The Pasmanda (Muslim lower-caste) movement has gained increased attention in mainstream discourse over the past years. It protests against the caste-based stratification within the Muslim community while trying to gain more representation within public institutions through affirmative action policies. This presentation will focus on one aspect of this multi-layered activism—its class-caste conceptualization and dynamic. In doing this it will concentrate on one of the older Pasmanda organizations, the All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz (AIPMM). Left-leaning journalist-politician Ali Anwar Ansari established the  AIPMM in Patna, Bihar in 1998 as a loose coalition of lower-caste Muslim groups. Utilizing field work data from personal/group interviews and archival material, the presentation will discuss how the AIPMM negotiates with the two group identities of caste and class. In doing this it will highlight the local political conditions of Bihar which had an impact on such efforts by the AIPMM in its heydays which also led the latter to create broad- based alliances within civil society on the basis of marginalization and underrepresentation.

Dr Salwa Yahya holds a PhD in Political Science from Freie Universität, Berlin. She
completed her BA in Political Science (Honours) at St Xavier’s College, Kolkata, followed by
an MA in Political Science from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and an M Phil in
Social Science from the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Kolkata. Her research interests include identity politics and civil society in India, political theory, and research methodology.

All are welcome!