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COME every election and the hunt for minority votes become the buzzword in India. The other day, Prime Minister Vajpayee wore a green headgear and ad-
dressed to a Muslim gathering sermonising them about his peace initiative with Pakistan. A few days later, Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani did the action replay, extolling Vajpayee's peace initiative with Pakistan while addressing a Muslim gathering. Election time is when the Muslim voter attracts the attention of political tricksters most. It is a tragedy that both politicians and media discuss the Muslims as separate entities and not as part of the country’s electorate of 675 million.

How Vajpayee's seeking cordial relation with Pakistan will make an impact on Indian Muslims or improve their general condition? Don't they know that to a large Muslim population in India, Pakistan is just another country on the world map? What does the two leaders had in mind when they link Muslims with Pakistan?

By reinforcing the idea of religious camaraderie, the two leaders were definitely not invoking a sense of patriotism among the Muslims. Their utterance only reinforced their 'Sangh' ideology that by having rapprochement with Pakistan, they have done a great service to the Muslim in India.

It was appalling to find that the two leaders had no specific policies and programme to the uplift conditions of minorities in India. Even though they talked about "feel good factor" none gave any assurances to rid the nation from the scourge of communal violence for which the minorities may have felt good.

Both Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister's address reflects that mindset of the Indian politicians, who except paying lip service to the minorities, do nothing to improve their sordid state of affair.

Caught in the cross-fire of competitive politics are the Muslims in India, who make up more than 12 per cent of the population. They are as diverse as the country and face the problem of illiteracy, poverty, unemployment, communal pressure and the right to live with dignity and honour.

The irony is none of the political parties has tried to address their problems and a result they have stacked over the years and continue to pile on. The so-called secular parties of India have always exploited the multifaceted problems of the minorities. Their aim is to grab the initiative of being true custodian of secularism, which they do so by professing to be the messiah of minorities but in reality done nothing significant for the welfare of the minorities.

There is an increasing realisation that the aim of the present leaders is to make use of minorities to reach to the hot seat of power. In the political game, minorities are being sidelined the moment their utility gets over. This has led the feeling that minorities are being cheated and neglected.

A new twist has emerged in the political thinking with regard to the minorities, since the BJP has come to dominate the political scene. Any assurance to pay heed to the sensibilities of the minorities is being considered as pandering to communal groupings. The protagonists of Hindutva started dubbing those who profess to be championing the cause of the minorities as pseudo-secularist, accusing them of indulging in vote bank politics.

The vicious campaigning has brought the situation to such a pass that no political party likes to espouse the cause of the minorities. Even the leaders belonging to the minority community openly say that their job is neither to speak nor to work for their community and they are just a worker in their respective political parties.