Whom should the minorities vote for?

By Imtiaz Mir Which side are the minorities on, at the coming general elections? Who will they be voting for? Which party will the minorities support? These are the questions making around the headquarters of various political parties preparing for coming Lok Sabha elections, given the prevailing scenario where the BJP expects to do wonders and make unexpected gains in their seat tally.

Congress confronted with the leadership crisis with an all time low popularity graph the minorities seem to be floating across undecided.

Minorities do not seem to be someone's vote bank and even do not want to be taken for granted this time by some political group or leader.

In fact minorities in India especially the Muslim minority the worst suffers at the hands of a communally surcharged political atmosphere in India, have to be wise and make sure that any body they vote for should look after the safety, honour dignity and the overall welfare of the minorities wherever they exist in India.

Initially India opted for a secular political system which did not last long the political parties here now ask for the vote on the region, religion and ethnic basis.

The secular ideology having failed the people especially the majority community have started returning to religion and caste which marks the beginning of Hindu revivalism in India.

The majority community having fallen to Sangh propaganda it is now for the minorities to make those small road blocks against the sweeping communal tides across the country.

One of the basic requirements in the secular political system in India was that India should have moved towards a Society where caste and religion mattered less, where Hindu's and Muslims could work together to ensure a peaceful co-existence but that aim or ideology seems to have miserably failed and Hindu Majority has started fast returning to the religion and caste loyalties.

Under such circumstances the minorities in India unless work out a political arrangement by way of looking for the residual secular forces and aligning with them their existence as respectable citizens of this country is highly doubtful.

While doing so there can be different permutations and combinations at different places as different states have different political arrangements.

The minority vote must make local arrangements befitting their interest and in a way that the arrangements or the candidates they choose to support must be in a position to defeat BJP Sangh sponsored candidates.

In all fairness and the past experience, the Muslims Minority vote and even the microscopic Christian Minority, if any, Uttar Pradeshi and Bihari have an out and out choice for Mulayam Singh and Laloo Prasad Yadav.

both of them are trustworthy friends of minorities and their secular credentials are beyond any shadow of doubt.

Leftists in West Bengal deserve all help and support as they are already on the job of resisting the communal forces from making inroads and have successfully been able to contain them.

The minority vote there instead of getting divided between Congress, Trinamul Congress and other splinter groups should consolidate to help the leftists in order to defeat the communal forces.

Elsewhere in India Naidu is a lesser evil in A.P.

NCP in Maharashtra and Janta Dal in Karnataka.

The Minorities must identify regional parties in North-East and even in South, so on and so forth.

In all probabilities the Minorities in India should not in any way submit or surrender to this Sangh ideology and not support them at all.

The Sangh leadership should be told in unambiguous terms that any political party or leader subscribing to Modi brand of Hinduism or nationalism have no right to ask for the minority vote.

Of Course I still feel agitated about the Gujarat communal riots and the role played by the state government during the holocaust which is unpardonable in a civilized society.

Minorities should not forget Vajpayee and Advani patting Modi's back after he was returned to power reaping a rich harvest out of the communal hatred.

The Sangh leadership including the sugar coated Vajpayee are therefore untrunstworthy for Minorities.

Minorities should not submit to this kind of situation instead they have got to resist and revolt against any attempt where they are to be treated as second Class citizens.

In a situation where no party expected to win a majority and where unprincipled alliances are taking place, secular ideology is being replaced by communal passion, mass murders are being condoned.

Sadhu and tantriks are advising the government on vital matters of national importance.

Nothing should blind the minorities to the reality -- BJP lead Sangh agenda.

Minorities should therefore identify the truly secular forces and strengthen their hands without getting divided.

*(The writer is Advocate at Doda) About us | Advertise | Other Publications | Subscriptions | Weather | Letters | Send Mail Disclaimer: Information is being made available at this site purely as a measure of public facilitation.

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