Author: H.V. Seshadri
Publication: Organiser
Date: November 3, 2002
Introduction: what connection is
there between some incident somewhere in the world and the Muslim mobs
indulging in aggression on Hindus, their property, religious places and
destroying public property in our country. No, there is no connection,
no logic, no local provocation whatsoever. In fact, none of these are needed.
Mostly, the local Muslim politician provokes his religious henchmen for
such acts, evidently for further strengthening his extremist hold upon
them.
This happened, I believe, some 30-35
years back. A book, Religious Leaders, by Thomas and Thomas was published
in Europe. And what happened next was Muslim riots that broke out in our
country-in Bombay and elsewhere. As usual, the rioters began attacking
Hindus, torching their shops and destroying public property.
Again, now one Baptist church minister,
Jerry Falwel, it seems, made some adverse comments about Prophet Mohammed
in a recent television interview in New York. Soon enough, on Friday (11.10.2002)
dagger wielding Muslim rioters came out on the streets in Sholapur, Maharashtra.
Papers described it as a major riot leaving eleven dead and 125 injured
and at least 20 shops gutted in arson. A couple of Navaratri Pandals were
damaged-one of them right in front of a police station! A BJP leader's
house was also attacked.
In between these two, how many similar
incidents took place, I do not know. One may wonder, what connection is
there between some incident somewhere in the world and the Muslim mobs
indulging in aggression on Hindus, their property, religious places and
destroying public property in our country. No, there is no connection,
no logic, no local provocation whatsoever. In fact, none of these are needed.
Mostly, the local Muslim politician provokes his religious henchmen for
such acts, evidently for further strengthening his extremist hold upon
them. And his flock follows him like robots. But why should they at all
fall a prey to such power-mad politician's machinations? The obvious reason,
one feels, is that they are already indoctrinated; the Holy Quran, the
local mullah or maulvi must have told them, commands them as to how to
behave towards the kafirs. Neither the politician who is cocksure about
his flock's implicit 'faith' in him nor his flock need any further logic.
When our Constitution was framed,
both Pt. Nehru and Sardar Patel had waxed eloquent that the 'minority ghost'
had been laid to rest forever, never to raise its head again in free Bharat.
In fact, when a Muslim League member's demand for separate electorates
was rejected outright, he remarked that such a step would entail the loss
of younger brother's love. To this, Sardar Patel had cut him short by replying,
"Do not speak of the younger brother's love, we have seen enough of it."
And we know only too well how "the
younger brother's love" crystallized in Muslim League had been manifested
prior to and during the gory partition days. Now, the mantle of the League's
leadership of the Muslim masses has been, it seems, taken over by the 'secularist'
parties. The very first test vis-à-vis whether Sardar Patel's cutting
remarks denoted any radical change in the attitude of Congress-the then
all-round ruling party in the country-came about sooner than expected.
And to the great relief of the Muslim leaders they very soon found that
there was no such fear. The incident in early fifties bears repetition
if only because it sets the key- note of the trend of political leadership
of the 'secularist' brand in free Bharat. Congress had gone in for alliance
with the 'younger brother' Muslim League in Kerala to defeat the Communists
at the Assembly elections, which was due to take place shortly. When the
pressmen queried Pt. Nehru whether the Congress was justified in joining
hands with such a notoriously fanatic communal party which had caused the
partition of the country he had replied, "The present League is a new one
and not the old one." But to his great misfortune the then League's President
Mohommed Islamil issued a statement on the very next day that the "present
League is the same as the old one"!
At the level of riots also the fanatic
Muslim leadership found soon enough that the Government was bending backwards
to accommodate its aggressive anti-Hindu tactics. The police would invariably
restrict or change the routes of Hindu religious processions avoiding Muslim
majority areas or mosques on the roadside.
How the hold of local Muslim political
leadership is crucial in all such matters also became evident just last
year in Bangalore. A nearly 40,000 strong RSS swayamsevaks' camp was held
on the northern outskirts of the city. About half of that number was to
pass through a locality densely populated with Muslims. The city police
commissioner Shri Sangliana, a very able impartial IPS from Mizoram, tried
to dissuade the RSS leadership from passing through that locality. On his
part, he knew well enough that the RSS men would never indulge in any provocative
slogan or act on their part. However, the local Congress MP Zaffar Sherif,
who had earlier visited the camp during its preparatory days, came to the
rescue of the police and assured that there would be absolutely no trouble
and the RSS route march could safely pass through that locality. (Shri
Sherif says with pride that he had attended the RSS shakha in his home
town, Chitradurga in Karnataka.)
But the question is: Do we find
such sober Muslim political leadership at present all over the country?
Of course, "No". In that case, is there really any other alternative except
to deal with rabidly fanatical politicians and the localities that harbour
such jehadi groups with such a firm hand that it must serve as a never-to-be-forgotten
lesson for them? Evidently, this must be done by the law-enforcing authorities,
irrespective of the political colour of the local ruling party. But in
the present state of affairs, do we really find such strictly impartial
law-enforcing police force able to keep itself aloof from political interference?
The emphatic one word reply is "No". Under these circumstances, if the
Hindus honestly feel pained at heart and wish to live in honour and security,
they will have to bear the responsibility of en-bloc opposing such political
parties in any kind of future election and not falling into the political
trap of appeal to caste or sect or any kind of favour by such parties.
On the contrary, if they fail in this primary test of a living society,
it will be at the cost of their lives and property and sanctity of their
holy religious places. Let them beware!
