A Modest Proposal

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Development and political competitiveness go hand in hand. After winning a few seats in 2012 elections, PPI lost its footing in the 2017 elections with no win. If PPI invests in steps that can enrich deprived Muslim communities, work to strengthening their youth and providing them opportunities for growth; it can gather political momentum and have an equal footing with bigger political players in the state. The deprived Muslim public needs ways to enter the mainstream society, and PPI can fill this gap. A look at Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood’s (MB) transformation can be an example for PPI can follow. Established in 1928, on its founder Hasan al-Banna’s principle of ‘faith-based action and self-improvement’ to improve the lives of lower middle …show more content…

Heath, Vernier and Kumar have already established that there is a significant likelihood of Muslims opting for Muslim candidates; however those candidates should also carry a chance of winning. PPI needs to broaden its base of target population, i.e. not just focus on the backward communities, but also the urban middle class Muslims. As Staeheli mentions, “communities are rarely homogenous entities but are instead internally fractured by an array of contradictory identities and subjectivities.” New Delhi based journalist Mehran Zaidi, states that the main problems of UP’s urban Muslims remains job security and education opportunities, and nearly 32% of UP’s Muslims reside in urban areas. PPI can work towards adding its focus on goals which the larger Muslim population can connect to, thereby moderating its image from being a Deobandi offshoot party to a progressive one. This will attract larger interest and participation not just from the urban youth, but also from moderate Muslim leaders, promoting the cause of Muslims’ upliftment and working in cooperation with other communities. A cause like this will attract voices from other communities echoing concerns of developmental politics, enabling different groups to come together at a platform leading to an all-inclusive dialogue for UP’s progress. Schwedler highlights such an outcome as a type of “political moderation that has been triggered by the incentives for groups to

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