Few took note when the senior Pasmanda leader Ali Anwar thundered in 2007: 바카라Hum shuddar hain shuddar; Bharat ke mool niwasi hain. Baad mein musalman hain (We are Shudras first; the indigenous people of India. We are Muslims later).바카라
Fifteen years later, and nearly a century after the launch of the first Pasmanda movement in India, the concept has finally dominated the public discourse with a potential to upset the Muslim politics.
Having breakfast at a Lucknow hotel on a July morning, the bulky man in a green kurta asks for the ginger tea twice. The chief of the BJP바카라s Minority Morcha in UP, Kunwar Basit Ali faces a tough task바카라how to explain the party바카라s Pasmanda outreach to Muslims, when he himself barely grasps the term. 바카라Har koi puch raha hai바카라are ye kya pasmanda le aaye? Sidhe sidhe kaho na kasai aur teli ki baat ho rahi hai (Everyone is asking바카라from where did you bring this Pasmanda? Why don바카라t you say that you are talking about communities like Kasai and Teli.).바카라
The term Pasmanda, which means backward in Persian, has suddenly gained currency after Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently directed his party members to focus on weaker sections of Muslims. With the Pasmandas constituting some 80 percent of total Muslims in India, it is the next big electoral move the BJP has made. However, few Muslims know about the term. Be it Basit Ali, or the residents of Shaheed Nagar, an urban slum a few km from the chief minister바카라s house in Lucknow, staff at Lucknow famous monuments Bada Imambara and Chota Imambara, or a tailor in Delhi.
바카라Pasmanda? I have never heard of it,바카라 says Amir Khan, who after spending over two decades in Seelampur recently shifted to Gaffar Manzil near Jamia Nagar in Delhi. Amir, in late 40s, has been stitching clothes at various factories for three decades. Munawwar Ali, gatekeeper at Bada Imambara, nods his head in disbelief. 바카라Muslims are only Shia or Sunni.바카라 Raza Abbas, a well-informed staff at Chhota Imambara, narrates the monument바카라s history, a Persian clock and Belgian chandeliers hanging in the main hall that were gifted by merchants in previous centuries. But it바카라s an alien word even for him.
Is the term fictional, or irrelevant then? No. Indian Muslims are classified under several hundred hierarchical communities or biradaris. Such are the hierarchies that some castes like Topchi and Bandukchi are unique to Muslims, without any Hindu equivalent. There are sharp divisions between upper caste Syeds and Sheikhs, and Dalit Muslims like Lalbegis and Doms. The hierarchy, sustained by practices like endogamy, defines the community바카라s social, economic and political life.
The historical divide was redefined when Bihar-based journalist-turned-politician Ali Anwar formed All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz in 1998. Anwar, who wrote books including Masawat Ki Jung and Dalit Musalman, launched his organisation following the Pasmanda movement that had taken birth in Bihar in the 1930s. 바카라I have not coined this word, I merely used it to denote all the various backward biradaris of Muslims,바카라 Anwar told Outlook. Like the term Dalit, which is not a legally defined category, Pasmanda signifies a political assertion and identity.
A divided society
How did the labyrinthine biradaris pervade Indian Muslims who follow a religion that rests on egalitarianism? Pasmanda leader and retired IAS officer Anis Ansari goes deep into history. 바카라Maulana Ziauddin Barni바카라s 14th century Arabic text Fatwa-i- Jahandari (Code of Governance) is similar to the Manu Smriti. It legitimises castes,바카라 Anis Ansari tells Outlook, as he sips tea at his fabulous home in Lucknow, resplendent with antique chandeliers and furniture and tall plants, with a striking frame of the Kabba on the wall.
바카라Barni wrote that there were three categories of Muslims since azal (beginning) --- Ashraf, Ajlaf, Arzal. The term Pasmanda came into circulation only recently, but this classification has existed among Indian Muslims for 700 years.바카라
The three terms prevail among the Muslims, and also find a place in the Sachar Commitee and Rangnath Mishra Committee reports. The Ashrafs mean noble, and denote upper caste Muslims. The Ajlafs, who correspond with the Hindu OBCs, indicate lowly but ritually clean occupational communities and converts from low-caste Hindus. Arzals are converted from untouchable Hindus. However, the Arzals don바카라t get the reservation Hindu Dalits get because Muslims are not entitled to the SC reservation. The various categories of backward and Dalit Muslims are clubbed under the OBC category.
While the Sachar committee estimates the Pasmandas or the total number of OBC, ST and SC Muslims to be 40 percent of the community바카라s population, a large number of Pasmanda and Ashraf leaders find the estimate inaccurate. 바카라The Sachar committee바카라s estimate is absolutely false. The committee didn바카라t have any Pasmanda members. They ignored this aspect,바카라 says Ali Anwar. In fact, in states like Tamil Nadu, over 90 per cent of total Muslims have been classified as backwards and get the OBC reservation. The consensus among the Muslims is that except Syeds, Sheikhs, Mughals and Pathans, almost all Muslim biradaris are Pasmandas.
Khalid Anis Ansari, an Associate Professor at Azim Premji University, explains these hierarchies by underlining that 바카라caste should be seen as a secular principle of the political economy of the subcontinent.바카라 바카라All religions have legitimised the caste structure in the subcontinent. There are Dalit Christians and Brahmin Christians. Similar is the case in Sikhs, Jat Sikhs are dominant and the Ravidasis are marginalised,바카라 he says.
Like other religions in the subcontinent, Islam adopted the Hindu system of stratification. And like the Hindus, several influential Muslims refute the hierarchies. 바카라There바카라s no community like the Pasmanda. A lot of people deliberately misrepresent Pasmanda with caste. There바카라s undeniably biradarivaad within Muslim society in India, but any attempt to bring caste is completely mischievous,바카라 says Congress leader Yusuf Ahmad Ansari.
Such assertions disregard the sentiment Pasmanda Muslims have against the Ashrafs. WhatsApp groups of the Pasmandas are brimming with resentment against the Ashrafs. 바카라Those who say that caste system doesn바카라t exist in Muslims, either they are unaware or lying. There are no marriages between Ajlaf and Ashraf,바카라 says Anis ansari.
Resentment Among the Pasmandas
While the retired bureaucrat is discursive and guarded, All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz바카라s Chief General Secretary
is blunt. He lives in a modest rented apartment in Lucknow. He and his wife Kahkasha have been fighting for the rights of the Pasmandas for several years. Such is the bitterness that Hawari claims that the 바카라Shaheen Bagh movement was Ashraf바카라s own fight for their survival, for their prestige. Their fight is not for Islam. It바카라s for the authority of Sheikhs and Syeds.바카라
While the Pasmanda Mahaz formed by Ali Anwar continues to be the main organisation, Waqar Hawari belongs to a different Mahaz. It바카라s a humid afternoon in July. A little drizzle in the morning has left the city perspiring. Sitting next to him in black hijab, his wife Kahkasha turns furious narrating stories of discrimination they have faced. 바카라The Ashraf women are considered sharif (dignified), our women are disregarded. They are well educated but when our women began studies, they were confined to religious education,바카라 she says. She blames Maulanas for imparting 바카라different instructions to the Ashraf and the Pasmanda women바카라. 바카라The Ashrafs are taught to give zakat, whereas the Pasmandas are conditioned to remain poor and endure suffering to reach closer to Allah,바카라 she adds.
Zakat is an Islamic tax that is levied on people having a minimum property and is distributed to the needy and poor. The young political activist turns aggressive with every sentence. Commenting on the 바카라indoctrination of Pasmanda woman바카라 by the Maulanas, she says: 바카라While Ashraf women wore quality jewels, Maulanas told us that if you don바카라t give zakat (which we couldn바카라t give), these bracelets will become snakes and bite you in jahannum (hell).바카라
바카라They would continue to remain rich, but dissuade others from becoming rich. They tell poor people that the faces of gunahgaar (sinners) turn dark, whereas the glowing face of Maulana sahab바카라s reflects her character. They didn바카라t tell us that it was all about their rich diet and lifestyle,바카라 she says.
One can sense her face muscles twitching underneath the hijab. Hawari underlines yet another similarity with the Hindu system. 바카라Pasmandas often fake their surnames because they are scared of the Asharfs. They don바카라t let us sit on the same cot.바카라
Anis Ansari traces this practice in history when 바카라Barni didn바카라t stop at the classification, but also stated that the Sultan must not allow Ajlaf and Arzal to enter the courts바카라. The lower caste Muslims had to invent ways to overcome the discrimination. But they soon found that it existed at every instance. 바카라If we don바카라t have proper sheen, qaf (pronunciation), the Ashrafs laugh at us: Tumne ilm to le liya, lekin tahzeeb aane men naslen lagengi (You may have got some education, but it will take generations to become cultured),바카라 Kahkasha says.
These scathing words directly challenge leaders like Yusuf Ansari who refute any 바카라rift between the Pasmandas and the Ashrafs바카라. 바카라There are petty fights over farmland, property, water 바카라 you can conveniently give it the stamp of Pasmandas versus Ashraf. They all assemble together at the Eid namaz,바카라 he says.
One can here sense an ailment afflicting India바카라s biggest minority. Such is the social ignorance that even a politician like Basit Ali struggles to lend biradaris to all the 34 Muslim MLAs in Uttar Pradesh. Such is the cultural hierarchy that the Ashrafs take pride in asserting their Arab and Persian, even upper caste Hindu lineage. Basit Ali바카라s forefathers were Hindu Thakurs, but they continue to flaunt their 바카라Kunwar바카라 title in order to assert their Rajput ancestry.
And such is the economic discord that while the Pasmandas celebrate the UP Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act of 1951, a senior Ashraf politician says: 바카라The Zamindari Abolition Act broke the back of Muslims. Lakhs of Muslims lost their titles. The tillers of the ground became the owners.바카라
However, not all Ashraf communities are influential, and can be seen sharing space with the Pasmandas. Mohammad Ahmad died of kidney failure in February. His wife Johra Begum, 35, runs a small shop in her dingy room at the urban slum of Lucknow바카라s Shaheed Nagar. They are Sheikhs, but their average daily earning from the tiny shop is less than Rs 50. The tap water they get smells of sewage. Her equally poor old neighbours Mohammad Anwar and Saira are also Sheikhs, and are waiting for the amount to construct a home under the PM Awas Yojana.
On the other side of the city, an impoverished Rafique, a Pathan, is selling peaches at Chhota Imambara on a sultry night. At Rs 20 per kg, most of the peaches look rotten. Another Pathan Amir Khan stitches jeans in a small and dark factory in Delhi slum.
Is it, then, not about the Ashraf and the Pasmandas but the rich and the poor?
Anis Ansari wouldn바카라t agree. 바카라It바카라s not correct to say that Sheikhs and Pathans live in slums. They must be very few. A big majority in slums is of backward Muslims.바카라
The rift is not political
But it바카라s not political. The hate campaign doesn바카라t differentiate between the Ashrafs or the Pasmandas, Syeds or Gadheris. A Muslim is targeted by Bajrang Dal members not because of their biradari, but for their religion. Also, Muslims vote not according to their biradari but for the most winnable candidate바카라be it a Muslim or a Hindu.
In the recent UP assembly elections, the SP had fielded Mukhiya Gurjar from Hasanpur seat of Amroha district. The Congress candidate Aasim Sabri, a Muslim, had a good number of community votes in the constituency. But Aasim got a paltry 1734 or less than one percent of total votes, as Muslim voted en masse for the Hindu Gurjar who got 97753 or 36.53 percent votes. At the South Meerut seat, Samajwadi Party바카라s candidate Adil Chaudhary, a Pasmanda, faced BSP바카라s Kunwar Dilshad, an Ashraf. This seat had a good number of Ashraf votes. But while Dilshad got 39857 votes, Chaudhary polled 121725 votes, more than thrice.
Taking note of the social divide, the BJP is now trying to make it political.
