Emergence of Muslim Middle Class in Post-Independence India and its Political Orientations

Abstract

This paper attempts to understand the process of formation of middle class in the Muslim community of India since independence and its emerging political orientations. It questions the popular, rhetorical but hegemonic discourses that tend to portray the “perpetual underdevelopment and dalitinization of the Muslim community” and argues that section of the Muslim community, despite obstacles and challenges, like any other community, has been beneficiary of India's economic growth over the years. While reflecting on the process of formation of Muslim middle class in post-colonial period in India, the paper takes a differentiated view of community, identifies the social and regional variations of formation of Muslim middle class and highlights its main aspirations and orientation and its relationship with the dominant (Hindu) middle class and the Indian state.

Notes

1. Prime Minister's High Level Committee, Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslim Community of India: A Report, Cabinet Secretariat Government of India, New Delhi, November, 2006.

2. The term dalit refers to outcaste social group—the most socially, economically and politically discriminated and excluded social group in Indian society that belongs to no caste. Constitutionally, this social class is referred to as Scheduled Caste. To uplift this community, the central government has made an affirmative provision of 15.5% reservation in all categories of centrally funded employment and educational opportunities.

3. Andre Beteille, The Description and Analysis of Classes in Marxism and Class Analysis, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2007, p. 296.

4. Report on the ‘Conditions of Work and Promotion of Livelihood in the Unorganized Sector’, www.nceus.nic.in, retrieved on 12 December 2009.

5. See Rajesh Shukla, ‘Changing Income Demographics and Its Implications for Marketers’, p. 56, http://www.ncaer.org/downloads/MediaClips/Press/RajeshShukla-Articles-India%20Retail%20report-2009.pdf (retrieved 30 June 2014).

6. The data in this paragraph have been taken from Arjun Sengupta, K.P. Kannan, G. Raveendran, “India's Common People: Who Are They, How Many Are They and How Do They Live?”, Economic and Politically Weekly, March 15, 2008, pp. 52–53.

7. Ibid, p. 54.

8. Sunil Jain, “Castes of Mind: Every Social and Religious Community Is Doing Better in a Growing Economy”, Indian Express, December 12, 2011.

9. “Muslims in India: Confident in Democracy Despite Economic and Educational Challenges”, http://www.gallup.com/se/ms/154229/Muslims-India-Confident-Democracy-Despite-Economic-Educational-Challenges.aspx (retrieved 9 August 2012).

10. Yoginder Sikand, Bastions of the Believers: Madrasas and Islamic Education in India, Delhi: Penguin Books, 2005, p. 95.

11. Prime Minister's High Level Committee, Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslim Community, op. cit. p. 171.

12. Ibid., pp. 166–167. It must be emphasized here that contrary to dominant Muslim public perception, a low level of Muslim representation in government jobs partly results from low level of Muslim participation, and not necessarily a result of state discrimination.

13. See Naseem A. Zaidi, “Muslim in the Civil Service”, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XLIX, No. 3, January 18, 2014, pp. 23–25.

14. Imtiaz Ahmed, “Economic and Social Change”, in Muslims in India, ed. Zafar Imam, New Delhi: Orient Longman, 1975, p. 251.

15. Brij Raj Chauhan, “Rural–Urban Interactions of Muslim in Meerut Region”, ICSSR Newsletter, April–June, 1992, p. 54.

16. Prime Minister's High Level Committee, Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslim Community, op. cit. p. 91.

17. Ibid., p. 92.

18. Ibid., p. 103.

19. Muslim groups now receive the benefit of reservation in the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. In Kerala, 12% of jobs are currently reserved for Muslims. Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh brought in 4% and 5% reservation for Muslims in 1994 and 2005, respectively. In Tamil Nadu and Bihar, Muslims are entitled to reservation under the 30% and 17% category earmarked for OBC. In 2010, the government of West Bengal has also made the provision of 10% reservation for Muslims in state educational institutions and public services. In addition to this, some 80 lower caste Muslim groups enjoy the benefit of 27% reservation in the central government services and educational institutions as per the Mandal Commission Recommendation.

20. Zarina Bhatty, “Status and Power in a Muslim Dominated Village of Utter Pradesh”, in Caste and Social Stratification among the Muslims in India, ed. Imtiaz Ahmed, New Delhi: Manohar, 1973, p. 58.

21. Elizabeth A. Mann, “Religion Money and Status: Competition for Resources at the Shrine of Shah Jamal, Aligarh”, in Muslim Shrines in India, ed. Christian W. Troll, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1989, pp. 145–171.

22. Majid Husain, “Diffusion of New Agricultural Technology and Its Impact on the Economy and Society of Muslim Cultivators: A Case Study”, in Muslims in India since Independence: A Regional Perspective, ed. M.H. Qureshi, New Delhi: Institute of Objective Studies, 1998, pp. 127–138.

23. Preeti Verma Lal, “Mango Mania”, India Currents, August 2005, pp. 12–18.

24. Omar Khalidi, Muslims in Indian Economy, New Delhi: Three Essays Collective, 2006, p. 87, quoting S. Vijayagoplan, Economic Status of Handicraft Artisans, New Delhi: National Council for Applied Economic Research, 1993, p. 9.

25. Omar Khalidi, “Entrepreneurs From Outside the Traditional Mercantile Communities: Muslims in India's Private Sector”, Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. XXXI, No. 2, Winter 2008, p. 30.

26. Khalidi, Muslims in Indian Economy, op. cit., p. 65.

27. On Muslim Entrepreneurship, see M. Akbar, Entrepreneurship and Indian Muslims, New Delhi: Manak, 1990.

28. See Asghar Ali Engineer, Communalism and Communal Violence in India: An Analytical Approach to Hindu-Muslim Conflict, New Delhi: Ajanta Publications, 1989; Communal Riots in Post-independence India, New Delhi: Orient Blackswan, 1991; The Gujarat Carnage, Orient Longman, 2003; M. J. Akbar, Riot after Riot: Reports on Cast and Communal Violence in India, Penguin Books, 1988.

29. The importance of second official language status lies in the fact that all government notifications and orders will also be made available in this language as well as the official language. This creates employment opportunities in terms of appointment of translators in all the departments of the government, as well as the appointment of teachers in the public schools. Currently, Urdu enjoys the status of second official language in the states of Bihar and Delhi, in 13 districts in the state of Andhra Pradesh and also in certain pockets of Karnataka. In the state of UP, Urdu was declared as a second language in the western parts of the state in the early 1980s through an ordinance that subsequently lapsed.

30. Mohammad Sajjad, “Language as the Tool of Minority Politics: Urdu, in Bihar, India, 1951–1989”, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, May 2014, p. 13.

31. See Tanweer Fazal, “Between Identity and Equity : An Agenda for Affirmative Action for Muslims”, in Religion, Community and Development: Changing Contours of Politics and Policy in India, eds. Gurpreet Mahajhan and Surinder S. Jodhka, New Delhi: Routledge, 2010, pp. 237–242.

32. Mattison Mines, Muslims Merchants: The Economic Behaviour of an Indian Muslim Community, New Delhi: Sri Ram Centre, 1972, p. 111.

33. Achyut Yagnik and Suchitra Sheth, The Shaping of Modern Gujarat: Plurality, Hindutva and Beyond, New Delhi: Penguin Books, 2005, Chapter 2, “Mercantile Ethos”, pp. 19–38.

34. See Omar Khalidi, “Entrepreneurs from Outside the Traditional Mercantile Communities: Muslims in India's Private Sector”, op. cit.

35. Ibid., n. 27, p. 163.

36. Prime Minister's High Level Committee, Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslim Community, op. cit., p. 53.

37. For these data, see “Abdul Azeez and Mustiary Begum, Gulf Migration, Remittances and Economic Impact”, Journal of Social Sciences, Vol. 20, No. 1, 2009, pp. 55–60. http://www.krepublishers.com/02-Journals/JSS/JSS-20-0-000-09-Web/JSS-20-1-000-09-Abst-PDF/JSS-20-01-055-09-650-Azeez-A/JSS-20-01-055-09-650-Azeez-A-Tt.pdf (retrieved 8 August 2012).

38. See Surjit S. Bhalla, “Lessons to Be Learnt from Narendra Modi's Gujarat”, The Financial Express, October 26, 2013, http://www.financialexpress.com/news/column-lessons-to-be-learnt-from-gujarat/1187235; Madhu Purnima Kishwar, “Narendra Modi Through the Eyes of Gujarati Muslims, Christians and … ”, Manushi, http://www.manushi.in/articles.php?articleId=1685#.U5q2PZSSw00 (retrieved 8 June 2012); Asifa Khan and Zafar Sareshwala, “Debunking the ‘facts’ on Narendra Modi and Muslims”, http://www.firstpost.com/politics/debunking-the-facts-on-narendra-modi-and-muslims-1218661html (retrieved 8 June 2012); Kanchan Srivastava, “Muslims Prosper in Gujarat and Kerela, UP, Bihar the Worst”, http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-muslims-prosper-in-gujarat-and-kerala-up-bihar-the-worst-1971244; Arun Rajnath, “Modi Emerging as Popular Leader of Muslims in Gujarat”, http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-2-133721-Modi-emerging-as-popular-leader-of-Muslims-in-Gujarat (retrieved 8 June 2012).

39. Muslims in Gujarat: A Reality Check, http://cpim.org/elections-2014/election-issues/muslims-gujarat-reality-check(retrieved 10 June 2014), Abusaleh Shariff, “Gujarat Shining! Relative Development of Gujarat and Socio-Religious Differentials”, USIP Occasional Paper No 2, April 2012, US India Policy Institute, pp. 1–19, http://www.usindiapolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/USIPI-Pub-GujaratShining.pdf (retrieved 10 June 2012); Sanjeev Kumar, “Development of Gujarat Muslims”, The Kashmir Walla: A Magazine of Art, Politics and Society, http://www.thekashmirwalla.com/2014/04/development-gujarat-muslims/ (retrieved 10 June 2012).

40. J.S. Bandukwala, “The State of Muslims in Gujarat Today”, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XLVII, No. 33, August 18, 2012.

41. See Achin Vanaik, “Situating the Threat of Hindu Nationalism: Problems with Fascist Paradigm”, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XXIX, No. 28, July 9, 1994, pp. 729–748.

42. For details see “The Basic Structure of Indian Constitution, Compiled by Venkatesh Nayak”, http://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/publications/const/the_basic_structure_of_the_indian_constitution.pdf (retrieved 25 June 2012).

43. In fact, recently the central government conceded 4.5% reservation for Muslims within the 27% reservation for OBC community but Indian Court struck down the same, calling religion-based reservation as unconstitutional.

44. See a series of articles on this dimension in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 46, November 15, 2003.

45. See Lauren Gayer and Christopher Jafferlot , “Conclusion: In their Place? The Trajectories of Marginalisations of India’s Urban Muslims”, in Muslims in Indian Cities: Trajectories of Marginalisation, eds. Lauren Gayer and Christopher Jafferlot, New Delhi: Harper Collins, 2012, p. 320.

46. Ibid., p. 312.