The past never changes .... until one day ... when it does !!
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In 140-member Kerala Assembly, the number of Muslim MLAs has gone up from 32 in the previous Assembly to 35.
In Tamil Nadu’s 234-member House as well, the number has gone up from 6 to 9. Puducherry remaining stagnant with only 1 Muslim MLA in a House of 30.
The nosedive decline has been reported from Assam - 22 in 2026 from 31 in the 2021 polls.
In West Bengal, the triumph of Hindutva forces not only eclipsed political career of 'rising sickular stardom around Mamata'. In the 294-assembly now, the number of Muslim legislators has come down from 42 to 40.
Now for Congress party - there has been a huge shortfall in number of MLAs across India since 2007 when Rahul Gandhi was 'given importance' and made general secretary. In Delhi, Nagaland and Tripura - the Congress does not have any legislator now.
The decline is remarkable because Congress was in power in Delhi for 15 years since 1999. In Nagaland. it ruled the roost most of the last few decades since statehood in 1963. And in Tripura, it was in power in the 1980s and later the principal opposition.
Overall, in 2007-08; Congress has 1204 MLAs. By 2026, the numbers have dropped by over 40 per cent. Now it has 676 MLAs (a few figures here and there).
For BJP, the story is altogether different and expectedly so. Now it has 1787 MLAs as against 889 in 2008. This means double ... that is 100 per cent increase.
As regard the Lotus, there is another interesting data - of the total 4120 MLAs in the country; now every second MLA belongs to the party of Modi-Amit Shah duo.
For the Congress; that data is one in every six MLA.
With regard Muslims and figures in Lok Sabha - we must note -
The 1951 Census put the population at 36.10 crore, with Hindus accounting for 84 per cent and Muslims, 10 per cent.
According to the 2011 Census, out of a total population of 121.09 crore,
Hindus accounted for 79.8 per cent, (decline by 5 per cent)
while Muslims accounted for 14.2 per cent. (incesae)
However, the legislative representation of Muslims in the Lok Sabha has largely remained below the proportion of the community in the national population.
In the 1952 parliamentary election, 25 Muslims were elected to the Lok Sabha.
The percentage of Muslim MPs in the Lok Sabha has generally between 4 and 6 per cent, except in 1980 and 1984 when their number crossed 40.
The number of Muslim MLAs in 1952 was 5.11 per cent of the total strength of the House, which was 489.
In the 1957 election, the number dipped to 23, which was 4.66 per cent of the total number of Lok Sabha MPs.
In 2024 parliamentary polls when Congress and Samajwadi Party showed massive improvement in performance; 24 MPs were/are Muslims.
In the 1980 election, a record 49 Muslim MPs were elected, which was 9.04 per cent of the total strength of the Lok Sabha.
As many as 45 Muslim members were elected in 1984 --- which was 8.3 per cent.
In the present Lok Sabha, the number of Muslim lawmakers stands at 4.41 per cent of its total strength.
Now we have an 'inside' story from the BJP. The general refrain is "outsiders" (leaders and lawmakers imported from other parties) are doing well. The final verdict could be 'mixed' - Yes and No. Especially, the argument (with facts) is outsiders getting importance is not a new trend in the saffron outfit.
Or in other words -- one cannot put the entire blame to Team Modi. Likes of Jaswant Singh and Yashwant Sinha never had RSS background.
In the BJP circles - following words make a lot of sense these days. - Defection, Acquisition, Merger and Take Over !
Let us take a closer look ---
Firstly, when Bharatiya Jana Sangh was floated. Its first president was Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee. He was associated with Hindu Mahasabha but was not with RSS per se.
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Now chief ministers of BJS (or with Sanghparivar approval) first came in two states in 1977. - Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh.
Shanta Kumar in Himachal and Bhairon Singh Shekhawat in Rajasthan --- none were from RSS background. In Madhya Pradesh, new CM Kailash Chandra Joshi of course had Sangh background.
Again about Muslims :
Only constituencies with sizeable Muslim populations (between 25 per cent and 50 per cent or more) were selected for fielding Muslim candidates in most cases including in 1950s and 1960s.
Moreover, some regions and States that had a sizeable percentage of Muslim voters remained totally unrepresented or grossly under-represented in terms of Muslim legislators.
The growth of Hindutva politics has resulted in non-BJP parties looking at Muslim candidates as a liability.
There is a paradox; political parties are scared of fielding Muslim candidates but at the same time the Muslim vote bank is valued.
The rise of Hindutva politics has a direct correlation with the decline in the number of Muslim MLAs.
The demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992 left a direct impact first in the Assembly elections that took place in Madhya Pradesh in 1993. Not a single Muslim MLA was elected.
In State legislatures, the number of Muslim members is not much even in States where they form a sizeable population.
In Uttar Pradesh, there were only 628 Muslim MLAs out of a total of 7,389 until 2022. This works out to 8.49 per cent, while Muslims form over 15.5 per cent of the State’s population.
Congress decline actually started long back ... even in 1950s itself ::::
Every decade since 1950s ... the Congress has been losing seats. In contrast, the BJP has been seeing north bound graph in recent times.
In Haryana, the BJP had won only four seats in 2009 --- five years later it had 47 MLAs in 2014. In 2019, this dropped to 40 but Congress could not return to power. In 2024, when Congress had high hopes of returning to power; the BJP managed to win 48 seats and also retained power.
In Assam also, major transitions came in. In 2011; the BJP won only 5 seats and Congress recorded a massive win picking up 78 seats under veteran Tarun Gogoi. However, in 2016 - the Congress numbers dropped to 28 and BJP's jumped to 60.
In 2021- Congress won only 29 and the BJP repeated its number of 60. In 2016 - the BJP on its own picked up 82 and the Congress number nosedived to 19. Among them, the Congress had as many as 18 Muslim MLAs.
The Congress decline was significant even in Gujarat. It won 77 seats in 2017 and gave a tough fight to the saffron party in its 'lab'; -- but in 2022 - the Congress strength was reduced to mere 17.
ends
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