Bharat is conducting the world’s largest voting exercise (Lok Sabha Elections 2024) to elect its new Government. Therefore, undoubtedly, the whole world is keeping an eye on it. However, there was another election, which recently concluded and has raised many questions. Yes, we are talking about the Municipal Elections in the United Kingdom and London in particular. Everywhere Muslims deserted Labour Party on the Gaza issue while remaining loyal to Sadiq Khan in London just because he is a Muslim. The Labour Party’s Sadiq Khan won a record third term as London’s Mayor on May 2. The most interesting part of the elections was the lowest voting turnout, which was 40.05 per cent. Sadiq Khan easily won, with a 43.8 per cent vote share compared to his main opponent, the Conservative Party’s Susan Hall, who came in with 32.7 per cent of the votes. Khan had won 9 of 14 constituencies and a vote margin of more than 276,000 votes as per the data available.
In a democracy, voters are expected to make a rational choice based on enlightened self-interest. Muslims vote either on religious identity or whom to defeat as the sole criteria.
Of course, there are many questions that come to our mind when we look at the result. In a democracy, if majority of the people have not cast their votes, should that elections be taken as valid? Is this showing the failure of democratic system?
However, the most important part of the London elections is that more than 40 pro-Hamas Islamists have won seats as councillors in the UK, according to Daily Mail. According to Labour Muslim Network, there are over 500 Muslim Councillors all across the UK, and over 75 per cent of them are in Labour Party, which is the main opposition party in the UK right now. Notably, the UK, which has about 6.5 per cent Muslim population, has become the top destination for Muslim refugees after Germany. According to Pew Research, Germany was the destination for an estimated 670,000 Muslim refugees between mid-2010 and mid-2016. About 1,60,000 immigrants arrived in the UK between 2010 to 2016. Overall, an estimated 43 per cent of all migrants were Muslims. According to the 2021 census, the Muslim population has increased by 44 per cent over the last decade in the UK, which is up from 4.9 per cent to 6.5 per cent. Interestingly, 3.9 million Muslims are now living in London.
While speaking on this issue, Raphi Bloom, who has been raising the voice for the local Jews community in London, said, “The election of so many local councillors in the recent UK elections whose only platform was Hamas and Gaza is a worrying sign for the UK and its Jewish community. Local councillors are meant to care about roads, rubbish collection and care for the elderly. They focus exclusively on the terrorists of Hamas which shows they do not care even one bit for the people they are meant to represent and is an offense to our democracy. It also makes local Jewish communities feel incredibly unsafe and question our future here in the UK.”
The most important outcome of the London elections is that demography will decide the fate of democracy
Now, coming to the point, it is not only London elections that saw a decline in voter turnout. As per research, there is a decline in voting percentage globally. According to The Conversation, there are two main reasons for the decline in voting percentage- First one, when a country reaches a certain level of economic wealth, new generations become less respectful to authorities and less likely to conceptualise voting as a civic duty. The second one is the more frequent elections. However, this surely does not work in the context of Bharat so far. It is because when Bharat started its democratic journey, the country had a total of 173 million electors. The total vote percentage that year was 44.87 per cent. Gradually, the number of voters and women participation also increased. The 2019 General Elections were the largest democratic exercise in human history, and they witnessed the participation of 61.468 crore voters.
Demography Vs Democracy
The most important outcome of the London elections is that demography will decide the fate of democracy. Of course, it depends on the character or nature of that particular demography. For many decades, London has been peaceful as it was under the control of the local people. However, the city is in a mess due to the rise in the incident of crime and rape by migrant Islamic radicals. The demand for Sharia law is also growing in the country as more than 40 per cent of Muslims who live in the country, support implementation of the Sharia Law. According to BBC report, thousands of Muslims are using Sharia to settle disputes each year. Undoubtedly, this raises questions about their loyalty to Britain and, most importantly, their commitment to the protection of democracy.
Not only the UK, but at least 46 per cent of foreign-born Muslims in France want to adopt Sharia law into the country’s legal system, according to a poll conducted by IFOP (French Institute for Public Opinions) for Le Point magazine. Also, among French-born Muslims, 18 per cent believe that Sharia should prevail. Who would forget the statement of the then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2010, who said that Muslims must obey the constitution and not Sharia law if they want to live in Germany?
Angela Merkel in 2010, said that Muslims must obey the constitution and not Sharia law if they want to live
in Germany
Last year, in December, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said that there is no place for Islam in Europe. She said, “The Islamic cultural Centres in Italy are financed by Saudi Arabia where Sharia is in force. In Europe, there is a very Islamisation process distant from the values of our civilisation!”
However, the most interesting fact is that all those who are demanding Sharia law in Europe, also participate in voting and registering highest number. But this is not for the respect of democracy, but to topple anti-Islamist Government and bring pro-Muslim Government.
Similar patterns in Bharat
It is not that this is only happening in Europe or other non-Islamic countries, the same pattern is being followed in Bharat. Of course, partition of Bharat in the name of Islam is its biggest example. Therefore, Bharat is facing this ‘We are different’ mindset. Even the voting pattern is also the same.
Vote Jihad
Recently, Maria Alam Khan, a Samajwadi Party leader and the niece of former Union Minister Salman Khurshid, recently stirred a controversy by advocating for “Vote Jihad” during an election rally in Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh. Addressing the rally in support of Samajwadi Party candidate, Khan urged Muslims to unite against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) through the tactic of “Vote Jihad.”
Recently, in Maharashtra’s Pune, all India Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind in an event Elan-e-Lok Sabha Elections organised requested the people belonging to the Muslim community to vote for four particular candidates.
In 2017, the then Shahi Imam of Tipu Sultan Mosque, Maulana Nurur Rehman Barkati, who often shared stage with Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, issued a fatwa offering a reward of Rs 25 lakh to anyone who will “cut off Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s beard, shave his head and smear him with black ink”.
This might be a small issue for liberals. However, it shows how millions of Muslims in Bharat are being misguided by those who believe in appeasement politics. Unfortunately, a large section of Muslims in Bharat only voted to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party despite availing benefits of all the developmental schemes. If BJP was anti-Muslim, why is the per capita income of Muslims in Gujarat is the highest compared to those living in other States like West Bengal, where the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC Government has crossed all limits appeasement politics? Still, TMC secured an impressive 75 per cent of the Muslim vote in the 2021 Assembly elections.
Religion first, not development
Muslim-dominated Lok Sabha seats have high voting trends across Bharat. If one looks at the trends, in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Dhubri Lok Sabha seat in Assam topped the country. In-Dhubri in 2014 the-voting percentage was 88.36, which increased to 90.66 per cent in 2019. Dhubri Lok Sabha seat is represented by Badruddin Ajmal of the All-India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) since 2009 for three consecutive terms. The seat has been represented by only Muslims since 1967.
In Bihar, Muslim-dominated Lok Sabha seats have the same trend of high voting. In the 2019 Lok Sabha poll, the Katihar Lok Sabha seat topped the voting percentage, followed by Kishanganj, Purnia, Supaul, and Araria. Barring Supaul, all these seats are known for their high Muslim concentration.
Hindus declined 7.81%, while Muslim increased 43.15%: EAC-PM
The share of Hindu population has declined by 7.81 per cent between 1950 and 2015, while that of the Muslim community surged 43.15 per cent in the corresponding period, according to a study published by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM). In the study titled Share of religious minorities: A cross-country analysis, the share of the Hindu population in Bharat declined by 7.8 per cent to 78.06 per cent in this period. In contrast, the share of the Muslim and Christian population increased by 43.15 per cent to 14.09 per cent, and by 5.4 per cent to 2.36 per cent respectively in the corresponding period.
Uttar Pradesh, of all the 80 seats, Amroha seat, represented in the 17th Lok Sabha by Danish Ali, topped in voting per cent with 71 per cent voting. Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Kairana, Pilibihit, Bijnore, and Moradabad also experienced a major increase in vote percentage. In all these seats, Muslims are in significant numbers.
Here it is worth mentioning that Kerala Muslim Cultural Committees (KMCC), the overseas cultural wing of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), arranged several flights for the people working in West Asia to come home on a short visit to poll their votes. This is surely a small news, but it carries a huge messaging too.
Having said this, the lessons from London to Bharat and also looking at the radical voting pattern by a section of society globally, it is the need of the hour for everyone to cast his/her votes, else the fate of Bharat will be in the hand of those who never leave a stone unturned to divide this land. Importantly, Bharat will have to consider about 100 per cent voting. It must be mandatory for everyone. Also, it is high time for the liberals to contemplate if this radical mindset is for the good of democracy or if it is a tool to destroy democracy and impose radical thoughts like those being imposed in Afghanistan, Iran and Syria. Most importantly, the Muslim community must look at Bharat from the Bharatiya point of view, not through the lenses of Arabs and Turks.
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