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Indian Muslims: (Self-)Perceptions and Voting Trends in 2024

Document Cited in Related
Published date01 December 2024
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1177/23210230241296356
AuthorChristophe Jaffrelot,Hilal Ahmed
Date01 December 2024
Indian Muslims: (Self-)Perceptions
and Voting Trends in 2024
Christophe Jaffrelot1,2 and Hilal Ahmed3
Abstract
There are two dominant explanations of contemporary Muslim voting behaviour. A section of public
commentators reiterates an old argument that Muslims always participate in politics to defeat the
BJP. This argument is not entirely incorrect. The BJP did not deviate from its Modi-centric Hindutva-
driven campaign. The party relied heavily on an apparent anti-Muslim rhetoric to reach out to its core
voters. The failure of the BJP to secure an absolute majority in Lok Sabha, in this sense, is also seen as
an obvious outcome of this strategy. It is claimed that the BJP’s attempt to polarize voters on religious
grounds encouraged Muslims to vote for non-BJP candidates throughout the country.
The second explanation is more speculative. The INDIA alliance has so far tried to avoid any discus-
sion on the overwhelming Muslim support they have received this time. The non-BJP parties, except
a few, do not want to publicly acknowledge the fact that their success was almost impossible without
active Muslim support. This kind of political reluctance is justified as a strategic silence. There is an
assumption that the pro-Muslim gestures of these parties will make the Hindu voters unhappy.
Findings of National Election Studies (NES) 2024 take us beyond these popular descriptions of
Muslim voting. This survey introduces us to the complexities of contemporary Muslim politics and
its electoral manifestations. This article tries to establish a link between Muslim self-perceptions as a
religious minority in India and their political behaviour. We ask three basic questions: First, did Muslim
communities vote more actively this time than Hindu communities? Second, did they vote as a homo-
geneous community or as a vote bank? And finally, did they vote basically to defeat BJP?
Keywords
Muslim voting, vote bank, Hindutva, Muslim appeasement, perception of Indian Muslims
Introduction
Self-claimed Hindutva groups and a section of professional politicians associated with the BJP as well
as a particular kind of pro-BJP media, try to demonize Indian Muslims and, in particular, to create an
Original Article
Studies in Indian Politics
12(2) 289–302, 2024
© 2024 The Author(s)
Article reuse guidelines:
in.sagepub.com/journals-permissions-india
DOI: 10.1177/23210230241296356
journals.sagepub.com/home/inp
1 CERI-SciencesPo/CNRS, Paris, France
2 Department of Politics and Sociology, King’s College, London, UK
3 Lokniti-CSDS, New Delhi, Delhi, India
Corresponding author:
Christophe Jaffrelot, CERI-SciencesPo/CNRS, Paris, France.
E-mail: jaffrelot12@gmail.com

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