Ram Puniyani
From 2002 Gujarat carnage Gujarat in particular and India in
general has seen the rise of Narendra Modi on the political firmament. His
propaganda machinery has given him the image whereby he is regarded as the
‘development man, non corrupt, strong and all that. A substantial section of
society has bought this propaganda uncritically. Modi asserted himself within
BJP to be named as the Chairman of their election campaign committee of 2014
and in turn giving the overt hints that he is the Prime Ministerial candidate
from the side of BJP-NDA. Pursuing this path he has begun organizing conclaves
to woo the Muslim community. He has been advising the BJP people that they
should try to reach the minorities. As a step in that direction a conclave was
organized in Ahmadabad with nearly 200 activists, scholars of different
persuasions (June 2013). Thirty of these were Muslims. Many a Muslim
leaders/activists/scholars were invited but many of them turned down the insistent invitations
from the organizers arguing that it is an attempt by Modi to get credibility by
inviting the Muslim leaders to his meeting. No community and group are uniform.
Some of Muslim leaders turned up for the sessions, one of them Syed Zafar
Mahmood attended the meeting and gave a detailed presentation. Before the
meeting when Mahmood was asked how come he is attending the meeting as he has
been critical of the policies of Modi? He replied that this question should be
asked after he has said what he had to say in the meeting. Mahmood has been the
Officer on Special duty for Sachar committee and is currently the chairman of
Jakat Foundation of India.
His argument in
attending the meeting might have been that it is an opportunity to present the
plight of his community to Modi and use this space to articulate the grievances
of his community. The presentation made by Mahmood was comprehensive, well
researched and gave the picture of the community and criticized the BJP for its
various policies. He also advised the BJP as to what they should be doing in
coming times. In nutshell he said that the BJP’s is ideologically opposed to
Muslims. For Mahmood it was not just a question of asking for justice and
constitutional rights for the deprived Muslims of India. He quoted from BJP
website to show the anti Muslim stance of BJP at various levels. For example,
he pointed out that one of essays on website of BJP titled “Hindutva: The Great
Nationalist Ideology” was “full of hate and provocations against Muslims.”
Then, he pointed out another essay, with headline, ‘Give us this day our sense
of mission’ written by MV Kamath was a “call to Muslims to adopt Hindu names
and [for] Muslim women to wear the mangal sutra (a black thread with ornaments
to show that a women is married, worn by hindu women in some parts of India).”
The third one quoted by him titled `Semitic Monotheism’, saw Muslims and Islam
as a problem. This essay posits “We must realize that we have a problem on hand
in India, the problem of a stagnant and conservative Islamic society. A
national effort is called for to break Islamic exclusivism and enshrine the
assimilative Hindutva.”
So far so good all these points are valid as they are blatantly anti Muslim.
Presenting the plight of Muslim community, he demanded for implementation of
schemes and measures for alleviation of the condition of Muslim minorities. He
asked Mr. Modi to implement various demands the major one of which has been
implementation of Sachar Committee recommendations. It is to be noted that
Gujarat is one of the states which has been returning the scholarship for
Muslim students. Incidentally another BJP Chief Minister has declared that he
will not implement these recommendations. Mahmood also presented the plight of
Muslim community, in Ahmadabad itself.
One concedes that the points made by Mahmood are on the dot. The issue lies
somewhere else. Whatever he said is a common knowledge. Many an activists,
writer has been pleading from roof tops about the worsening plight of Muslim
community in Gujarat. The ghettoisation of Muslim community, the lack of access
to banking and educational facilities and pushing them out from the common
stream of society have all been well documented. Many reports, articles and
books devoted to this topic are struggling to grab the attention of society and
political leaders as such. Modi, more than others is aware of this all round
marginalization of Muslim community. His Sadbhavna fasts also showed his
refusal to accept the diversity of India, the cap offered by Muslim cleric was
refused while he adorned all multi designed head gears given by others. His
discrimination against Muslim community is too well known.
Irrespective of the claims that Muslims in Gujarat are
comparatively better off, the truth is that Gujarat was a state where the
condition of Muslims had been better than in other parts of India. What one
observed with the ascendance of Modi and his iron like grip over the matters of
Gujarat state is the worsening plight of Muslim in particular and also of
Christians to some extent.
Muslims of Gujarat have known Modi too well for the last twelve
years. They are the victims of Modi’s fascist and communal policies. Modi
led the 2002 genocide from the front. So what did Mahmood achieve in
telling Modi what he inherently knows and what the Muslim community is
suffering. One understands that while Modi apparently told Mahmood that he will
consider Mahmood’s points, Mahmood’s speech was blacked out. On the contrary
Modi has been the victor in his attempt to gain legitimacy from the section of
Muslim leadership. Dr. Bandookwala, one of the foremost human rights
activists from Gujarat, who has been the victim of carnage itself, points out
“Right now he (Modi) is obsessed with becoming Prime
Minister. That is not possible with strong Muslim opposition. And so there
is desperation to appear in public with prominent Muslims, to showcase his
acceptability to all Muslims. Sadly our leaders have given him a golden
chance, in the naive belief that he must be told what the community feels. Does
Zafar Mahmood think we Gujarat Muslims have not spoken on these issues in print
and on TV, repeatedly over the last eleven years?”
Modi’s choosing of this time to hold these meetings with a
section of Muslim leadership should have alerted the likes of Mahmood, whose
naïve approach that it is chance to express our demands is of no use as the
real trick being played by Modi is to gain credibility and to win over elements
from Muslim community, the way he lured Zafar Sareshwala a businessman who is
now serving the cause of Modi in a most loyal fashion. While Mahmood seems to
have done some homework by going to the website of BJP and picking up some of
the essays with anti-Muslim tone, what else did he expect? The practice of BJP,
the political child of RSS, has constantly shown its anti Muslim orientation
through the issues which it has taken up all through, the ones’ like Ram Temple
leading to demolition of Babri demolition, the one like cow slaughter ban, the
ones like freedom of religion bills. One has to know BJP is a part of RSS; the
BJP is manned by the swayamsevaks trained by RSS, Modi being one of them. What
does RSS want, Hindu Nation. What was its role in freedom movement-a total
absence and criticizing the freedom movement as being merely anti British! What
type of Constitution does it want? Why did BJP led NDA went for review of
Constitution?
There are stark observations and ample literature on the agenda
of RSS and its progeny. Modi’s temporary mask of trying to reach to Muslim
community is the chameleon like behavior. It is an attempt with the elections
of 2014 in mind, a mask is being tried to woo over the minorities. Giving
importance to these attempts and to attend their conclaves and meetings may
give a moments fame to the one’s attending them, few TV appearances and
interviews, they can also be satisfied that they have made their point, but it
is an extremely retrograde step for the community. It is like the leaders of
Jews calling upon Hitler and telling him that they are being subjected to gas
chambers and expecting that they have made the point. It is time that minority
communities go beyond the obvious and introspect about the agenda of RSS, which
is out to intimidate and subjugate minorities and other weaker sections of
society. Some readings into the books like, ‘We or Nation Hood
defined’, which praises Hitlers methods vis a vis minorities or Bunch of
Thoughts which label Muslims, Christians and Communists as internal threat to
Hindu nation, by the ex- RSS Chief Golwalkar may work as an eye opening stimulus
for those who still think that BJP can change its long term agenda and that
making a point at Modi conclave will change BJP policies towards religious
minorities!
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