Caste is one of the important markers of Indian society, including the Muslim community in India. As an asymmetrical hierarchical ordering, caste informs concentration of political power in the hands of the upper caste Muslims. This Muslim elite, projects Muslims as a monolithic entity and denounces caste as an aberration rather than the norm in Indian society. However, over the last decade, this representation has increasingly been challenged by assertions from lower caste Muslims. This paper tries to understand the trajectory and political agenda of such a low caste articulation in North India. Called the All India Muslim Pasmanda Mahaz, for over a decade now, it has tried to critique the Ashraf (upper caste) dominated Muslim politics in India. The paper argues that in order that the Mahaz develops as a counter-hegemonic force in Indian Muslim politics, it has to consistently critique the social and religious articulation of Ashraf dominance, something which has not been successfully delivered by the Mahaz so far.
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Arshad Alam (2009) studied this question.