Pasmanda Muslims constitute about 90 percent of the total Muslims of the country. Pasmanda means backward. These backward Muslims include all those who were once Hindus but among them also belonged to backward, untouchables, scheduled and lower castes. Islam does not accept the distinction of casteism and high and low, but not only among our Muslims, casteism also prevails among the Muslims of Pakistan and Afghanistan, as it is spread in India.
I have come across Jats, Gujars, Ahirs, Kayasthas, Khatris, Pathans and even Muslims of Pakistan who call themselves Brahmins. I have had many encounters with Pathans, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, Khatris and Moo-e-Surkh Muslims in Afghanistan. Hindu-casteism exists in these Muslim countries but it remains suppressed there. In India, casteism is so strong that the ‘Ashraf’ and ‘Ajlaf’ Muslims of India always maintain some distance from the ‘Arjal’ Muslims.
The people who fall in the first two classes consider themselves to be descendants of the Turks, Mughals and Pathans and the Ajlafs are those who have converted from Brahmins and Rajputs to Muslims. Arzal Muslims are almost negligible among the wealthy, highly placed and educated Muslims of India. Most of them are poor people doing agriculture, labor, sanitation and petty jobs. Three or four Pasmanda leaders have taken some initiative here to get justice for these Muslims.
One of them, leader Ali Anwar Ansari, has given a very beautiful slogan, which is very much in line with my views. They say: Dalit-Backward alike. Hindu or Muslim!! I add to this all the people of India, irrespective of their religion or caste. Caste and religion should not be seen of anyone, only how his condition is, it should be known. It should be the religion of the Government of India to save every poor. That is why I consider caste and religious reservation to be unfair.
Reservation should be done by necessity, not by birth. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also raised the voice of justice for Pasmanda Muslims. On my suggestion, the late Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief, Shri Kupp C. Sudarshan, founded the Rashtriya Muslim Manch.
If we make caste and religion the basis of social and economic justice, then we will spread the poison of casteism and communalism in the country. By doing this we will prepare the basis for the many fragments of India in the next century. We have to create an India in which the neighboring Hindu, Sunni, Muslim, Buddhist and Shia countries of India aspire to join the federation.
