Patna: The setting was modest, but the signal was loud. A hall full of men wearing skullcaps, some in faded kurtas, others clutching Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) flags, gathered in Patna’s Atal Auditorium. The party’s state president and deputy chief minister stood watching as dozens of Pasmanda Muslims joined the saffron party. There were no slogans and no fireworks. Just a quiet and strategic move with deep roots and deeper implications.
These were not Ashraf (elite) Muslims – who include Syeds, Sheikh, Pathans or Rajput Muslims who have long held sway over community leadership. They were men from the narrow alleys of old Buxar, the weaving colonies of Bhagalpur, the barbers, butchers and washermen – Ansaris, Salmanis, Qureshis and Idreesis respectively. The ones known as Ajlafs and Arzals. The ones often ignored in drawing rooms but present in every street. Together, they make up nearly 80 percent of Bihar’s Muslim population.
The BJP has noticed. And it is moving in.
For decades, Pasmanda (underprivileged) Muslims stood at the margins of both politics and privilege. Dominated within their own community by upper-caste Muslims and sidelined by secular parties in the name of “Muslim unity”, their voices barely found space. Now, as caste-based data re-enters the political playbook and the Opposition scrambles to maintain its social coalition, the BJP is betting big on the quiet resentment that simmers within this bloc.
The Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, was the spark. But the plan runs deeper. On the surface, the legislation raised questions as to why waqf boards, which own massive real estate, have never published its income or expenses? Why are most of its properties under elite control? Why is every fourth beggar in the country still Muslim if the board is doing its job? Why are marriages, homes and jobs still a distant dream for poor Muslims?
These questions were not rhetorical. They were loaded. And they hit home.
With those questions, the BJP tore into a long-protected zone. It painted the waqf board as a den of privilege hoarding wealth meant for the poor. It made Pasmanda Muslims wonder why, after 70 years of secular politics, their lives had not changed. The answers came in whispers. Some found their way to BJP offices.
For the BJP, the electoral math is obvious. If even a fraction of these Muslims swing toward them, the impact on Bihar’s finely balanced constituencies could be decisive, especially in regions like Seemanchal, Kosi and parts of north-central Bihar, areas where Tejashwi Yadav and his Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) rely heavily on the Muslim-Yadav axis.
Tejashwi knows this. His silence on the waqf law debate was telling. So was the RJD’s internal tension over caste census revelations that showed overwhelming representation of Ashrafs in Muslim leadership.
BJP’s approach is not loud. It is slow, targeted and focussed. It is not trying to claim all Muslims. Just the ones who have always felt invisible. The weavers who never got loans. The mechanics who got no voice. The barbers who only got promises.
In the lanes of Araria, in the backstreets of Katihar, in the homes of ragpickers in Gaya, a conversation is brewing. It does not carry hashtags. But it travels. One man says the party of temples spoke his name. Another says the party of secularism never came to his door.
This is not a wave. It is a whisper campaign. But sometimes, whispers change elections.
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