Shouldn’t Muslims in India move beyond Batla, Ishrat and 2002?

“The Frustrated Indian” is little over 3 years old now and over half a million followers make it a very confusing yet an interesting place to be in. People of all types and varieties make all possible efforts to make themselves heard. They sometimes endorse the admin’s stand and sometimes reject it outright. In these confusing times, everyone wants his opinion to be endorsed. Muslims in India are an inseparable part of everything which is directly, indirectly or even remotely Indian. The Frustrated Indian is no exception. And as an admin, I see a certain cynicism that keeps the second religious majority of India little confined to themselves. Much of their cynicism can be credited to the fact that they get to read wrong news, wrong books, wrong national dailies in Hindi/Urdu and regional languages. Most of them focus on negativity. “A roadside ruffian slapping a passerby” is sold as “Hapless Muslim attacked by Hindu bully”. And the result of that is angst, panic and enmity. Muslim leaders and clergy have a domineering presence over the mindsets of an average Muslim. They keep propagating their paleolithic propaganda and the followers keep falling prey to it. I have observed that most Muslims in India are against Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS) and most of them don’t even know about it. They openly criticize its anti Muslim stand. Although RSS is not an anti Muslim organization but it is widely perceived as one by Muslim leaders. Opposing something is of course one’s fundamental choice but accepting the wisdom that comes from any reverend’s mouth is not a wise thing to do. The greatest gift of the human kind is the power to understand, reason and conclude. Sadly, we conclude without understanding and reasoning.

Another very noticeable aspect about the second religious majority of India is that they are often made to believe that they are victims by their leaders. 2002 Gujarat riots, Ishrat Jahan encounter, Batla house encounter have been discussed, re discussed, over discussed, debated, argued gazillion times. And the mere mention of these incidents makes them act orphaned. ‘1984’ which was a culpable homicide strangely isn’t discussed so frequently. Most Sikhs have gotten over it(that may be an assumption) and have decided to move ahead without playing the victim card. The apathy of Samajwadi Party for the Muzzafarnagar victims strangely doesn’t become that big an issue. And the hundreds of riots that took place in Congress’s regime stay forgotten. Godhra and Gujarat keep echoing and the magnitude increases manifolds during the election times.

Congress Party and some of its regional allies are considered as Messiahs by Muslims in India . The truth is that socio-economic status of Muslims in India has registered a very slow growth. The Congress led government tries its best to showcase its pro minority stand but the reality is drastically different. In spite of so many Muslim universities, schools, scholarship programs, reservations, welfare schemes the results are far from satisfactory. Do we have a regulatory authority that can validate the schemes of the Government? Do we have any way to find out the difference between proposed ideas and implemented ones? No. And hence what they say becomes gospel truth for them. And hey! What happened to Sachar commission? This indeed is a sad aspect. And since most of the Muslims in India support Congress, they oppose the Bhartiya Janata Party. Why? Because they are anti Muslim. Who says that? The Muslim leaders and Clergy says that the Congress party seconds the same. The resistance of the Muslims in India for BJP is so strong that they side with any party which can keep BJP away from power. Aam Aadmi Party, the new kid on the block has a healthy number of Muslim patrons. Most of whom want it to decelerate BJP’s pace. Some of course are closet Congress supporters and declaring the same in public is not a wise thing to do.

To conclude I’d say Muslims in India should stop paying heed to the leaders that try victimizing them. India is an equal opportunity provider to everyone regardless of his caste or religion(The reservation thing holds true of course). They need to give the clergymen a little break and take the control in their own hands. They need to stop worshiping political parties and stop hating them too. They need to be more positive about them and the ones that they share their place with. They need to read about Azeem Premji and A R Rehman and APJ Abdul Kalam. Muslims and Hindus together make this nation one of the most culturally rich nation on the planet and it’s high time both of them say goodbye to their prejudices and pave the path for cultural and religious harmony.

Image Courtesy:- www.muslimmirror.com

Note: This article in no way intends to defame any caste or religion nor does it intends to stereotype the same. Apologies if the article hurt your sentiments.