Wooing the Pasmandas: BJP, SP lock horns in high-stakes Muslim outreach

Pasmanda Muslims constitute around 80% of the state's Muslim population- Representative photo

“Alpsankhyako Ka Paigham – Modi ke Saath Musalman” — the slogan echoed on Sunday as the BJP’s minority cell held a high-profile outreach meeting in Lucknow. While party leaders hailed it as a bold step to bring Pasmanda Muslims into the BJP fold, the event also signaled something else: the launch of an intense battle between the BJP and Samajwadi Party (SP) to woo Uttar Pradesh’s backward Muslim population — a community that could tilt the scales in the 2027 Assembly elections.

What began as a political experiment after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2022 Hyderabad directive to reach out to “deprived and downtrodden” Muslims has now evolved into a full-fledged campaign. With Pasmanda Muslims constituting around 80% of the state's Muslim population — spread across 48 backward caste groups — both parties are scrambling to gain their trust.

If the BJP is trying to script a new narrative of inclusion through meetings, sammelans, and sneh yatras, the SP is preparing for a deep grassroots counter-offensive. From July, Akhilesh Yadav’s party will launch a year-long campaign focused entirely on Pasmanda Muslims as part of its PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) strategy — a political reset to consolidate marginalised communities under a common banner.

The campaign will begin with meetings in all 403 Assembly constituencies, followed by district-level conventions and a mega state-wide rally ahead of the polls. SP leaders say the aim is not just electoral—it’s about “political honour.”

“Pasmandas have been ignored and used as vote banks. Only SP has a roadmap to give them genuine representation and power,” said Chief Spokesman of SP Rajendra Chaudhary.

Behind this aggressive outreach lies political arithmetic. The SP has traditionally banked on Muslims—especially Pasmandas—alongside Yadavs. But the BJP’s slow but steady inroads into this voter base have raised alarm bells in the SP camp. In the 2022 Assembly polls, BJP’s internal estimates showed that nearly 8% of Pasmanda Muslims voted for the party—a modest yet meaningful shift in a state where every percentage point counts.

To stall this, SP is building a campaign around what it calls “betrayals” of the BJP government. SP spokesperson Ameeq Jamei argued that the Yogi Adityanath-led government has inflicted severe damage on the Pasmanda community. “From bulldozer politics that mostly demolished homes of poor Muslims, to the closure of welfare schemes like the Maulana Azad Education Fund, Pasmandas have suffered disproportionately,” he said.

Jamei pointed to the decline of traditional Muslim industries under BJP rule. “The weavers of Mau, Varanasi and Bhadohi are in distress. The leather industry in Kanpur shrunk from Rs 16,000 crore to Rs 2,500 crore. These are sectors where Pasmandas are employed. This is the BJP’s real record.”

For the SP, the campaign also has organisational implications. Pasmanda leaders have been assured greater representation in the party structure and promised key roles if SP returns to power. “Pasmandas will not just vote for us; they will shape our policies,” said SP leader Mansoori, warning that BJP’s attempts to split the Muslim vote were politically motivated.

Meanwhile, the BJP has dismissed the SP’s counter-campaign as political theatre. “The SP is rattled,” said Kunwar Basit Ali, BJP’s state minority wing president. “Muslims are increasingly seeing through the SP’s hollow promises. They are supporting BJP because we talk about development, not appeasement.”

BJP’s minority leader Md Safeeque Salmani went further, accusing the SP of hypocrisy. “They used Muslims as a vote bank for decades and did nothing for Pasmandas. Now they are worried that BJP is giving the community a real voice and space.”

 Fear within SP

The SP is worried that if even a 10-12% swing of Pasmanda voters goes towards BJP, it could weaken the opposition’s traditional Muslim-Yadav axis, especially in key constituencies of Purvanchal and central UP.

“We know BJP’s game — they want to divide Muslims, and Pasmandas are their target,” said SP leader Chaudhry. “But we will expose them. BJP never supported reservation for backward Muslims. They talk sweet during elections and forget us afterward.”

Political observers note that the Pasmanda identity — rooted in caste-based marginalisation within the Muslim community — has become politically active only in recent years. Historically overlooked even by Muslim leadership, Pasmandas now find themselves courted from all sides.

“In the past, Muslims were treated as a homogenous vote bloc,” said a Lucknow-based political analyst Manoj Bhadra. “Now, the Pasmanda card is reshaping how parties approach Muslim voters. Both BJP and SP are now speaking their language — of caste, class, and social justice.”

At the heart of this contest is a shifting political reality: unlike earlier, Muslims are no longer seen as a monolithic vote bank. The Pasmanda identity — rooted in caste, class and economic marginalisation — is now a distinct political category. Both BJP and SP are recalibrating their strategies to align with this new ground reality.

In the run-up to 2027, this tug-of-war is likely to intensify — not just in slogans and rallies, but on the ground where real political loyalties are forged. For the Pasmanda Muslim community, often ignored and underrepresented, this sudden political attention could mark a long overdue reckoning — or just another round of unfulfilled promises. Either way, their vote has never mattered more.