It will not be the first time that the Muslim vote has shifted. Immediately after the implementation of the Mandal Commission report, which provided reservations for the so-called other backward classes (OBCs) in government jobs, in 1989 by the then government headed by V.P. Singh, OBCs emerged as a powerful political entity, deserting the Congress.
It forged an alliance with Muslims under the so-called MY (Muslim Yadav) alliance in Central India that became the mainstay of support for Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party, or SP, in Uttar Pradesh and Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal, or RJD, in Bihar. This combination had endured so far. What it also did was set back the Congress, which till then had projected itself as a party that could accomodate the interests of diverse communities under a secular ideology.
Muslims have continued to back the Congress in states such as Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, where parties such as the SP and the RJD do not have a critical mass, mostly shunning the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), known for its Hindu nationalist leanings.
However, there are indications that things may be about to change. Part of the reason is that the electoral hold of the SP and the RJD has weakened due to the emergence of rival political forces such as the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and anti-incumbency sentiment after prolonged years of rule in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Further, the decision of the Congress to go it alone rather than in a pre-poll alliance with either the SP or the RJD has transformed straight contests into quadrangular fights in the key states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
http://newageislam.com/muslim-vote-splits-as-new-issues-gain-focus---/islam-and-politics/d/1366
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