THREAD:
Muslim identity politics is not an all or nothing idea. The Congressi Musalmans' critique of Musilms calling for identity politics is mischievously misplaced.

There are levels of electoral politics: municipal, state, and national.
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1. At the Municipal level, Muslims must try their level best to project capable Muslim leaders at all costs. The constituencies are much smaller. Muslims are already ghettoized; which further increases the chances of Muslim candidates winning.
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2. At the state, the preference for Muslim candidates takes a slight back seat. The constituencies are smaller but not very small. Muslims need larger alliances to get candidates of their choice elected. Political parties with large Muslim politicians should try to....
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enter into such coalitions. While building such coalitions, Muslims should strongly negotiate for getting tickets to deserving Muslim candidates.

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3. At the centre, Muslims should exclusively focus on winnability of candidates. If that means voting for INC, not a problem at all. At this level, preference for Muslim candidates can take an even further backseat.

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Muslims don't just need more elected Muslims. Muslims need more Muslim candidates with electoral experience. If we keep doing this for a while, the ones who get electoral experience at the municipal level can graduate to the state and then to the centre.

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While this doesn't solve all our woes and it assumes that Muslims have adequate consensus within themselves that reflects in voting patterns, it can be "a strategy" or a part of it.

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