state.
His elevation to the esteemed post did not go down well with Ashraf Muslims. Consequently, they started trolling and abusing Danish with casteist slurs. Many prominent Ashraf Muslims referred to his as “Julaha”. The term “Julaha” refers to weavers.
The name calling was so ugly that famous Pasmanda activist Faiyaz Ahmad Fyzie took to twitter to condemn it.
The translation of his tweet is:-
Have you ever seen Hindus abusing a fellow Hindu from lower socio-economic strata when given equal participation? The manner in which Ashraf youth and elders are abusing this Pasmanda on his political elevation shows the depth up to which racism is in grained in Muslim mentality. Pasmanda Muslims are in grave need of political justice.
Fa1yaz Ahmad Fyzie
India has suffered at the hands of Islamic imperialism for last thirteen centuries. Islamic separatism has carved out two Islamic nations out of India. Currently, Kashmir, West Bengal, Kerala and many other states are rife with Islamic separatism. Will BJP outreach be successful in solving the Islamic problem? Only time will tell.