Because of the fact that in the past the ruling class parties in India like the Congress and the centrist parties did not honour their verbal commitment to true secularism, Muslims, the largest religious minority in India remain an oppressed community. And now an avowedly communal ruling class party, the BJP has come to power at the centre. Therefore Muslims are very much concerned about the fate of secularism in this country. In fact after Babri Masjid demolition, Muslims showed as if they lost faith in Indian state and polity. This shows that they are, as a community, potential ally of the new democratic revolution in India. Realising this, the party has taken this extra-ordinary step to form Inquilabi Muslim Conference. Unprecedented in communist history of India, this step, however, has to be taken in a measured way. Therefore the organisation has been limited to Bihar, where we have a strong presence in the peasant movement and also a significant presence in the state political arena.

In the face of communal onslaught, to defend itself the Muslim community does show certain obscurant or retrogressive trends. Under this pressure they overlook the questions of democracy and criminalisation and rally around a saviour coming up under the banner of Congress or centrist party. This has impeded the process of democratic politicisation within the community. In order to break this trend Inquilabi Muslim Conference has, while fighting against cases of communal oppression, endeavoured for spreading revolutionary-democratic ideas among the community. The objective of Inquilabi Muslim Conference is encourage Muslims to participate in the national political life entering into its mainstream as a revolutionary-democratic force.

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