"Opportunistic politicians are projecting Muslims as a monolithic ‘vote bank,' whereas the reality is of a diverse community divided along caste and theological lines."
The myth of the Muslim vote bank, though denied by sociologists and debunked by psephologists, refuses to die. It reasserts itself with new vigour at every election. The Hindu : Opinion / Lead : Believe me, Muslims are not a herd
The idea that there is something called a "Muslim vote bank," which behaves uniformly across the board, suits equally the Muslim leadership and its right wing Hindu counterpart. Muslim leaders and middlemen can bargain with political parties on behalf of this “collective” vote, as if individual Muslims have no opinion of their own and can be herded together in a pre-determined direction for a price decided mutually between the politicians and the community's self-appointed spokespersons. The Muslim vote bank helps communal Hindu organisations to manufacture their own "Hindu vote bank," and use the whipped up Muslim threat to achieve their ultimate objective: a Hindu-Muslim electoral polarisation.
The plain truth is that Muslim society is as divided as Hindu society and along the same caste and regional lines. As electoral politics came to the fore, caste and sub-caste divisions got etched in bolder relief. With the coming of democracy they became distinct political groups, and more so since the Mandalisation of North Indian politics. The voting behaviour of Muslims is as varied as that of any other religious group, based on their socio-economic, rural-urban and caste-religion divides.
The media and analysts should stop looking at Muslim voters through the prism of a “vote bank” and start treating them as individuals and groups.
The idea that there is something called a "Muslim vote bank," which behaves uniformly across the board, suits equally the Muslim leadership and its right wing Hindu counterpart. Muslim leaders and middlemen can bargain with political parties on behalf of this “collective” vote, as if individual Muslims have no opinion of their own and can be herded together in a pre-determined direction for a price decided mutually between the politicians and the community's self-appointed spokespersons. The Muslim vote bank helps communal Hindu organisations to manufacture their own "Hindu vote bank," and use the whipped up Muslim threat to achieve their ultimate objective: a Hindu-Muslim electoral polarisation.
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