Muslim representation worst in every socio-economic domain in India: Book
New Delhi: Muslims in India have the worst representation in almost every socio-economic domain, with no Muslims among the 52 officials posted at the BJP Indian government’s Prime Minister’s Office and no minister in the current cabinet.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the book titled “Muslims in India – Ground Reality Versus Fake Narratives – Achievements & Accomplishments,” written by Mohammed Abdul Mannan, gathered data regarding Muslim representation.
“This is history’s lowest-ever representation of Muslims in Union governance levels,” said the author, who has penned 12 books, including the latest, “A Nation in Descent – India after the 1990s.”
This is the first time in history that, since the PMO was set up in 1977, there has been no Muslim representation among its officials. Earlier, the PMO was considered a part of the government in 1961 by the allocation of business rules. The PMO was originally set up as the Prime Minister’s Secretariat (PMS) in 1947.
According to the book, there is one Muslim among 115 officials in the Ministry of External Affairs and 49 officials in the Ministry of Cooperation. “The 54 Indian ministries and 93 departments under their jurisdictions in New Delhi have a total of 11,131 officials from the secretary level downwards, of which 178 are Muslims,” noted the book.
Six ministries and 11 departments have no Muslims among the total 506 officials, while only two Muslims are higher-ranked secretaries.
When it comes to political representation, out of 60,693 elected MLAs, 3,198 are Muslims. Out of 9,430 Lok Sabha MPs elected, only 527 are Muslims, and of 2,176 Rajya Sabha members, 329 are Muslims so far.
The book revealed that only 57 Muslims were appointed governors among 529. Out of a total of 539 chief ministers, only 10 were Muslims, and 80 of the total 1,919 mayors across the cities are Muslims.
Regarding Vice Chancellors in universities, there are 62 Muslims among 1,017 VCs at Central Universities, while 219 are Muslims among 8,633 VCs of state universities.
721 of the total 13,951 District Session Judges are Muslims.
According to the author, life for the 200 million-strong community has remained in a whirlpool of front-page discrimination in every socio-economic domain since the 1990s. No Muslim representation has existed in the Indian government since July 2022, a first in history.
Muslims, according to the US-based Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), “face discrimination in employment and education and encounter barriers to achieving wealth and political power.”
According to the book, out of the 4,123 Legislative Assembly seats across India, Muslim voter-dominated seats stand at 450. There are 65 seats across 12 states and two Union Territories that have over 25 percent Muslim populations.
Muslim votes decide the outcome in more than 100 assembly constituencies in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. In Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, 29 districts are Muslim-majority districts with 137 assembly seats. In Madhya Pradesh, the Muslim vote factor is crucial in at least 22 seats. In Gujarat, 17 assembly seats have significant Muslim voters. There are 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, out of which Muslim votes matter in 34.
