In his remarks on the Women’s Reservation Bill, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president, Asaduddin Owaisi, lit a candle on the need to have a quota for Muslim women within the 33% reservation for women. Amidst the din in the House, the flicker went out soon, and gone with the wind was the need to increase the representation of women of India’s largest minority in Parliament. In the passage of 17 Lok Sabhas so far, there have been just a handful of Muslim women. Mr. Owaisi said, “There have been 690 women MPs elected to Lok Sabha, and only 25 of them have come from the Muslim community.”
Fading representation
The community needs a lantern more than a candle. The Muslim community, and not just its women, has been severely under-represented in the Lower House. Since Independence, Muslim representation has been far below the community’s share in the general population of the country. According to the last Census in 2011, the Muslim population stood at a little over 14% of the total though the whispers which abound in the corridors of power, and the noises from the election campaign of many right-wing leaders, place it much higher. Some even peg it at around 20% in an obvious bid to perpetuate the myth of a Muslim population explosion.
