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But the shock of the Partition and the communal holocaust that followed it changed the popular mindset representing the new national mood. Sardar Patel told the Lok Sabha, “The provision of population based quota of seats was adopted as a compromise between ‘pure nationalism’ and ‘pure communalism’ to prevent the partition.” He added, “The vast majority of the minority communities have themselves realised the evil effects in the past of such reservation on the minorities themselves.” A minority member Tajammul Hussain endorsing the same viewpoint declared, “The term minority is a British creation. The British have gone and minorities have gone with them. Remove the term minority from your dictionary. There is no minority here.”

Exclusively religious based identities were now widely considered to be a threat to the ideal of secular nationalism. Otherwise too, Muslim clout in India was grossly reduced by division of Muslim population into two and later three countries. The role of Muslims of India further suffered a setback when most of the elite, political, social, intellectual, professional and bureaucratic Muslims migrated to the new Muslim country. Khaliquzzman, a Muslim League member of the Constituted Assembly, in a last ditch effort to plead for a separate electorate begged the House to cast away old suspicions about the Muslims, pledging that their loyalty to India was sincere. But soon after, he too left for greener pastures across the border, thus casting doubts about such pledges for loyalty.

Ansari also has a grievance against the political parties which do not nominate Muslim candidates in proportion to their population. But in Gujarat, the Congress was battling for its survival in a communally surcharged atmosphere. If it had nominated more Muslims, it would not have secured even the number of seats that it had won. It is doubtful if political parties would agree to amend the People’s Representation Act to make them accountable for any persistent under representation of minorities and to make them nominate a fair share of minority candidates, as the author suggests.

The present system, first past the post, admittedly leaves, a large portion of population unrepresented. It is conceivable that votes polled by a party may be more than those of the party which has won a majority of the seats. Narendra Modi won a stunning victory of seats in 2007 with 50 per cent votes.

Other systems, he proposes, include variations of proportional representation like single transferable vote or list systems. But how to allocate surplus votes from a constituency? To parties based on different ideologies, castes, ethnic groups or religious identities? If Muslims form a single party, cutting across other entities that divide other communities, would not it cause a backlash in the majority community and encourage it to form a single party? Would not Muslims be worst sufferers, in that case?

In a plural democratic society, Muslims have a right for a distinct identity. But no single identity can satisfy all human urges. Muslims like any other citizens do belong to different ideologies, classes and ethnic groups. If these and many other such identities are ignored, it would suffocate their growth. Moreover, multiple identities connect them to other communities which give them more chances of getting elected and secularising the party.

For instance, the Muslim-Yadav combination stemmed the Hindutva wave, which had originated after the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992, in states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. In 2002, a similar combination of castes, led by a Dalit leader Mayawati, almost wiped out the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. Contrary to the author’s belief, caste is the greatest secularising force in India.

As a practical course, all secular forces, including Muslims, should work for implementation of the Sachar Committee Report. For instance, all benefits guaranteed to the Hindu Scheduled Castes, including political reservation, should be extended to the SC Muslims also, just as they are extended to Buddhists and Sikhs. OBC Muslims should also be treated like OBC Hindus. The 15-point programme for the economic benefits of the minorities should also be welcome. Let us see the results of these efforts before diverting attention to alternative suggestions.

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