Prabuddha: Journal of Social Equality (2018) 1: 78-104 Contesting Communalism(s): Preliminary Reflections on Pasmanda Muslim Narratives from North India Khalid Anis Ansari Abstract: The purpose of this study is not to contribute directly to questions of why, how or what of communalism but rather to employ the extant body of knowledge to represent and interpret the articulations advanced by activists associated with the Pasmanda 1 movement—a movement of subordinated caste Muslims in India. The movement aspires to organize various subordinated Muslim castes, 2 which form about eighty percent of India’s largest Muslim minority, in order to challenge the hegemony of the high caste ashrāf or sharīf Muslims. The Pasmanda movement has complicated the politics around Islam and Muslim (minority) identity, which has been seen as monolithic in public discourse. The movement, claiming to represent the concerns of Bahujan Muslims drawn mostly from artisan or working-class background, has challenged the fascination of old Muslim elite with cultural and symbolic issues. In marked contrast, the Pasmanda activists have foregrounded organic social issues related to everyday struggles for survival thereby creating a new counterhegemonic discursive space. Khalid Anis Ansari: khalidanisansari@gmail.com I would like to thank my friends and colleagues Shafiullah Anis and Ayaz Ahmad for their comments on an earlier draft of this paper. 1 Pasmanda, a Persian term meaning ‘those who have been left behind’ refers to Backward-Shudra, Dalit- Atishudra and Adivasi (tribal or forest-dwelling) Muslim communities. In Arabic terminology, these sections among Muslims are pejoratively referred to as ajlāf (base or mean) and arzāl (degraded) in contrast to higher caste ashrāf or sharīf (honourable) Muslims. 2 Indian Muslims comprise of about 705 biradaris (castes) according to the ASIs ‘People of India’ project (Jairath, 2011, p. 20). 78