Is electoral democracy enough in deeply divided societies?
Democracies are at risk of failure globally, as the limits and vulnerability of ‘electoral democracy’ have been exposed in the face of an aggressive surge of Islam. Islam and democracy are contradictory in their intellectual moorings, perspectives, and ultimate objectives.
Democracy’s intrinsic appeal lies in the idea that the citizens of a nation are the sovereigns, and they express their sovereign will by electing representatives. In a democracy, the advertised slogan is that people are the source of the law, and the law, in turn, is to ensure fundamental rights that protect the well-being and interests of all citizens.
For Islam, democracy is a convenient camouflage to capture power without resorting to warfare and conquest. In Islam, their God is the only sovereign and ultimate source of legitimate law. The ultimate aim of Islam is to establish an Islamic State or Caliphate and spread Islam globally and implement Sharia derived from the Quran, Hadith (sayings of Prophet Mohammed, his biography, and interpretations. None of these concepts are negotiable.
On the other hand, democracy aims for a secular (worldly) state whose goal is to serve the people (regardless of their religions and beliefs) and to implement principles of human rights, individual freedoms, and complete equality among all citizens, regardless of their religions, denominations, beliefs, and ideologies. Its reference is the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” of 1948, as a modern unified global reference, for all peoples of the Earth.
While the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” and the Constitution of the democratic state and all its laws can be amended, improved, developed, or changed, partially or completely, according to the will of the people, provided that freedoms and rights are not restricted but rather expanded or protected, the Quran, Hadith, Prophet’s biography, and original interpretations are not subject to any amendment or change, even if the people desire it.
In any democracy, all citizens observe the same law. They have the right to hold all positions, including the posts of President, Prime Minister, Chief Justice, and Commander-in-Chief of the defence forces, whereas in Islam, non-Muslims are accorded only an inferior status. They cannot hold the presidency, high positions, or exercise governance. Their permanent presence in society is conditioned upon an agreement (Dhimmi contract) with the Islamic state, which includes paying the Jaziya or a tax, and on the condition that they do not spread non-Islamic religions or beliefs. But Islam has the unrestricted right to preach and convert, and even use force. To achieve this goal, ‘jihad’ is a unique concept, designed for spreading Islam.
Since the late 20th century, the term ‘jihad’ has been extensively used by resistance, liberation, and terrorist movements. The Afghan Mujahidin, the Taliban and the Northern Alliance, have waged a jihad in Afghanistan against foreign invaders and among themselves; Muslims in Kashmir, Chechnya, Dagestan and the southern Philippines, Bosnia and Kosovo have justified their savagery and brutalities as jihads; Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad Palestine have characterized war with Israel as a holy jihad; hard core terrorists like Osama Bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Masood Azhar, and many more, have justified butchering innocents, as sanctioned by jihad. In the traditional sense, there are four main types of jihad: Jihad of the Heart (Jihad bil Qalb/ Nafs), Jihad of the Tongue (Jihad bil Lisan/ Qalam), Jihad of the Hand (Jihad bil Yad), and Jihad of the Sword (Jihad bis Saif).
However, in modern democracies, the use of the above type of jihad is subject to several limitations of law, size of Muslim population, and geopolitical situation. These limitations have spawned a variety of jihads, which act secretively and surreptitiously, to convert the non-Muslim population. Notable types of this jihad are love jihad, land jihad, food jihad, dress jihad, narcotics jihad, and, most importantly, demographic jihad.
All democracies are dependent on the population, as populations elect representatives to make decisions on their behalf, making the citizenry integral to selecting the decision-makers. Hence, changes in mortality, population growth, fertility, and age structure all become crucial for a democracy. The proportional representation system in India enables states to get Lok Sabha seats roughly in proportion to their total population, as detailed by the Election Commission of India. However, this is turning into a nightmare due to the aggressive population expansionism being pursued by the Muslim community, which is candid about its goal to capture power and establish Islamic rule.
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi‘s famous quote: “We have 50 million Muslims in Europe. These are signs that Allah will grant Islam victory in Europe—without swords, without guns, without conquest—will turn it into a Muslim continent within a few decades.” Invasion by demographics is upsetting the electoral scene in Europe, UK, USA, and Canada, the effect of integration on their vote choice, as it strengthens the saliency of group interests and “linked fate” in their voting calculus.
Rising Muslim aggressiveness is currently epitomized by New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, who posted a video on his X handle exhorting over 3 million Muslim immigrants in New York City to “know your rights” against the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. This is just the beginning; the demographic invasion conspiracy and action is gaining fast momentum. Democracies are easy targets, enslaved as they are by their judiciary, human rights groups, minority groups, media, universities, students, and NGO’s.
What is the fate of India, the world’s largest democracy, in terms of population and number of voters? For over 800 years, the geographical expanse known as Bharatvarsha was under tyrannical Islamic rule, highlighted by the standard protocol of loot, plunder, killings, abductions, rapes, and forcible conversions. The advent of British rule opened a new chapter in South Asian politics. The British had the sagacity to understand that the country under their control was inhabited by people following different faiths – indigenous and foreign. Any elections would throw up an assortment of representatives, following different faiths. There was a distinct possibility that people belonging to different faiths may not be satisfied, that they have not been represented properly, due to the elected representative’s faith. This would have created a piquant situation for the British – a section of the electorate following one faith, unhappy with an elected representative following a different faith. How to handle this conundrum?
Therefore, the Communal Award was created by British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald on 16 August 1932. Also known as the MacDonald Award, it was announced after the Round Table Conference (1930–1932) and extended the separate electorate to the Depressed Classes (now known as the Scheduled Castes) and other so-called religious Minorities. The separate electorate concept had been introduced by the Indian Councils Act 1909 for the Muslims and extended to the Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians, and Europeans by the Government of India Act 1919. What weighed heavily on the minds of the British was that converts to Christianity (as British rule favoured aggressive conversions), Anglo-Indians, Muslims, and Sikhs should be treated as separate entities, having the right to elect representatives from their community. The award favoured the so-called religious minorities, overlooking the interests of Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains. M.K. Gandhi was not comfortable with this decision, as it would have restricted his sphere of influence and operation to just the Hindus. It would have affected his mass appeal as a leader, but the British would have killed two birds with one stone – constricting M.K. Gandhi’s role, and gaining popularity among fresh converts to Christianity, the powerful Muslim community, Anglo-Indians, Europeans, and Sikhs. Predictably, M.K. Gandhi declared in September 1932 an open fast until death. Later, the Poona Pact amended the Communal Award, and the government accepted it as such.
The Communal Award strategy holds many lessons for not only present-day India, but also for many Western countries, facing the grim prospect of Islamization. Across the globe, there is a resigned acceptance of demographic change leading to the inevitable destruction of many civilizations and their cultures.
India is also facing a well-organized and directed Islamic population explosion, which is going to derail the future representation of many communities in Parliament, Assembly, Municipal, and local bodies, in the coming days. In addition, systematic infiltration by Bangladeshi and Rohingya nationals, multiple marriages, and uncontrolled reproduction have given the Muslim community a clear edge over every other community. Muslim leaders keep reminding their audiences about the impending Islamic rule by the year 2040 or 2050. Meanwhile, petty leaders of various political parties are mollified by Muslim bulk votes being cast in their favour.
Infiltration, like money laundering, has three core stages—Placement, layering, and integration. Infiltrators from Bangladesh and Rohingya refugees from Myanmar are accommodated in the same manner. Placement (introducing dirty money or infiltrators), Layering (obscuring its origin with complex transactions, infiltrators securing Aadhar cards, ration cards, driving licences, and bank accounts), and Integration (reintroducing it as clean funds into the economy or fake citizenship). These infiltrators are being pushed into various Parliamentary and Assembly constituencies by fundamentalist organizations to supplement and strengthen the local Muslim electorate, to have a decisive say as to who will win in the particular constituency. For example, the Wayanad Parliamentary constituency, in Kerala, which is a stronghold of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), as Muslims constitute about 46% of the electorate. Christians constitute around 13% of voters. Hindus & others comprise the remainder, with “Others” being less than 1%. Wayanad is also known for its significant Adivasi population (Kurichiya, Paniya, and others). Ms. Priyanka Vadra Gandhi managed to become an MP from Wayanad constituency, purely on the support of the IUML. Now the moot question arises, should the Christians, Hindus, and Adivasis depend on a representative indebted to Muslims for her so-called electoral victory? Suppose the Christians and Hindus had a right to elect a representative from their community; is it not more balanced? Wayanad would have 3 MPs, representing the three major communities.
Will this type of electoral arrangement not create a tectonic shift in Indian politics? Muslims or any other community can keep on expanding in terms of population and organized infiltration, but it would have zero effect on elections. Once elections are insulated from population expansion, the fear of Islamization and takeover of political power instantly vanishes. The present trend of political parties and candidates going and begging to Ulemas and Bishops for votes will become totally irrelevant. Bulk voting by foreign religious faiths will be of zero consequence. Every community in every constituency, above a minimum percentage, will get separate representation in Parliament, Assembly, and Local Bodies. A Hindu will never have the mortification of supplicating before a non-Hindu MP/ MLA about the problems faced by their community.
In fact, the Communal Award model can also rescue many European countries, the UK, USA from the fear of Muslim takeover. If Muslim immigrants in New York elect Mamdani, they are flexing their muscles; it is only because of the confidence of bulk voting. Another reason in the New York Mayoral election was that faith-based classification enabled Muslims to be lumped together instead of being segregated according to their country of origin. Thus, unwittingly, Muslims from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Syria, India, and Africa were allowed to gang up and hold the system to ransom. Unified bulk voting on religious identity sealed the fate of the Whites. Change the rule, and the problem gets resolved, legally.
The major benefit of regular religious attendance on Fridays and Sundays, by Muslims and Christians respectively, is the gain of political mobilization. Those attending religious services get exposed to political information of interest to their religious communities, develop strong associational networks that facilitate mobilisation on election day, and develop a heightened sense of political efficacy through regular participation in congregational activities. Regular attendants of religious services are also likely to develop group consciousness, that is, they may increasingly self-identify as members of a distinct minority and vote to defend and promote the rights of their religious group. Mosques and churches provide organized opportunities and a regular meeting place for individuals to discuss and act upon their strategic designs to convert Hindus and capture key portfolios like home, education, PWD, and excise. Exposure to political affairs of direct interest to the Muslim community can be particularly valuable for compelling mosque attendants to vote for a particular party or candidate. Religious leaders often provide skewed scriptural interpretations that are conducive to political participation. Fiery sermons and regular activities within a circumscribed religious community increase the sense of group consciousness, a precondition for politicisation.
Politicized consciousness underpins the ‘linked fate’ hypothesis, according to which Muslims and Christians believe that political developments that alter the conditions of their religious group generally are bound to have an effect on them personally. Controversies surrounding the building of mosques and dargahs, by encroaching temple property, government lands, the compulsory wearing of the hijab in schools, colleges, and offices, the use of the Arabic language, the legitimacy of violence in the name of Islam, all increase the saliency of Muslim identity, stimulate group consciousness, and induce Muslims to mindlessly cooperate in bulk voting.
“As Western Europe’s Muslim communities continue to grow, so does their influence on electoral politics. For many electoral districts, parties can only win if they secure a large majority of the Muslim vote. This presents unique political challenges across Europe, since Muslim views on religion, tradition, and gender roles can differ dramatically from the majority electorate (Rafaela Dancygier explores this challenge in her new book, “Dilemmas of Inclusion: Muslims in European Politics,” published in September 2017 by Princeton University Press). What is true of Western Europe is also valid in India.
What will be needed is a fundamental legal renegotiation of the foundations of a democratic state. As of mid-2025, India’s population is estimated to be around 1.46 billion, with sources like the UN and World-o-meter placing it near 1,463,900,000 or slightly higher, making it the world’s most populous nation. India’s Parliament is bicameral, comprising the Lok Sabha (Lower House, max 552, currently ~543 elected members) and the Rajya Sabha (Upper House, currently ~245 members, 12 nominated). It is evident that for a population of this enormous magnitude, there is no fair representation in Parliament. The same is the case in State Assemblies and Local Bodies. Compounding the gross injustice is the spiteful, bulk voting practiced by foreign religions, and for this purpose, creating exclusive religious residential enclaves in every Parliamentary/ Assembly constituency. Is this a democracy? Elected representatives turn out to be unrepresentative of the electorate they serve. Continuation of this system will be disastrous and, in the days to come, become a Frankenstein, destroying civilizations, religions, communities, cultures, and languages.
“Researchers are especially concerned about the use of winner-take-all elections in highly polarized and diverse societies like the United States. As one global study of democratization concluded, “if any generalization about institutional design is sustainable,” it is that winner-take-all electoral systems “are ill-advised for countries with deep ethnic, regional, religious, or other emotional and polarizing divisions.” (Proportional representation, explained by Protect Democracy- December 05, 2023).
Mass killings by Islamists, whether at Bondi, Mumbai, New York, or frequent knife attacks in Europe, are periodic assessments of the Muslim community’s strength and the reaction of other communities to such attacks. Fanatic monarchies in the Middle East are instigating such attacks in democracies, capitalizing on their weak judicial systems, and exploiting human rights, minority rights, and biased media.
It is essential that sweeping electoral reforms are undertaken to protect democracies from being overrun by people professing a different ideology, faith, culture, language, and food habits. The First Past the Post System (FPPS), also known as the simple majority system or plurality system, whereby the candidate with even a simple single-digit majority in a constituency is declared elected, needs to be scrapped for the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies. India needs a new electoral system that is totally independent of any community’s population strength. The Government of India needs to appoint a high-level commission to study and recommend a new Representation of Peoples Act, that will take care of emerging threatening challenges.
Democracies need to ensure that no community threatens to overwhelm other communities, based on sheer population numbers. Can a mushrooming community change a democratic country? What happens in a democracy when the government becomes highly dependent on one mushrooming community? Will the systems of government, the responsiveness of government to its citizens, the strength of their institutions, and the vitality of democratic values be compromised because of the foreign ideology, religion, language, and customs practiced by one mushrooming community?
Let us not continue with a system that will make our posterity cry out, “Nobody knows anyone. Strangers come and violate you. Strangers come and cut your heart out. Strangers come and take your blood. Good God, who were those men? I never saw them before in my life!”
― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
3. The writer was appointed as an Election Observer by the Election Commission of India for five different elections.
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