Author: Anuradha Dutt
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: October 19, 2006
Introduction: Mulayam Singh Yadav has opened
the doors of Hardwar to Islamic festivities, showing utter disregard for Hindu
sentiments
In Malaysia, Islamic clerics and scholars
have criticised joint celebrations of two impending festivals, one Hindu and
the other Muslim. Diwali and Id-ul Fitr, which marks the end of fasting during
Ramzan, fall within three days of each other. The Government has refrained
from interfering in such observances so far though the outcry against them
is getting shriller by the day.
Some rabid Muslims have forbidden their community
from extending traditional greetings to Hindus, who are a significant minority
group in this multi-cultural society. These include an influential scholar,
Fauzi Mustaffar, head of the Islamic law department at Takaful Malaysia as
well as Harussani Zakaria, a top cleric, who is the mufti in Perak state and
a member of the National Fatwa Council. Non Muslims have understandably come
out against this show of fundamentalism.
Here, in Hardwar, one of the most important
Hindu pilgrimages, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav organised
an Iftar party at Har ki Paudi on the banks of the Ganga on October 14. The
event is being seen as a gimmick to woo Muslims, hitherto considered out of
bounds for them for religious purposes. Hardwar is reported to be officially
a Hindu holy site, with activities that offend religious sentiments being
prohibited under city bylaws.
Though about 30,000 Muslims live in the town,
it has no mosque. The nearest one is eight-km away at Jwalapur. Violations
invite penalty, either a fine or imprisonment, or both. In fact, the municipal
bylaws instituted by the colonial administrators in 1940 forbade Muslims from
living in Hardwar and building a mosque. Nor can meat and liquor be sold and
consumed.
The Samajwadi Party chief's opponents in the
Congress and the BJP view his choice of venue for the function as a calculated
move to consolidate his Muslim vote-bank. He has consistently played to the
minority gallery over the years, ignoring Hindu concerns. Now, by attempting
to open the doors of Hardwar to Islamic festivities, a sacrilege for many,
he appears to have taken on the onus of extending the frontiers of Islam into
Hinduism's most sacred precincts.
And the town's strategic location at the foot
of the Himalayas, along the Ganga, but adjacent to the Muslim-dominated Muzaffarnagar
and Bijnor, makes Mr Yadav's sharing of kebabs and the like with the faithful
more than simply a gesture of camaraderie. For, to the town's west is Saharanpur,
which harbours Deoband, the seat of Islamic learning. Nearby is Bareilly,
another centre of Islamic theology, that of the Barelvis. His eye is clearly
on the Muslim electorate that comprises 15 per cent of the total voters in
UP.
Soon after the party, Mr Yadav visited Malegaon
to commiserate with victims of the blasts. He is not alone in kow-towing to
the minority community, with appeals to spare Parliament attack mastermind,
Mohammed Afzal Guru, the death sentence marking minorityism of the most sinister
kind. Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, by first raising
this demand, has betrayed the trust reposed in him by the Indian state.
Since Parliament building symbolises the very
edifice of democracy, any assault on it is really a plan to subvert the nation.
Any ruling politician, who lobbies for clemency for the perpetrators of such
an attack on the plea that capital punishment is inhuman, should be removed
from office. Sadly, the UPA Government remains mute witnesses to these shenanigans,
which makes them suspect too for the electorate.
The Supreme Court, which bestowed the sentence,
finds itself defied by the political class at every turn. Whether it is the
issue of the proposed quota for OBCs or safeguarding India's interests by
awarding the harshest penalty to adversaries, the court's actions and orders
are constantly being stymied by politicians, driven by ulterior motives. Such
defiance serves to weaken the judiciary and makes the nation vulnerable to
outside interference. It is for this reason perhaps that Pakistan has been
trying to get Afzal Guru a pardon.
Since so many Indian leaders are similarly
inclined and they fear a Muslim backlash, the neighbouring country has dared
to influence a domestic matter. By constantly bending backwards in a bid to
please Muslims, a section of our ruling class may irrevocably barter our interests
for votes.
