Amidst major gains for India’s opposition coalition against Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, which fell short of the absolute majority and need support from allies to form a government, Muslims see less representation in Lok Sabha.
Muslim faces have shrunk to 4.42% with only 24 MPs from the largest minority out of 543 seats. India’s 220 million Muslims make up a little under a fifth of its 1.4 billion population.
India had 26 MPs in the last Lok Sabha as the representation has been dwindling with the rise of majoritarian politics in the country. Modi’s second term ended with no Muslim minister after Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi resigned as the minorities affairs minister.
M Abdul Salam from Malappuram was the only Muslim out of some 430 BJP candidates running for parliament this year.
The Muslim parliamentarians come from only nine out of 28 states and 8 union territories, data compiled by Maktoob show. There is no MP from large Indian states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
INDIA alliance will send 21 Muslims to the parliament’s lower house while NDA have no Muslim representation to offer. Indian National Congress (INC) will have 7 Muslim representatives out of the 99 seats it won. All India Trinamool Congress will send 5 MPs and the Samajwadi Party will have 4.
All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaddudin Owaisi will return to parliament with a thumping majority.
This story was originally published in maktoobmedia.com. Read the full story here.
