Author: M.V. Kamath
Publication: Oraganiser
Date: May 23, 2004
Introduction: Communal tensions
can be handled not by substituting Hinduism with secularism but by replacing
a corrupt and rotten secularism with a genuinely pluralistic and satisfying
Hinduism. As a distinguished educationist, Dr Makarand Paranjpe recently
noted, "what we have so far had is a rotten secularism weakening and undermining
an already embattled Hindu tradition by the politics of militant minoritarianism."
Are we at that stage in our history
when Hindu-Muslim riots will henceforth become a thing of the past and
both communities will live happily at peace with each other? Cross your
fingers, but it just seems possible. In howsoever a measured way, Muslims
are coming to trust Hindus. And credit, perhaps, should be given to Prime
Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. He has been going out of his way to plead
with the Muslims to forget the past and to come out of their shells. And
the Muslim response has been heartening. For years it has pleased the Congress
to paint those parties opposed to it as being communal and, by definition,
anti-Muslim. It suited the Congress to do so for it ensured for itself
the Muslim vote en bloc.
The point was well made when a notable
Muslim cleric, who had seen through the Congress game, recently told the
media: "We have been taught to hate the BJP. The Congress and others used
us for 50 years as a vote-bank. We will no longer tolerate it." The cleric,
Maulana Sayyad Ali Zahir Hussaini had the support of several others like
Maulana Sayyed Ali Abbas Rizvi, Maulana Yusuf Hussain, Imam Sadiq and the
Shia leader, Prof. Jaffar Sadiq of Arabic College in Navi Mumbai. Yet another
Muslim leader, Muhammad Ahmed Nissar, told the media that many more were
now becoming supportive of the BJP and he mentioned the names of Shahi
Imam Bukhari of Delhi, Sayyad Janul Abdul of Barelli, former Aligarh Muslim
University Vice-Chancellor, Mohamud-ur-Rehman and Khwaja Iftekar-Ahmed,
national convenor of the Atal Behari Vajpayee Himayat Committee.
Indeed, as recently as April 24,
Syed Ahmed Bukhari, the Shahi Imam of Delhi´s Jama Masjid openly
stepped up his support to the BJP saying that it should be given a chance
considering that "so-called secular parties like Congress and Samajwadi
Party have only given false promises to the minority community and exploited
it emotionally". While the Shahi Imam was fully aware of the recent riots
in Gujarat, he also said that "the Congress has been responsible for 36,000
riots in Gujarat during the last fifty years". No doubt referring to Vajpayee´s
speech on April 22 at Kishanganj, when the Prime Minister lamented the
Gujarat riots, the Shahi Imam said while top BJP leaders have condemned
the Gujarat riots as a blot on the nation and apologised for the Babri
Masjid demolition, no such statement had come from the Congress to date.
It is clear that there is now a
lot of positive thinking going on in top Islamic circles in India. As Muhammad
Ahmed Nissar told the media, Muslims enjoy "much more religious freedom
in India than in many Islamic countries". And more and more Muslims are
coming to realise that during the half a century of Congress rule, there
have been literally scores of riots, many of which have been graphically
described by M.J. Akbar in his recent book Riot After Riot. After fifty
years of Independence, the time obviously has come to see Hindu-Muslim
relationships in a new light. And the obvious approach should be one of
giving up violence for all time to come and under all circumstances.
That teamwork between Hindus and
Muslims was eminently possible was stressed by Vajpayee when he pointed
out the presence of three Muslim cricketers in the Indian team which visited
Pakistan recently. Muslims they were, but they were Indians to the core
and moreover were seen as such. And if Irfan Pathan turned out to be such
a success, it was because he was given the chance to show his talent. He
was not left out. It was to that that Vajpayee indirectly referred to when
he said that the Muslim should never feel left out and that he would fight
any attempt to divide them "as otherwise the country would not progress".
As the Prime Minister put it: "We should work in a way that the future
generations would recall that we toiled for an India in which every religion
is secure and has an equal status." This, too, is being appreciated by
Muslim leaders as shown by
-to quote Muhammad Ahmed Nissar
again -when he said: "If a political party approaches us as human beings
and not just as voters, we will respond in a like manner."
The trouble is that for decades
the Congress and Leftist parties deliberately tried to project a professedly
Hindu party as being anti-Muslim. What was forgotten was that a Hindu,
by definition, is secular, as Shivaji in his time so brilliantly showed.
After being in power for five years, the BJP has shown that it is every
inch conscious of its responsibilities as the protector of all people and
it is for all people now to give the BJP credit for it. Hindu-Muslim tensions,
such as they are, can be handled effectively through mutual understanding.
But the first thing that both communities must accept is that futurely
there will be no violence and no riots, no matter what the provocation
or who starts it all. What Gandhiji preached in another context must now
become standard behaviour in all public activities. Communal tensions can
be handled not by substituting Hinduism with secularism but by replacing
a corrupt and rotten secularism with a genuinely pluralistic and satisfying
Hinduism. As a distinguished educationist, Dr Makarand Paranjpe recently
noted, "what we have so far had is a rotten secularism weakening and undermining
an already embattled Hindu tradition by the politics of militant minoritarianism."
This has to change. As Dr Paranjpe put it: "A politics of cooperation and
mutual responsibility needs to replace a politics of opposition and mutual
hatred. And here, a sensitive and responsive majority looks towards a courageous
and unselfish minority to take the lead."
As was noted earlier, that process
has begun. And the Congress stands exposed. It was the Congress with its
bogus concept of secularism which built the wall between Hindus and Muslims.
It served Congress purposes to let the wall stand. And the Muslims failed
to see through the Congress strategy. This led to violence everywhere and
the more the violence, the more it served the Congress purpose. It is only
a truly Hindu party with strong roots among the majority of people who
can give the necessary security to any minority. Secularism only irks the
majority and makes it unreasonable.
It is secularism that leads to violence
as has been so frequently seen in the last five decades. Secularism pitches
Hindus against Muslims and vice versa. It is time this bogus secularism
is thrown out of the window, and Muslims come to realise that their progress
-as indeed the nation´s progress -is best attained through understanding
and appreciation of majoritarian concerns. When that happens, Hindus and
Muslims can work wonders as was beautifully illustrated by the Indian team,
one of whose heroes turned out to be a Muslim, none else. When Hindus and
Muslims work together, they have the world at their feet. Rightly, the
slogan in future should be: 'Say No to Violence´ at all times and
in all circumstances.
