Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Muslim Vote: A product of Political Labs, Not Polling Booths


by Zia Haq

Columnist Zia Haq goes in detail of the Muslim voting pattern in the recently held election in Indian states and calls it a product of political lab. He describes it in the following lines:
While Muslims may not vote as a bloc, they do, however, seem to generally agree on who not to vote. This is especially true when they see an emerging threat from communal politics of Hindu nationalists that threaten their identity. “When there is no such threat, they tend to focus on the bigger issues, such as education,” Hasan says.
The BJP, which represents Hindu cultural nationalism, has essentially come to serve as some kind of a reference point in India’s larger electoral equation for Muslims. Statistics do show that Muslims are not very keen on voting the BJP. This may have a role in reinforcing the notion of an “all-important Muslim vote”.
Muslims seldom back a lame horse.

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