Yogi 2.0 has exposed the caste divide in Muslims

• Do you know about the prevalence of caste in India’s Muslim society? 
• Preferably, read this article with a pen in your hand and a notebook in front of you. 
• Because you might need to make notes on the large variety of castes which exist among India’s Muslims. 
• Yogi Adityanath has taken a big step to expose the prevalence of casteism within India’s Muslim community. 

The second term of Yogi Adityanath as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh has started with a bang – quite literally. How so, you might ask? Well, with one appointment, chief minister Yogi Adityanath has exposed the brazen casteism prevalent within India’s Muslim community. Yogi has just made a Muslim leader belonging to the marginalised ‘Pasmanda’ caste a minister in his cabinet. The ‘Pasmandas’ form a majority of India’s Muslim population and are considered lowly by the Ashraf, who like to consider themselves the cream of India’s Islamic society. Ashrafs constitute of Arabs, Iranians, Turkish, Sayyeds, Sheikhs, Mughals, Mirzas, and Pathans among others.

Yogi Adityanath has chosen 32-year-old Danish Azad Ansari to be a part of his cabinet as a Minister of State. Ansari joined the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in 2010 when he was studying at Lucknow University. He has done Master’ in Public Administration and Quality Management. Before the elections, Danish Azad Ansari was made the general secretary of the minorities cell of the BJP.

Strategic Appointment by Yogi Exposes Islamic Casteism

Soon after news broke of Danish Azad Ansari making it into Yogi Adityanath’s cabinet, supposed “upper caste” Muslims began trolling the man, hurling casteist abuses at him and mocking his ‘lowly’ birth. Some comments targeted all Pasmanda Muslims as ‘low-born’, while others shamed women from the community with abuses.

Ashraf vs Pasmanda

Pasmanda Muslims are the ones who converted to Islam during the brutal Islamic rule that India had to, unfortunately, live through and fight against. Therefore, due to the fact that such Muslims do not trace their lineage back to the deserts of the Middle East, they are not considered Islamic enough by those who think of themselves as Arabs. Upper caste Muslims, or the Ashraafs as they are collectively called, like to think of themselves as people who were airdropped on Indian soil from Arab and Persian lands.

Did you know that there is a caste of Indian Muslims called Ajlaaf, which means uncivilised? This community mostly constitutes the artisan castes that are included in the Other Backward Classes (OBC). Then, there is the Arjaal caste, consisting of those that are involved in cleaning jobs. The Ajlaaf and Arzaal are collectively referred to as the Pasmandas. This wide caste of Muslims consists of several sub-castes; such as Ban-Gujar, Tadvi, Bhil, Sepia, Bakarwal, Mehtar, Bhakko, Nat, Dhobi, Halalkhor, Gorkan, Dhunia, Dafali, Teli and Kori.

Pasmanda Muslims Ignored

Considered unequal by the loud-mouthed “upper caste” Muslims, Pasmandas have been deprived of development, social justice and authority for a very long time. Efforts have always been made to ensure that such Muslims do not rise to positions of power and that they are unable to uplift their communities.

Read more: Naseeruddin Shah says Hindustani Islam is different from desert Islam, gets cancelled by fellow Muslims

Yogi Adityanath’s appointment of Danish Azad Ansari in the state cabinet is a first for a Pasmanda Muslim in Uttar Pradesh and suggests that the BJP is willing to go the extra mile in order to give political representation and authority to a large caste that has historically been ignored by selfish elites within India’s Muslim society.

Now, the brazen casteism prevalent within India’s Muslim society has been brought to the limelight. Islamist elites can no longer deny the fact that they have tried to keep Pasmanda Muslims under their thumb for the longest time. Such Muslims will now be empowered directly by the BJP, even as the elites of the community witness the status quo being shattered right before their eyes.