State Strategy for Development and Welfare of Muslims in India

STATE STRATEGY FOR DEVELOPMENT AND WELFARE OF MUSLIMS IN INDIA
FOCUS ON EDUCATION, EMPLOYMENT, CREDIT FLOW AND EMPOWERMENT

Abusaleh Shariff
National Council of Applied Economic Research
New Delhi – 110 002

Perspective
India is a vast country with varying levels of human development performance among its different states and social groups. India also has one of the largest Muslim populations in the world (102 million), next only to Indonesia. According to the 1991 census, 688 million Hindus, 102 million Muslims, 20 million Christians, 16 million Sikhs, 6 million Buddhists and 3 million Jains live in India. Of the total population of India, Hindus form 82 per cent, Muslims 12 per cent, Christians 2 per cent, Sikhs a little below 2 per cent, and Buddhists less than 1 per cent1. 64.5 per cent of Indian Muslims stay in rural India while 35.5 per cent live in urban areas. More Muslims stay in rural areas in the higher concentration states, while the urban Muslim population is much higher in states which have a lower percentage of Muslims.2

The concept of human development, as put forward in the Human Development Reports of the UNDP define human development as a process of increasing people’s choices by providing them with education, health and employment opportunities. A wider definition of Human Development (Shariff, 2000),3 suggests the following :

· Expanding choices for people so that they can independently decide ways and means to achieve material well-being within the context of the socio-political and economic systems prevalent in a country.

· Creating an ‘enabling environment’ so that the potential of individual human beings comes to the fore for the benefit of humanity and the country in particular.

· Generate equity and equality of opportunity and standard of living among all sections of the population.

However if one looks at literature with regard to the status of Indian Muslims, one finds that Muslims in India have a poor human development status. Widespread illiteracy, low income, irregular employment - implying thereby a high incidence of poverty are all pervasive among the Muslims.

However, this is not to suggest that the status of all Muslims is dismal or that Muslims present a single monolithic picture. Within the community there are wide socio-economic diversities. They have independent needs and these needs vary from state to state , region to region. Therefore, it would be in the interest of the nation as well as of the Muslim community if any welfare measure for the Muslims is considered in the overall framework of India and not remain confined and be seen only as a ‘Muslim’ problem. However it must be kept in mind that identity needs are important for all social groups and the programmes planned for each community must be in some sense unique to the community, keeping their needs and sensitivities in mind, especially at the micro level, even while the nation is kept in mind.

Education
Education, an important indicator of human development, merits attention in this attempt to understand the Muslim position in India, and for any welfare measures to be chalked out for them. While the census reports remain silent – revealing nothing regarding the status of Muslims vis-à-vis education, the few studies that are available are pointers to the backward position Muslims occupy in the field of education. Based on inferences drawn on the basis of data collected by some sample surveys, Massey (1998)4 concludes that the literacy level among the Muslims is on an average 10 per cent less than the National level. (5) According to the Annual Report for 1998-99 of the National Commission for Minorities (untabled)6

‘The enormous Muslim population of India is terribly under-represented in all public services both at the National and State levels. Their presence in general education institution of the country is also much below their population ratio – and is often found to be nil. Education backwardness is both the main cause and the inevitable effect of under-representation of the Muslims in public employment and resource generating bodies . . .’

The educational policies and its practice have been seen as threatening by the Indian Muslims after independence. Rejection of Urdu, the discrimination in gaining admissions, non recognition of minority institutions, the unsecular school culture, the text books which contain material repugnant to the beliefs of Muslims and their inherent bias, and a host of other such inclusions have been perceived by Muslims in India to be a threat to their identity. This perhaps could be an important reason for Indian Muslims opting out of education or else preferring to send their children to traditional centres of education. Increase in the number of Muslim managed educational institutions after 1947 also bears this out. This is also supported by the NCAER data which shows that while 70.3% of Hindu children in the age group 6-14 years of age go to government schools, the percentage of Muslim children going to government schools is only 49.5%, which, according to the NCAER report, could well be due to the medium of instruction and the content of the school curricula7. The table 1 presents the levels of literacy of 7+ population and ever enrolment rate by social groups. It is observed that the literacy rate is low (49%) among Muslims in comparison with Hindu (53%), Christians (81 %) and other minorities (54%) . However, it is higher than the literacy rate of Scheduled caste(42%) and Scheduled tribes(39 %). It is to be noted that the gender disparity is also low among Muslims in comparison with Hindu, Scheduled caste, and scheduled tribes, but higher than the gender disparity among Christians and other minorities. A similar pattern is observed in case of enrolment.

Table 1
Literacy and Enrolment Rate by Population Groups

Social Groups Literacy Rate(7 yrs and above) Gender
disparityin Literacy Ever Enrolment Rate(6-14) years
Gender disparityin Enrolment
Persons Male Female Persons Male Female
Caste
STs 39.3 51.4 26.0 0.51 60.3 67.6 51.5 0.76
SCs 41.5 53.4 28.2 0.53 62.5 69.6 54.7 0.79

Religion
Hindus 53.3 65.9 39.2 0.59 72.0 78.1 65.1 0.83
Muslims 49.4 59.5 38.0 0.64 61.6 66.2 56.6 0.85
Christians 80.8 85.0 76.5 0.90 91.3 90.7 92.1 1.02
Other Minorities 53.8 62.9 43.8 0.70 78.5 83.2 73.6
0.88
Source: India Human Development Report, 1999

Not only at the all-India level but at the state-level as well the literacy rate of Muslims is below that of the Hindus (Table 2). However, this rate is not uniform, varying according to different states. Among the five States the literacy rate for Muslims is the lowest in the state of Uttar Pradesh (35%) and highest in Kerala (86.9%). The Muslim literacy rate is lower than that of the Hindus in all the states except Karnataka where it is higher than that of the Hindus by nearly 4%, i.e. 58.6% whereas literacy rate for Hindus is 54.4%. In West Bengal and U.P. the literacy rate for Muslims falls below that of the SC’s population or is comparable to them, with the Muslim men’s literacy level being below that of SC men in both the States.

If one looks carefully at the data one finds that both UP and Bengal suggest a different picture as compared to the all-India figure. While the literacy figures for Muslims in both Bihar and Kerala are lower than that for Hindus, the percentage difference in both the states is same, i.e. 1.3% and is marginal. However, the differential in both UP and Bengal is much greater being 13.2% and 8.9% respectively. The same kind of differential can be observed when one looks at the ever enrollment rate (see Table 2). The differential between Hindus and Muslims is greater in UP and West Bengal, as compared to the other states of Kerala and Bihar.

Table 2

Literacy and Ever Enrolment Rate (6-14)

Literacy Ever Enrolment Rate
All M F All M F
BIHAR 44.0 56.6 28.8 59.0 64.7 51.2
Hindu 44.5 57.6 29.1 59.9 85.2 76.1
SC 27.1 37.5 15.3 44.1 51.0 35.9
ST 30.5 43.3 16.6 46.0 52.0 39.7
Muslim 43.2 54.6 29.2 54.5 59.5 48.0
Xian - - - - - -

UP 47.0 62.0 28.3 64.2 73.2 53.4
Hindu 48.2 64.0 29.3 66.4 75.8 55.0
SC 32.4 48.1 13.7 53.5 66.0 36.7
ST 33.6 46.5 16.0 53.6 60.6 41.3
Muslim 35.0 47.1 20.2 49.7 56.4 41.4
Xian - - - - - -

KERALA 90.0 93.0 86.5 98.6 99.2 98.0
Hindu 88.2 92.2 84.3 98.7 99.4 97.8
SC 77.4 82.6 72.2 97.2 97.3 97.2
ST - - - - - -
Muslim 86.9 90.4 84.1 97.7 99.1 96.5
Xian 94.8 96.2 93.4 99.4 98.7 100

BENGAL 59.0 66.3 49.9 66.1 67.0 65.1
Hindu 61.0 69.1 52.1 69.8 71.3 68.4
SC 54.5 62.5 46.0 65.7 66.8 64.6
ST 49.1 59.1 38.1 51.0 53.0 47.5
Muslim 52.1 59.3 44.4 57.9 57.2 58.6
Xian - - - - - -

KARA. 55.0 65.1 43.9 77.9 80.6 75.1
Hindu 54.4 64.9 43.0 77.4 79.9 74.8
SC 40.1 49.3 30.2 66.1 69.1 63.1
ST - - - - - -
Muslim 58.6 66.8 49.6 81.9 87.2 76.5
Xian - - - - - -
Source: Azra and Anil Gumber ,2000.

Coming to specific aspects, education and professional training are the basic needs of the Muslims in India. Hence universalisation of elementary education - a constitutional commitment - must be effectively and immediately introduced.

For this purpose the following steps are imperative:

· Providing schooling facilities for all sections of the population is the responsibility of the state. The state cannot shirk it’s duty by quoting the provision of article 28 and 30, whenever education for Muslims is mentioned.

· Special care should be taken while providing for establishing schools and colleges in Muslim concentration areas.

· Establishment of all girls school in areas, which are conservative and have a larger concentration of Muslims.

· Appointment of female teachers in schools serving particularly a Muslim population.

· Revision of textbooks and the school curriculum - to ensure that it is free from bias and from all controversial and objectionable material. Teaching material which is considered to be repugnant to the beliefs of any community should be done away with.

· Introduction of multicultural education as part of the curriculum of teacher training colleges, which include components, which will instill sensitivity among teachers towards members of different communities. This would help in making schools less alien for children coming from different backgrounds.

· Granting recognition to educational institutions set up by the community without any hurdles. However these institutions should be looked upon as supplementing government efforts and not as a replacement of government initiative. Wherever there are inadequate facilities some concession in terms of quality could be given to these institutions as a temporary arrangement for a fixed duration of time. While quality is of vital importance, sacrificing expansion in the name of quality may not be justified. What is being implied here is that it is better to have schools, which maybe not be so well equipped, rather than wait around for ‘quality ‘ schools wherever there are inadequate facilities.

· Making schooling and the curriculum relevant to the needs of the community.

· Removing the stipulation requiring Minority managed educational institutions to have only 50% seats reserved for their community, the other being open seats (as given in the St. Stephen’s judgement).One needs to remember why articles 28 and 30 have been provided for in the Constitution. They were essentially meant to ensure that the identity needs of different communities would be met. The introduction of a stipulation whereby 50% of the seats are denied to the specific community militates against the very spirit of what these articles stood for. Besides would it be fair to ask communities who have set up these institutions with their own resources to also now be responsible to meet the educational requirements of other communities besides their own?

· There should be flexibility regarding the school uniform for all communities, to be able to modify it according to the sensitivity of the community. Uniform should not become the reason why certain children don't go to school. Many western countries have accepted the need for different communities to dress differently and have accordingly given in, allowing for flexibility with regard to school uniform.

· Primary education to the children should be given through their Mother Tongue - if necessary, by aggregating them horizontally in some schools in some sections, if a particular linguistic group in a given area is small.

· Maktabs and madarsas continue to have an important place in Muslim societies as they meet certain religious and educational needs of the community. Over the years these institutions too have been subjecting themselves to scrutiny as a result of which a number of changes have come about, keeping in view the needs of the time. Besides, not all products of these institutions become muftis, qazis or imams. To widen the scope of employment for its products a number of madarsahs have planned their courses of study in such a manner as to facilitate the entry of its students into so called mainstream education at a number of terminal points – elementary , secondary, higher secondary and even at the degree level. The government. scheme of modernization of madarsas has been ill conceived undermining the very raison d’etre of the madarsas. Such interventions can only be counter productive. In any case any scheme of the government intervention in madarsas should not suggest that the government has fulfilled its commitment towards the Muslim community nor provide an alibi for the state not to establish regular schools in Muslim concentration areas. Rather the government should facilitate easy entry of madarsa graduates into mainstream education at a number of terminal points in a large number of institutions across the country, not remaining confined to institutions the Aligarh Muslim University or the Jamia Millia Islamia.

· Another area of importance is vocational and technical training. There is an urgent need for establishing facilities in Muslim concentration areas - as part of the general programme for promotion of technical training. Muslims should also receive equitable share in the benefits of such micro-schemes as TRYSEM at the Panchayat level.

· A more significant area is professional educational. Reservation based on the proportion of population in a given and defined area, not only for Muslims but for all identifiable backward communities (or castes or classes), without diluting the minimum admission requirements, is the need of the hour.

Employment Opportunities and Economic Participation

While the educational backwardness of Muslims in post-independence India is now an accepted fact, with the government openly declaring in 19868 that Muslim and neo-Buddhists were educationally backward – their economic situation is no better. number of studies on the occupation and work participation of Muslims are indicative of the overall socio-economic condition in which Muslims are placed.

Employment Opportunities

From table 3 given below one can see that the WPR for males in rural and urban areas is fairly high. The differential between religious groups for male is also marginal. However, the differential between religious groups for females is substantial. WPR for urban Muslim females is 11.4%, for Hindu female is 15.9% and Christian 23.6%. Amongst rural Muslim females it is 19.6%, for Hindu female it is 33.7%. More Muslims have reported self-employment in category of work as compared to Hindus. However, Hindus share in regular work is substantially higher.

Table 3

Pattern of Employment by Religion in India

Residence/Sex & Religion Self-employed Regular Workers
Casual Workers All WPR
Urban Males
Hindus 39.1 46.4 14.5 100.0 52.0
Muslims 53.3 29.9 16.7 100.0 49.1
Christians 29.7 53.4 17.0 100.0 48.1
Urban Females
Hindus 45.0 27.7 26.4 100.0 15.9
Muslims 60.0 15.7 24.3 100.0 11.4
Christians 34.3 51.5 14.2 100.0 23.6
Rural Males
Hindus 58.5 10.1 31.4 100.0 54.2
Muslims 59.0 7.5 33.5 100.0 50.5
Christians 52.1 12.0 35.9 100.0 -
Rural Females
Hindus 59.9 3.6 36.5 100.0 33.7
Muslims 67.9 3.0 29.1 100.0 19.6
Christians 57.6 9.9 32.4 100.0 37.3
Source : NSS 43rd Round, 1987-88 cited in Abusaleh
Shariff, EPW, November 18, 1995.

Table 4 shows WPRs based on usual and subsidiary status for all persons as well as of adults (15-59). Looking at the WPR (usual and usual and subsidiary) one finds a differential between the WPR of Hindus and Muslims in favour of the Hindus at the all-India level. This finding repeats itself across all the five states under study with the WPR for Muslims being below both the Hindus, as well as, below the averages for the state in all the states, the differential being relatively more in the case of females. An interesting finding is that whereas both in Kerala and Karnataka Muslims are relatively in a better position than their counterparts in the other s tates on most indicators, as far as WPR goes they lag behind as can be seen in the differential between their WPR and that of the state average as well as in comparison to the Hindus as a group.

If we look at the WPR for persons aged 15-59 which is a relatively more stable estimate we find that these differentials persist whereas there is an increase in the overall percentage of those participating for all groups. While the differential is in favour of the Hindus throughout, the WPR for Muslim male (15-59 years) is higher in the state of UP (84.8% Muslims and 80.8% Hindus) and Bengal (85.8% Muslims, 80.9% Hindus) surpassing even the average male (15-59) WPR for each state – UP (81.3%) and Bengal (81.4%) with female (15-59 years) WPR continuing to be lower for Muslims. One needs to probe further this peculiar trend of WPR for Muslim men (15-59 years) being high in UP and Bengal, as well as, the fact that WPR for both Muslim men and women (all persons) is low in the otherwise relatively better developed states of Kerala and Karnataka as far as Muslims are concerned.

Table 4

Work Participation Rate (%) Among all Persons
and Adults by Population Groups
USUAL STATUS USUAL AND SUBSIDARY STATUS
All Persons Adults (15-59) Years All Persons Adults
(15-59) Years
Male Female F/M Male Female F/M Male Female F/M Male
Female F/M
IND 51.9 18.4 0.35 82.7 29.5 0.36 52.4 26.0 0.5 83.1
40.7 0.49
Hin 52.3 19.3 0.37 82.8 30.8 0.37 52.7 26.5 0.50 83.2
41.4 0.50
Mus 48.0 9.6 0.20 82.6 16.3 0.20 48.8 19.3 0.40 83.4
32.0 0.38
Xian 52.8 25.5 0.48 78.0 37.1 0.48 53.3 27.8 0.52 78.7
40.2 0.51
SC 52.8 23.0 0.44 85.0 37.9 0.45 53.2 30.4 0.57 85.4
48.8 0.57
ST 51.6 27.7 0.54 87.2 45.3 0.52 52.4 32.1 0.61 88.0
51.4 0.58

Bih. 48.4 9.1 0.19 81.5 15.1 0.19 49.1 19.0 0.39 82.2
30.5 0.37
Hin 48.8 9.0 0.19 81.7 15.0 0.18 49.5 19.1 0.39 82.3
30.5 0.37
Mus 44.2 6.8 0.15 77.7 11.8 0.15 45.3 17.8 0.39 79.3
29.2 0.37
Xian - - - - - - - - - - - -
SC 50.0 14.5 0.29 85.6 24.1 0.28 50.8 22.7 0.45 86.3
37.3 0.43
ST 49.7 16.4 0.33 78.8 29.1 0.37 50.5 21.5 0.42 79.9
37.3 0.47

UP 48.5 7.4 0.15 81.3 13.1 0.16 48.8 20.6 0.42 81.7
35.4 0.43
Hin 48.6 7.7 0.16 80.8 13.5 0.17 48.9 20.5 0.42 81.2
35.1 0.43
Mus 47.4 5.4 0.11 84.8 10.1 0.12 47.9 20.5 0.43 85.8
37.7 0.44
Xian - - - - - - - - - - - -
SC 50.4 13.5 0.27 86.4 23.8 0.28 50.7 25.3 0.50 86.7
43.2 0.50
ST 44.7 9.7 0.22 81.7 17.3 0.21 44.7 18.9 0.42 81.7
33.7 0.41

Ker. 53.6 28.5 0.53 76.7 40.0 0.52 53.7 29.1 0.54 76.7
40.9 0.53
Hin 55.4 32.9 0.59 77.8 44.8 0.58 55.5 33.6 0.61 77.9
45.8 0.59
Mus 44.1 18.2 0.41 73.2 28.4 0.39 44.1 19.0 0.43 73.2
29.7 0.41
Xian 55.8 26.8 0.48 76.1 36.9 0.49 55.8 26.8 0.48 76.1
37.0 0.49
SC 55.2 42.8 0.78 77.6 59.2 0.76 55.2 43.3 0.78 77.6
60.0 0.77
ST - - - - - - - - - - - -

Ben. 51.8 7.4 0.14 81.4 11.9 0.15 53.4 20.4 0.38 82.4
29.8 -
Hin 52.4 8.3 0.16 80.9 12.8 0.16 54.1 21.2 0.39 81.9
30.1 0.37
Mus 51.5 4.2 0.08 85.8 7.3 0.09 52.7 17.3 0.33 86.5
27.7 0.32
Xian - - - - - - - - - - - -
SC 52.0 7.3 0.14 83.9 12.4 0.15 53.4 20.1 0.38 84.9
30.1 0.35
ST 46.7 21.6 0.50 83.1 36.8 0.44 50.3 39.6 0.79 86.5
59.0 0.68

Kar. 54.5 31.2 0.57 82.1 47.8 0.58 54.9 32.5 0.59 82.3
49.1 0.60
Hin 55.1 31.9 0.58 82.1 48.4 0.59 55.5 33.1 0.60 82.4
49.5 0.60
Mus 48.8 25.4 0.52 82.5 42.3 0.51 48.9 27.0 0.55 82.8
44.4 0.54
Xian - - - - - - - - - - - -
SC 56.7 38.2 0.67 86.9 63.0 0.72 56.7 39.2 0.69 86.9
64.1 0.74
ST - - - - - - - - - - - -
Source: Azra and Anil Gumber ,2000

Discarding the myth of Muslim appeasement, Sikand highlights the economic plight of the community and the concentration of Muslims in peripheral and fast diminishing trades in the urban economy. According to him: “They (the Muslims) are predominant in the ‘self-employed’ category that includes such low-status occupations as those of cobbler, small artisan, rikshaw-puller, pavement stall owner and petty retailer. Relatively fewer urban Muslims than Hindus work for a regular wage or salary, and their representation in the “casual labour� category is higher than that of other communities.9 Corroborating this low status of Muslim employment, Arvind Das adds that here the Muslims “suffer double discrimination, by virtue of being both Muslim and poor�10

According to the annual report of the National Commission of Minorities, the largest minority of the country ‘remains grossly under-represented in all services including the Police’. 11

Summing up the situation of Indian Muslims Tahir Beg writes (12):

· Muslims have negligible presence in the public and private corporate sector both as managers and workers and also as capital subscribers.

· Muslims have nominal presence in the small-scale and cottage organized sector, though they have been pioneers in handicrafts and artisanship.

· In agriculture proper and the allied activities Muslims have a very nominal presence.

· So far as the tertiary public sector is concerned, Muslims have nominal presence in government administrative, police and defence services, and more or less no share in financial and banking institutions. However in the private sector, such as transportation, repairing and other community services, Muslims have an unduly high percentage share.

Consistent denial of opportunities in public and private employment has led to a larger concentration of Muslims in the self employment sector which has to some extent also been beneficial to them. (13). But this is not to suggest that denial of this space is justified especially keeping in mind its importance for both economic and social reasons. Experience has shown that without reservation in public employment, Muslim representation cannot be upgraded. While participation in public employment means creation of social capital and flow of public funds into a community for its overall development; more importantly it gives the community a sense of participation, creates future openings and opportunities for the next generation and above all brings a community out of the wells of frustration and alienation. Participation of Muslims necessitates a reworking of recruitment policies on purely territorial lines, with equal opportunity for all people of all areas, and within an area, for all religious and caste groups. If employment is assured through reservation, it would serve as an incentive for the community to invest in education for the future of its children.

To promote self-employment availability of bank credit is essential, even if it is micro-credit. Banks should have general scheme for micro-credit for the self-employed to provide them the seed money to establish one-man or family ventures. A loan of Rs.10,000 to 25,000 in a mofussil town would not only provide gainful employment for an individual but support an entire family and promote its future.

Wakf properties are another source of development funds. All immovable public Wakf properties should be free of rent control, ceiling and tax laws, so that their income can be raised and the surplus available after meeting the expenditure for the prescribed purposes can be used for education and economic development.

Economic Assets and Income

The average household income for rural India is Rs. 25,653/- per annum and the per capita income is Rs. 4,485/- On an all-India level, the annual household income for Muslims as a social group is below the all-India average, as well as, below that of the Christians (household income – 28,860/- and per capita 5,920/-) and that of Hindus (household income –25,713/- and per capita – 4,514/-) (See Table 6).

The household annual income and the per capita income of both Hindus and Muslims is below the all-India average in Bihar and West Bengal, whereas in Kerala it is above the all-India average. Muslims in Kerala have an annual income of Rs. 29,991/-, higher than the annual income of Hindus in that state (26,344/-) However, the per capita of Muslims in Kerala is lower than that of the Hindus. In UP and Karnataka Muslims have a lower total annual and per capita income than the Hindus. One finds that at the all-India level, as well as, in four out of the five states i.e. UP, Bihar, Bengal and Karnataka, Muslims have a lower level of income as compared to Hindus. There also does not appear to be any relationship between income and literacy levels of the Muslims in the five states as can be seen in the Table 5 given below.

Table 5

Annual Income Per Capita Literacy
Muslim Hindu Muslim Hindu Muslim Hindu
29,991 (Ker.) 27,801 (Kar.) 4,666 (Ker.) 5,435 (Ker.)
86.9 (Ker.) 88.2 (Ker.)
24,298 (UP) 27,079 (UP) 3,826 (UP) 4,897 (Kar.) 58.6
(Kar.) 61.0 (Ben.)
23,661 (Kar.) 26,344 (Ker.) 3,681(Kar.) 4,514 (Ind.)
52.1 (Ben.) 54.4 (Kar.)
22,807 (Ind.) 25,713 (Ind.) 3,678 (Ind.) 4,235 (UP)
49.4 (Ind.) 53.3 (Ind.)
21,369 (Bih.) 22,812 (Bih.) 3,479 (Bih.) 3,726 (Bih.)
43.2 (Bih.) 44.5 (UP)
17,401(Ben.) 18,441 (Ben.) 2,802 (Ben.) 3,298 (Ben.)
35.0 (UP) 44.5 (Bih.)
The table has been arranged in a descending order for both Muslims and Hindus.

Kerala Muslims have the highest annual and per capita income, as well as, the highest literacy level for Muslims among the five states. However, this trend is not visible in UP, which has the second highest annual and per capita income, but the lowest level of literacy among the five states.

At the all-India level, the share of income from agriculture is highest for Hindus (56.1%) followed by ST (55.6%), Christian (46.3%), Muslims (44.1%) and SC’s (37.7%). Muslims share of income from agriculture is below the national average of 55% in all the five states. Muslims, however, get a large share of their income from artisanship and petty trade as compared to the other social groups both at the all-India level, as well as, in the five states under study. However, in Kerala, Hindus earn more as artisans than Muslims while Muslims continue to earn more than Hindus in trade.

Ownership of Assets and Amenities

Land, Draught and Milch animals continue to be important indicators of the level of living in an agricultural society. Table 6 presents data on land and livestock according to the social groups. At the all-India level 63.4% of households have reported ownership of land and the

Table 6

Ownership of assets by Social Groups and States

H.H. Inc. Per Cap. Land Holdings Draught Animals
Milch Animals
%RpHH Avg.R-hhAcres Avg.All hhAcres %RpHH
Avg.R-hhNo. Avg.AllHH %RpHH Avg.R-hhNo. Avg.AllHH
INDIA
Hindus 25,713 4,514 64.5 4.6 3.0 34.3 2.7 0.9 49.6 2.3
1.1
SC 17,465 3,237 46.6 2.8 1.3 22.8 2.7 0.6 38.1 2.0 0.7
ST 19,556 3,504 69.0 4.3 2.9 51.6 3.2 1.6 44.9 2.5 1.1
Muslims 22,807 3,678 56.5 3.6 2.0 28.0 3.9 1.1 38.0
2.7 1.0
Xian 28,860 5,920 58.2 2.0 1.1 12.0 4.3 0.5 30.3 2.3
0.7

BIHAR
Hin 22,812 3,726 60.6 3.7 2.3 39.4 2.6 1.0 44.3 2.4
1.1
SC 15,425 2,706 33.7 3.0 1.0 18.9 3.6 0.7 32.3 2.3 0.7
ST 21,683 3,699 76.6 4.2 3.2 56.4 2.5 1.4 30.0 2.5 0.8
Mus 21,369 3,479 45.0 3.8 1.7 21.4 3.4 0.7 31.9 2.1
0.7
Xian - - - - - - - - - - -

UP
Hin 27,079 4,235 77.7 3.3 2.6 32.5 2.1 0.7 67.4 1.9
1.3
SC 17,259 3,025 63.3 1.9 1.2 25.4 2.0 0.5 56.2 1.7 1.0
ST 21,370 3,292 72.0 3.0 2.2 44.5 1.7 0.8 65.1 1.8 1.2
Mus 24,298 3,826 60.8 3.5 2.1 20.0 1.8 0.4 46.7 1.7
0.8
Xian - - - - - - - - - - -

KER.
Hin 26,344 5,435 74.4 0.8 0.6 2.8 2.0 0.1 20.8 1.4 0.3
SC 16,477 3,415 58.9 0.2 0.1 3.0 1.7 0.1 10.1 1.4 0.1
ST - - - - - - - - - - -
Mus 29,991 4,666 85.2 0.7 0.6 2.0 2.1 0.0 18.5 1.8 0.3
Xian 34,869 7,414 84.9 1.3 1.1 2.5 5.4 0.1 34.5 1.6
0.6

BENGAL
Hin 18,441 3,298 52.3 3.0 1.6 34.7 3.2 1.1 36.5 2.4
0.9
SC 16,396 2,959 47.3 2.1 1.0 31.3 3.8 1.2 31.7 2.3 0.7
ST 11,010 1,993 28.9 2.0 0.6 13.6 1.8 0.2 21.3 2.8 0.6
Mus 17,401 2,802 57.2 2.4 1.4 38.9 3.4 1.3 29.5 2.7
0.8
Xian - - - - - - - - - - -

KARA.
Hin 27,801 4.897 66.6 5.9 3.9 41.2 2.3 0.9 46.7 2.1
1.0
SC 16,579 3,094 43.4 4.6 2.0 27.6 2.1 0.6 26.0 1.8 0.5
ST - - - - - - - - - - -
Mus 23,661 3,681 39.9 5.7 2.3 18.5 2.9 0.5 27.0 2.5
0.7
Xian - - - - - - - - - - -
Source: Azra and Anil Gumber, 2000

average size of land holding for India is 4.5 acres. A larger percentage of Hindus, as compared to Muslims have reported ownership of land, both at the all-India level (Hindus 64.5%) and Muslims (56.5%) and at the state level. However, in Kerala 85.2% Muslims have reported ownership of land as compared to 74.4% of Hindus. Out of the five states Muslims have reported the lowest ownership of land in Karnataka (39.9)and highest in Kerala Hindus have reported highest in U.P.(77.7%) and lowest in Bengal(52.3%).

33 percent of all rural households reported ownership of draught animals (see Table 6). However, here too one finds that the number of Muslim households reporting ownership of draught animals is lower as compared to Hindus, both at the all-India level and at the state level, except in Bengal, where more Muslims have reported than Hindus. The differential is highest in Karnataka where 41.2%. Hindus have reported as against 18.5% Muslims; followed by Bihar where 39.4% Hindus have reported ownership of draught animals as compared to 21.4% Muslims However, this disparity is not consistent when one compares the average number of draught animals owned per reporting household as can be seen in the table. Excepting for UP where the average for Hindus is 2.1% and that for Muslims is 1.8%, in all other states, as well as, at the all-India level, the figure for Muslims is higher than that for Hindus. This shows that while lesser number of Muslim households own draught animals, the ones who do own, have more draught animals as compared to the Hindus i.e. within the community there is greater disparity. Ownership is concentrated in fewer hands.

As far as ownership of Milch animals is concerned Muslims are relatively less well off in comparison to the Hindus. The percentage of Muslim households reporting ownership of Milch animals is lower than the all-India average of 48% in all the five states. While in Kerala the percentage is low for both Hindus (20.8%) and Muslims (18.5%) in the other states the differential between Hindus and Muslims is substantial. The highest percentage of Muslims reporting ownership is in U.P. (46.7)

Political participation and welfare

Political participation is another indicator of a community's empowerment. In a democracy, the legislature is the fountainhead of power. The fact is that the Muslim community is inadequately or simply not represented in several legislatures and even in the Lok Sabha, its representation is less than 50 per cent of what it should be, assesed as per the share in the population. Besides being an alienating experience, absence of legislators from any social group in a plural and segmented society puts that group at a clear disadvantage. The role of the MP or the MLA in promoting the development of his constituency cannot be ever emphasized. The Community’s interests can be brought centre stage with the help of the respective Members of Parliament. This is a natural and legitimate expectation. Hence for any development or welfare programme to reach out to a deprived and backward community and not get diluted or lost in the bureaucratic maze, demands due representation in the legislatures. How this can be brought about, by reservation as in the case of SCs/STs or by changing the present electoral system and adopting proportional representation or through sympathetic action by political parties needs to be given serious thought and details worked out. However it needs to be pointed out that without political empowerment, any development or welfare schemes for the Muslims will at best remain token schemes and as far as the general schemes go, what share the Muslim community will receive in the fruits of development is any body’s guess!

Table 7

Political Participation Rate

Year Total No. of Muslims in Lok Sabha % age of Muslim
Legislators
1952 489 23 4.49
1957 494 22 4.65
1962 494 22 4.45
1967 520 29 5.75
1971 518 29 5.59
1977 542 33 6.08
1980 542 49 9.04
1984 543 45 8.28
1989 543 33 6.07
1991 543 28 5.15
1996 543 27 4.97
Source: M.K.Siddiqui(ed), Muslims in Free India, pp.41.

Demographic and Health Characteristics among Social Groups

Table 8 Demographic Characteristics among Social Groups
Infant Child Total
Mortality Mortality Fertility
Rate

Religion
Hindu 77.1 32.4 2.7
Muslim 58.8 25.4 3.5
Christian 49.2 19.3 2.4

Caste/Tribe
SC 83.0 39.5 3.1
ST 84.2 46.3 3.0
OBC 76.0 29.3 2.8
Other 61.8 22.2 2.6

Source: NFHS, 1998-99

Data in Table 9 shows that only 12 percent of pregnant SC women and 6 percent of ST women have received ANC. Among the religious communities, only 8 percent of Muslims women have received ANC. The percentage of deliveries attended by untrained personnel is higher for STs than SCs (68 percent as compared to 62 percent). Data among religious groups shows that the deliveries attended by untrained personnel is the highest among Muslims. Similarly, percent of children who have received all 8 doses is the lowest among Muslims. Only one third of children belonging to Muslim community have received all the 8 doses of vaccination.

Table 9 Reproductive Health Care among Social Groups

% currently % Deliveries % children
Social Groups pregnant attended by (12-23 months)
Women untrained immunized
received personal (received all
ANC 8 doses
Caste
STs 5.7 68.1 39.5
SCs 11.6 62.4 42.6
Religion
Hindus 9.9 - 49.7
Muslims 8.0 68.5 34.5
Christians 12.3 24.5 72.8
Other Minorities 14.6 53.2 60.0

Source: India Human Development Report, 1999

Data from NFHS, 1998-99 survey shows that the percentage of women suffering from any anemia (mild, moderate or severe) is the highest among STs and SCs. Among the religious groups, percentage of women with anemia is slightly lower among muslims (50 %) compared to Hindus (52 %). Interestingly, NFHS, 1998-99 also records a lower infant mortality rate for muslims than Hindus.

Table 9

Percentage of Children under Age 3 years Classified as Undernourished on Three Anthropometric Indices of Nutritional Status, 1998-99

Social Groups India Bihar Uttar Pradesh
Wt for age% below -2SD Height for age% below -2SD Wt
for height% below -2SD Wt for age% below -2SD Height
for age% below -2SD Wt for height% below -2SD Wt for
age% below -2SD Height for age% below -2SD Wt for
height% below -2SD
Religion
Hindu 47.7 46.0 16 54.2 54 20.7 51.8 55.8 11.7
Muslim 48.3 47.1 14.1 55 53 22.1 53.1 55.3 8.8
Christian 30.8 30.6 13.4 - - - - - -

Caste/tribe
SC 53.5 51.7 16 58.5 57.6 23.1 60.3 63.1 11.5
ST 55.9 52.8 21.8 59.7 56.4 33.5 59.4 69.3 13.7
OBC 47.3 44.8 16.6 55.8 54.7 19.7 53.3 55.7 13.6
Other 41.1 40.7 12.8 43.1 45.1 18.3 45.9 50.3 9.3
Source: NFHS, 1998-99.

As can be seen from Table 9, there is not much difference in the percentage of children under 3 years of age classified as malnourished on three anthropometric indices among Hindus and Muslims. Other Measures for the welfare of the Muslims

· Insistence on making Census data easily available especially in terms of literacy/education/employment/work participation rate among Muslims. It is only when correct data is available that proper intervention can be planned. Maintaining secrecy regarding data will prove to be more counter productive, giving a place of prominence to hearsay/ myths/ stereotypes which will hardly be of any help to the community or the nation at large.

· There is an urgent need to assess the kind of problems faced by Muslim women as well as poor Muslims who are concentrated in urban slums and welfare measures need to be chalked out accordingly. However, as far as Muslim women are concerned the great desire to “reform’ the community and intervention in Muslim personal law should not become the focus for the welfare measures as these can become stumbling blocks rather than bring about any positive change.

· Organizing institutions like SEWA – to insure that the artisans get their due share in the profit of their products.

· Providing soft loans to petty traders to enable them to setup their own shops etc. Maybe some kind of a quota system could be adopted which ensures that Muslims necessarily get the required loan.

· Insistence on making Census data easily available especially in terms of literacy/education/employment/work participation rate among Muslims. It is only when correct data is available that proper intervention can be planned. Maintaining secrecy regarding data will prove to be more counter productive, giving a place of prominence to hearsay/ myths/ stereotypes which will hardly be of any help to the community or the nation at large.

· A fair representation of Muslims on Boards which grant affiliations /aid/loans etc.

· Setting up machinery /disaster management network consisting of Muslims in adequate numbers to look after victims of communal riots and work towards rehabilitation and compensation.

· Regulate funds sponsored by the Waqf board to look after the needs of Muslim women (divorcees/widows) who do not have any other means of income or support.

· Muslim representation in the Police/PAC/ Army, etc.

· Organizing programmes for teachers/police/govt.officials-sensitizing them towards the needs of the minority.

· The Bureaucracy needs to be sensitized to deal with special problems of the Muslims, both at the policy making level and at the implementation level.

· Tabling the Reports of the Minority Commission in parliament on an annual basis and making it public so that policy makers/bureaucrats etc are familiar with the kind of grievances of the Muslims and are not misled by biased media reporting.

· Right to information should be the backbone of any welfare measure. This would imply that information concerning jobs, availability of govt. schemes, educational facilities, etc. should be available to the different communities in their language. This would mean that govt. advertisements regarding the above should reach speakers of different languages and not remain confined to the English and Hindi medium readers. Its only when information is available that people would be able to access different facilities. For example, if advertisements for courses in various colleges or information regarding vacancies are released only in English and Hindi dailies those reading, for example Urdu and Punjabi newspapers would be left out and therefore basic information gets denied to them. This is then not a case for equality of educational opportunity.

· Location of schools/banks/colleges/universities contributes in a major way to who access them. Therefore there should be a concerted effort made to ensure that a sufficient number of such institutions are opened / located in areas which can be easily accessed by the Muslims.

§ Development of industries and opportunities for work should be created in areas of Muslim concentration to enable them to get employment.

--------------------------------
Notes:

1. Bose, Ashish(1997) Population profile of Religion in India. Delhi: B.R. Publishing Corporation.

2. Massey, James(1998). Studies in Educational and socio-economic problems of the Minorities in India. A Report of the National Commission for Minorities.

3. Shariff, Abusaleh (2000). ‘Relative Economic and Social Deprivation in India.’ Paper presented at an international seminar on ‘Multi-dimensional definition of poverty in India and Latin America’, held at the International Development Centre, Oxford University, Oxford, October 27-28,2000.

4. Massey, James, op.cit.

5. Shariff, Abusaleh(1995)Socio-economic and Demographic Differentials between Hindus and Muslims in India, EPW, November 18,1995 and Razzack, Azra and Gumber, Anil, Differentials in Human Development : A Case Empowerment of Muslims in India. Paper presented at a seminar organised by the NCAER, in November, 2000.

6. National Commission for Minorities (1998-1999) Annual Report (un-tabled), pg. 27.

7. Shariff, Abusaleh(1999). India Human Development Report. A Profile of Indian states in the 1990’s. New Delhi: Oxford university Press, pp.121.

8. Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development (1986). National Policy on Education. Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development (1986).

9. Sikand, Yogendra (1996). ‘The Myth of Muslim Appeasement’. The Bulletin of the Henry Martyn Institute of Islamic Studies, January-June 1996, pg. 9.

10. Das, Arvind (1992). India Invented. A Nation in the Making. Delhi : Manohar Publishers, pg. 99.

11. National Commission for Minorities (1998), op. cit., pg. 27.

12. Quoted in Zakaria, Rafiq (1995). The Widening Divide. An Insight into Hindu Muslim Relations. New Delhi: Penguin Books India.

13. Razzack, Azra and Gumber, Anil, ‘Differentials in Human Development: A Case for Empowerment of Muslims in India’. Paper presented at an international seminar in New Delhi, November, 2000.

A Brief Survey of Communal Situation in the Post Babri-Demolition Period

A BRIEF SURVEY OF COMMUNAL SITUATION IN THE POST BABRI-DEMOLITION PERIOD
December 1-15, 2001
by Asghar Ali Engineer

It is about 10 years since demolition of Babri Masjid on 6th December 1992. The demolition of Babri Masjid itself was a major event, which seriously dented our commitment to secularism. The demolition also created a serious crisis of identity for Indian Muslims and resulted in earth-shaking riots in Mumbai and number of other places in India. In this article we will take a brief look at the communal situation in India in the post-Babri demolition period.

As pointed out above the demolition of Babri Masjid was followed by outburst of communal violence throughout India particularly in Bombay, Ahmedabad, Surat, Calcutta, Kanpur, Malegaon, Bhopal, Delhi and several other places in which hundreds of people lost their lives. In fact the whole decade of eighties and early nineties was a period of great communal crisis.

As it is well-known the Ram Mandir controversy was purely political one; it was neither religious nor even historical in nature. Most eminent historians belonging to secular schools of thought maintained firmly that there is absolutely no historical or archaeological proof for existence of any temple at the site of the Babri mosque. When confronted with the historical and archaeological arguments the Sangh Parivar leaders changed the line of arguments and started saying that it is not historical matter alone, it is basically a matter of faith for the Hindus.

However, in this article we are more concerned with the post-Babri demolition decade and communal situation therein than all these endless arguments. As pointed out the Ram Mandir controversy was raised only to polarise votes between Hindus and Muslims. And there is no doubt that the BJP was great political beneficiary of this controversy. It went on increasing its seats in parliament thanks to the Ram Mandir controversy and through strategic alliances in the elections. It had increased its strength from two to 88 seats in Parliament in 1989 elections itself with the help of this controversy and through alliance with V.P.Singh's Janata Dal and other secular parties. In 1991 elections this controversy was at its height and the BJP further increased its strength from 89 to 114.

The Narsimha Rao Government, however, continued for full term until 1996. In this election though the BJP increased its strength further. However, it was isolated from other secular parties. It tried to form its government on the basis of being the largest party and hoped that once it forms government other 'secular' parties will be tempted to support it for temptation of power. However, until then the secular parties considered the BJP as really untouchable and refused to come to its rescue. Thus the BJP Government failed after 13 days in existence. And Janata Dal was invited to take the reins of power as it managed to gather necessary strength in parliament.

Then it appeared as if the secular parties cared for ideology and refused to compromise with communal forces. But this situation lasted but for a short period and soon number of 'secular' parties teamed up with the BJP to ride piggyback to power. It is true that in the post-modernist world ideologies have lost all meaning. However, religious ideologies are gaining in strength and hence religious fundamentalism has gained in strength all over the globe. In India Hindu fundamentalism, as in Pakistan Islamic fundamentalism has gained in strength considerably. But for temptation for power by these secular parties the BJP would not have been in a position to lead the NDA coalition.

Meanwhile the Shiv Sena -BJP alliance came to power in Maharashtra. It is interesting to note that under the Congress Government at the Centre and in Maharashtra the Muslims had suffered so much that in sheer desperation a small section of Muslims voted for the Shiv Sena candidates. Their argument was that it is better to deal with a known enemy than with a hidden enemy. There was also another contributory factor to the victory of Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in 1995.

Angered by the 1992-93 riots in Mumbai in which about 1000 people had died or disappeared, some anti-social elements allegedly led by Dawood Ibrahim and it's cohorts and aided and abetted by Pakistan's ISI. It naturally had greatly angered the people of Maharashtra. The Government in Maharshtra at that time was of the Congress and was headed by Shri Sharad Pawar. Also the Shiv Sena made several promises to the voters like providing free houses to the slum dwellers of Mumbai. All this combined the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance won the 1995 assembly elections.

The BJP of course cashed in on the Ram Mandir sentiments. The Maharashtra was one of the most affected states by the Ram Mandir controversy. The RSS was after all founded by a section of Brahmins in Maharshtra. The Success of the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance was partly the result of Babri Masjid-Ramjanambhoomi controversy. The bomb blast in March 1993, which was result of Mumbai riots of 1992-93 also, as pointed out, contributed to the success of Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in Maharashtra.

COMMUNAL VIOLENCE IN POST-BABRI DEMOLITION PERIOD

It is interesting to note that the number of major communal riots in post-Babri Masjid demolition period went down considerably. Three major riots took place in this period, besides several small riots in which 2 to 6 persons were killed. These three major riots are Coimbatore in in Tamilnadu in1997, Kanpur in U.P. in March 2001 and Malegaon in Maharashtra in October 2001. In Coimbatore riots more than 40 persons were killed while in Kanpur and Malegaon more than 15 persons were killed. In between these major riots more than 150 small riots have taken place throughout India since the Mumbai riots of 1992-93.

However, absence of major riots should not delude us to conclude that the communal situation has eased in India in the post-Babri demolition period. Far from it. It has, on the contrary worsened. Two important trends are quite noticeable in this period. The South India which was relatively free of communalism and communal violence began to experience outburst of communal violence. Thus the Coimbatore communal riot and subsequent bomb blast there during February 1998 is symptomatic of this. The Coimbatore communal riot was result of aggressive communal propaganda by the Hindu Munnani which gave rise to some Muslim youth taking to path of violence to pay the Hindu Munnani in the same coin. Some Muslim youth murdered RSS activists and the Hinud Munnani people murdered Palani Baba, a Muslim saint who was allegedly the inspiration of the Muslim fundamentalist youth. Ms. Jaylalitha also tried to take advantage of the situation and adopted rather pro-Hindutva stance. It is alleged that the Hindu Munnani got political support from her.

The second noticeable trend was anti-Christian attacks after the BJP came to power in Gujrat and after the BJP-led Government consolidated its power at the Centre. The attacks on Christians were not known earlier. Communal riots usually took place between Hindus and Muslims. However, since 1998 anti-Christian violence began and mainly the VHP and Bajrang Dal were involved in these attacks on Christians. After Gujrat number of incidents took place in U.P., Maharashtra, M.P., Bihar and Orissa. Orissa witnessed the ghastly incident of burning alive of a Christian priest Father Grahm Staines and his two young children at the hands of Bajrang Dal activists. The Wadhwa Commission report also concluded that Bajrang Dal had a hand in this ghastly incident.

The Gujrat also witnessed number of anti-Muslim incidents particularly in the rural areas after the BJP assumed power in Gujrat. The BJP adopted most aggressive communal stance in Gujrat in the post-Babri demolition period. The Bajrang Dal and VHP cadres adopted very aggressive stance against Christian and Muslim minorities in that highly communalised state.

Since the BJP came to power at the Centre it has to be rather cautious in communal matters to keep the alliance together. Various secular partners of the National Democratic Front have to care for their minority, especially Muslim voters in their respective states, particularly in Andhra Pradesh. It, therefore, keeps out of the Hindutva agenda, which still includes construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya. But the other constituents of the Sangh Parivar like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad have no such constraints. Thus its office bearers like Mr. Singhal and Pravin Togaria openly talk of starting the construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya from March 2002. The Sangh Parivar is not only keeping the issue alive but is also exploiting it for the forthcoming elections in U.P. in early 2002.

Since the NDA Government led by BJP has come to power the education system has been greatly communalised. It is well known policy of the BJP to take over most sensitive like Human Resource Ministry which not only controls education but also premier research institutions like the ICHR, ICSSR, NCERT etc. All these key research institutions have now been taken over by the hard core RSS elements. All key research projects are being now monopolised by them. The important Towards Freedom volumes which were critical of the RSS role during freedom struggle and its pro-British stance were suddenly withdrawn from publication. Also, the school text books are being tempered with. Recently the CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) suddenly has issued circular to edit out certain portions of history text books written by noted secular historians like Romila Thapar, R.S.Sharma, Bipan Chandra and Satish Chandra. Such selective withdrawal will help indoctrination of young minds and will be prohibitive of encouraging critical understanding of history. The communal forces often temper with history and project the past uncritically as the golden era particularly the past dominated by the majority community rulers and denounce whole sale the past if dominated by minority community rulers.

CONCLUSION

There is no doubt that India has been passing through very critical period in the post-Babri demolition period as far as its secular polity is concerned. Not only political but also social and cultural space has been communalised. The eighties of course witnessed major communal riots but the BJP began to acquire strength by raising historical controversy like the Ramjanambhoomi and communalised politics as never before. But after it came to power as a major partner of NDA it began to monopolise the educational and cultural space which is much more harmful. The Sangh Parivar in U.P. did not allow shooting of the film Water whose script was approved by the Home Ministry. Indian cultural space is being increasingly communalised. Secular space in the fields of education and culture is of vital importance for unity and integrity of India. A long term damage will be done to Indian unity if socio-cultural spaces come under communal ideology. All secular forces should come together to prevent this.

And now terrorist attack in Malegaon - What is the way out?

By Asghar Ali Engineer

The terrorist attack in Malegaon on sacred day of Shab-e-Bara’t was as horrible as that on trains in Mumbai on 11th July. It is not important how many were killed in Mumbai train blasts and how many in Malegaon blasts, what is important is recklessness with which innocent citizens are targeted in such brutal attacks. In Mumbai those killed were returning from their day’s work and those killed in Malegaon had gathered for prayer on the sacred day of their religion. Some were there begging on the occasion.

As of now there is no clue as to who planted bombs on trains in Mumbai and on cycles near Bada Qabrastan and mosque in Malegaon. As for blasts in Mumbai is concerned the police is working on the theory that Lashkar-I-Taiyyiba aided and abetted by ISI of Pakistan was responsible and this assumptions seems justified though there are no solid proofs yet available.

However, as for Malegaon blasts are concerned police seems to be tight-lipped or indicating role of Pakistan-based terrorist organisation. But this does not seem to be justified. The only reason for this assumption is that probably RDX along with nitrite was used and the triggering device also seems to be similar to the one often used by Pakistan-based organisations.

Still laboratory reports have not been used and presence of RDX has not been confirmed. But even if use of RDX is confirmed it should not be assumed that it is Pakistan-based terrorist organisation, which is likely to be involved. Selection of the day of Shab-e- Bara’t and places like Qabrastan and Mosque on the day of Friday at 2 p.m. when people were coming out of the mosque after Friday prayer clearly indicated that no Muslim organisation could be involved.

As it would be unthinkable that Hindutva organisations were involved in the Mumbai train blasts, it would be equally unthinkable that some Muslim organisation was involved in the Malegaon blasts. Unfortunately the police is equivocating on this question and is still thinking on the lines that some Pakistan-based organisation is involved. In the case of Mumbai blasts it immediately came to conclusion that it is some Pakistan-based organisation, which is involved and began to detain or arrest various suspects.

The Police, however, is yet to start its investigation on the assumption that some Hindutva organisations are likely to be involved. It seems to be quite uncertain. It is wrong to assume that the only source of RDX is ISI of Pakistan. There are people in India who also can make this deadly explosive available and it is not difficult to get the know-how for making timer devices. It does not involve very sophisticated technology. Anyone can easily make it. The Maharashtra police have to take bold initiative in this matter without fear or favour.

The people of Malegaon, like the people of Mumbai need to be complimented for their patience in maintaining communal harmony after the blasts. As in Mumbai hundreds of Muslims rushed to help their Hindu sisters and brothers, in case of Malegaon the Hindus rushed to help their Muslim sisters and brothers. Unlike Mumbai, Malegaon is extremely sensitive town with 75 per cent Muslim population. Yet, Hindus and Muslims showed tremendous courage and patience in remaining calm and maintaining communal harmony.

Post-Gujarat, people of India have shown much more maturity than before and now having lost mass following communal and fundamentalist forces are terrorising people through bomb blasts which handful of people can manage to do. The modern devices are so deadly that a small group can manage to kill hundreds by planting these killer devices. Thus no act of violence on the part of one group will go unavenged on the part of another community.

Peace was never so urgent as today. Such killings to avenge killings by the other group will continue to take lives of thousands of innocent people. We must show wisdom to put an end to such senseless killings sooner than later. Series of measures are needed to bring an end to such dastardly killings. I would like to suggest following measures to achieve concrete results:

1) All political parties in India must resolve to put an end to communal violence. We saw that Mumbai riots in 1992-93 in post-Babri demolition ultimately resulted in Mumbai bomb blasts in March 1993 in which 270 innocent lives were lost. Post-Gujarat carnage series of attacks and bomb blasts took place culminating in bomb blasts on trains on 11th July in Mumbai. A force calling itself the Gujarat Revenge Force took responsibility for some of these blasts.

2) Our education system needs to be drastically overhauled. Education system unfortunately is still part of the problem than part of the solution. The way medieval history is taught generates hatred between Hindus and Muslims. Most of the teachers in schools are communally oriented. Also, there is no emphasis on values in our education system. It needs to be made value-oriented.

3) It is matter of great concern that our primary education does not emphasise importance of our secular democracy. Secular democracy is the sheet anchor of our polity and great emphasis should be laid on this.

4) Also, our country is multi-religious and multi-cultural and the values of multi-culturalism should be taught to students. Even in Europe, which was mono-religious until recently and is multi-cultural today emphasis is being laid on multi-culturalism in their education system. Pluralism and multi-culturalism should become part of our educational system.

5) Today people think religion is part of problem and religion is cause of division in the society. We should emphasise that religion is a rich resource for peace and not conflict. The commonality of values in all religious traditions should be emphasised.

6) This year we are celebrating hundred years of Gandhiji’s launching of Satyagraha in South Africa. Unfortunately Gandhi and Gandhian values hardly find mention in our education and political system. Gandhiji made a seminar contribution to political theory and practice by emphasising Satygraha and on-violence as the real essence of democracy. Many people, as a recent survey shows, do not even know the name of Gandhi, let alone his contribution to our freedom struggle.

Also, our democracy has become divisive rather than integrative. In order to target votes of this or that community and this or that caste, divisiveness in emphasised thus delivering a serious blow to our secularism and multi-culturalism. The British parliamentary system involving first past the poll system has become a great problem for us. We must adopt other forms like proportional representation or make it compulsory to obtain 51% votes to be declared elected.

Making 51% votes compulsory for getting elected will promote inclusiveness and not divisiveness as in the present system of first past the poll system. Communal polarisation has increased tremendously when casteist and communal forces targeted this or that caste and community for getting their candidates elected. This is very unfortunate. The British Parliamentary system was evolved for a mono-religious and mono-cultural society. India was always a pluralist country.

While we can justly be proud of our secular democracy, it has remained more formal than substantial and in a multi-religious society to make secular democracy more substantial all castes and communities (religious, cultural as well as lingual) should feel that justice is being done to them in share in power and economic development. It is sense of injustice that breeds violent attitudes towards those who are seen to be monopolising the fruits of power and economic development. Peace cannot be established through slogans but through justice.

We must get rid of caste and communal biases in our political as well as administrative system. Caste and communal biases ultimately result in violent outbursts of anger at one or the other time. Gandhiji emphasised Satyagraha as an integral part of non-violent struggle as truth and non-violence are integral to each other. But when we were fighting against British rulers, we had a sense of mission but today there is no such sense of mission any more and hence it is difficult to promote Satyagrah, a truth-based struggle for justice.

Until yesterday foreign rulers were exploiting us and today our own people are doing so and hence it is very difficult and challenging to launch such struggle or at least it will be difficult to involve all people into it as our own people are doing injustices and hence only victims of injustice can take part in Satyagraha. Our politics today is entirely power-oriented, neither value nor issue oriented.

For Satyagraha to be possible politics has to be value as well as issue-oriented as during the freedom struggle. Today our politics has nothing to do with values and issues and hence much greater challenge for promoting Gandhiji’s form of struggle. But let us realise non-violence, as a value in democracy is the only way out. Otherwise let us be ready for disasters like Mumbai riots and bomb blasts like Mumbai and Malegaon.

Attack on Taslima: love of Islam or love of power?

By Asghar Ali Engineer

It was shocking that three MLAs of Majlis Ittahidul Muslimin in Hyderabad gate crashed into the book release function of her book “Lajja” translated into Telugu on 9th August and tried to beat up Taslima and shouted slogans using unbecoming words, even using abusing language. And all this in the name of Islam as if Islam stands for such hooliganism.

The party leadership instead of condemning such wayward behaviour, approved of it and patted them on back. They were even given hero’s welcome. One MLA even said that if Taslima comes to Hyderabad again, she will be beheaded. If elected representatives take law into their own hands, there cannot be greater tragedy. If they had done it without invoking Islam, it would have been a different story, though equally condemnable.

Was this for love of Islam? No way. It was love of power, pure and simple. The Party leadership thought it is good opportunity to strengthen and widen its electoral base. Human behaviour, especially political behaviour is extremely complex. Politicians, while acting in self-interest, invoke high ideals in order to cover up their utterly selfish motives.

Some Imam even declared from Calcutta that he would pay Rs.50,000/- if anyone blackens Taslima’s face. An Imam is supposed to be very respectable and responsible person who leads people in namaz (prayer) but also leads them in social and political matters. An Imam’s behaviour should be highly restrained and responsible. I totally disagree with Taslima’s views and think she is completely ignorant about Qur’anic teachings but that does not give anyone right to violently attack her or incite people to attack her.

Apart from the fact that such hooliganism is morally reprehensible it is unwise from the viewpoint of those who are opposed to Taslima’s attacks on Islam. This gives her much more publicity that she deserves. Now this attack that took place in Hyderabad will give her worldwide publicity on one hand, and would make her celebrity in the eyes of those who are already hostile to Islam. Now reams and reams of papers will be blackened in her praise.

She would also be now much more hostile to Islam than ever before. She would really hate Islam because of hooliganism of some members of Ittihadul Muslimin. If we really love Islam then we should try to win her heart and soul through love and compassion. And that is what the Prophet of Islam did. It is well known story that a Jewish woman who hated the Prophet (PBUH) used to throw garbage on him whenever he passed from below her house. Once when she did not throw garbage on him, he inquired why she did not and was told she is sick. He immediately went to inquire about her health. She was so moved that immediately accepted Islam then and there.

What a contrast! Those who claim to love Prophet and Islam are attacking a woman and making her hate Islam more than before. This is madness, not wise behaviour and must be condemned as strongly as possible. These MLAs and crowd accompanied them have brought utter shame to Islam and Muslims. It is heartening that many religious leaders of Muslims and intellectuals have condemned it. Maulana Mustaqim of Jamiat –ul-Ulama-i-Hind, Shiah leader Maulana Ather Abbas Rizvi and several others have strongly condemned attack on Taslima Nasreen.

The book which was being released in Hyderabad had nothing to do with Islam. It was Telugu translation of her book on persecution of Hindu minority in Bangla Desh. After demolition of Babri Masjid like hooligans of Hindutva attacked Muslims all over India and engineered communal violence in number of cities and killed Muslims, the hooligans of Jamat-e-Islami of Bangla Desh attacked Hindus and demolished their temples and set fire to their houses. In Lajja (shame) she has condemned all this. Do we Muslims not heave sigh of relief when some fair-minded Hindus stand by Muslims when Hindu communal forces attack us? Should we not stand by fair-minded Muslims of Bangla Desh if they stand by Hindu minority?

It is true Taslima has written provocative articles on Islam. We must counter it by arguing on the basis of Qur’an rather than attacking her physically, and in very dignified language befitting a true Muslim. No one can cite a single verse of Qur’an or any hadith to support violence against others, even enemies, as long as they are peaceful. On the other hand we can cite several verses from the Qur’an, to support dignified behaviour.

The Qur’an says, “Call to the way of thy Lord with wisdom and goodly exhortation, and argue with them in the best manner” (16:125). Again what a contrast –the hooligans of Ittihadul Muslimin beat up a woman and other journalists and others present there. Also, Allah says in the Qur’an “..do not be aggressors, Allah does not love aggressors.” (2:190). And even if a Muslim renounces Islam and becomes unbeliever, no one has right to punish him/her except Allah.

“Those who believe”, says Qur’an, “then disbelieve, again believe and again disbelieve, then increase in disbelief, Allah is not referring to any punishment for those who repeatedly believe and disbelieve and increase in disbelief, let alone human beings punishing them of their own. Even if Taslima has ceased to believe and has increased in her disbelief, no one has any right among human beings to punish her. It is matter of her conscience. All one can do is to dialogue with her in dignified way and then leave it to her conscience

II

Democracies in socially backward countries like India face an acute dilemma. The entire functioning of democracy depends on rights of people and freedom of conscience and right to believe or disbelieve. Both individual and collective rights are sacred in democracy. However, politicians greedy for votes of illiterate masses, and even educated middle class people, try to incite religious feelings and get their votes. Most of the politicians find this easy way to legislative assemblies or Parliament. They emerge as champions of this or that religion and grab their votes.

This is what the Sangh Parivar did by launching an aggressive movement for Ramjanambhoomi and demolished Babri Masjid and took pride in that act of lawlessness and destruction. The Sangh leaders launched not only aggressive campaign but Sangh leaders like Uma Bharti and Sadhvi Rithambara used abusive language against Muslims and the Government did nothing. They allowed hate campaign to go on.

If the authorities had taken stiff action against Uma Bharti and Rithambara, it would have sent a strong signal to all others that they cannot get away with such aggressive campaigns against all norms of democracy. Democracy cannot succeed without following rule of law. If Uma Bharti and Rithambara had been punished, MLAs of Ittihadul Muslimin would not have dared to indulge in this hooliganism.

However, as the Swedish scholar who wrote Asian Drama observed India’s is the soft government and refuses to act until all damage is done. Taslima Nasreen’s attackers also got away with symbolic arrest and were released on bail immediately thereafter. It speaks volumes about our indifferent approach and also fear of votes.

So many communal riots take place because no guilty in the riots is ever punished. All of them know this and have nothing to care for consequences. And riots keep on taking place. Mumbai riots more than 800 persons were killed, many of them most brutally and yet state is extremely reluctant to act lest Shiv Sena may not approve of it. Can this ever be the reason for not acting at all for a democratic government?

This is indeed bad omen for Indian democracy. The people involved in such public crimes must be severely punished to send strong message that hooliganism will not be tolerated in any case. Rule of law must be applied under any circumstances. Politicians should not be allowed to incite people publicly to indulge in mayhem and murder. This is repeatedly happening in our democracy.

It is heartening sign that many religious personalities among Muslims and secular intellectuals among them have come out strongly condemning this attack on Taslima Nasreen. Still many columnists, even waiting for a day started demanding where are those Muslims and secularists who immediately condemn Hindutvawadis but keep quiet when some Muslim fanatics indulge in such extremist action. Many such columnists will come out with many such articles and further aggravate feelings in majority community.

We are not a mature democracy and should come out against any act of hooliganism and violence whosoever perpetrates it, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs or Christians. We must promote zero tolerance towards any act of violence. It should be our litmus test. If we want to enjoy fruits of secular democracy we must shed all forms of partisan feelings. Politicisation of religion in our democracy has already done enough damage. How much more damage we want to inflict?

Is any one listening?

BJP's anti-Muslimism

By Asghar Ali Engineer

The CD controversy in U.P. election has proved once again, if any proof is needed, how much BJP hates Muslims. BJP's anti-Muslim record has touched new heights. How can any politically responsible party taking part in democratic election and taking oath for secularism, can produce such propaganda stuff. The CD is full of hate for Muslims and uses very derogatory language. The only parallel one can find is Nazi's hate of Jews, no other example could be found.

It celebrates any anti-Muslim measure or judgement. Recently when the single judge of Allahabad High Court declared Muslims in U.P. as not being a minority, the BJP spokesperson immediately welcomed the judgement as refutation of Congress party's "minorityism"and vindication of BJP's stand. No other party welcomed the judgement and all other party's except the BJP criticised the judgement as unfair. The Judge had simply pronounced the judgement, which was not even relevant to the petition before him and he had not even given reasons for the judgement he delivered. The judgement was even against what the Supreme Court had held in TMA Pai Foundation judgement.

Right from post-independence days Muslims have been taken as constituting minority, though most major one. No one had ever expressed any doubt about it. The Supreme Court had held that any religious community less than 50% in number shall be deemed to be a minority and any all India -minority will also be deemed to be minority in any state. Also, as claimed by the honourable judge of Allahabad High Court, there are no such references in the Constitutional Assembly debates to prove that Muslims are not a minority in U.P. or any other state of Union of India.

Before all these matters were gone into, BJP immediately welcomed the judgement and treated it as vindication of its stand on minorityism. One can as well tell BJP that the Congress whether indulges in minorityism or not BJP certainly indulges in anti-Muslimism. It whole-heartedly welcomes any anti-Muslim measure most enthusiastically.

In fact during the entire campaign for Ramjanmabhoomi BJP and many of its individual members like Sadhvi Rithambara and others indulged in most vicious anti-Muslim campaign. Cheap rhetoric of all Muslims being "Babar ki Aulad" (Babar's children) was indulged in without any restraint. Uma Bharti and Rithambara used most abusive language against Muslims throughout Ramjanmaboomi campaign until Babri Masjid was demolished by a frenzied mob and when Masjid was demolished BJP leaders hugged each other in joy and celebrated the day as day of Diwali. Crackers were burst, especially in U.P. throughout that night.

Even today the Sangh Parivar celebrates it as "Shaurya Divas" (day of bravery) whereas whole country observes it as a tragic day in the history of secular India. And all this after the leaders of Jan Sangh, which was re-christened as Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) had taken a vow on Gandhiji's Samadhi of following principles of Gandhian socialism and secularism. Soon after taking this oath in 1980 it started its anti-Muslim campaign describing constitutional secularism as pseudo-secularism and accused the Congress for indulging in "minorityism" and fought subsequent elections with those slogans.

I sincerely advise BJP leaders to rename the party as BHP (Bhartiya Hindu Party) as it always excludes Muslims from people of India. Had it been sincerely Bhartiya Janata Party, it would have never adopted such anti-Muslim attitude towards Indian Muslims. Thus Hindu Mahasabha is more sincere in its ideology as it clearly designates itself as Hindu Party caring only for Hindu interests. And to this extent Hindu Mahasabha leaders disagree with BJP because the important word "Hindu" is missing though it claims to be looking after Hindu interests.

The BJP leaders are trying to disown the CD under question only after the Election Commission took a strong view of the contents of the CD and said it is likely to promote disharmony between religious communities and issued notice to the BJP why action should not be taken against it. We congratulate the courage and principled stand taken by the Election Commission on this issue. It was overdue. Many prominent citizens have petitioned the Election Commission to de-recognise BJP as a political party as it always indulges in campaigns which endangers national unity and integrity.

Anyway any party, which publicly proclaims "Hindutva Agenda" cannot be a secular party which it avows to be. Hindutva or Islamism in political arena for that matter cannot be in conformity with secularism. Secularism is basically a political doctrine. All political parties have to conform to secularism as a political philosophy and Election Commission requires all candidates filing nomination to take oath for secularism and political parties also have to declare their acceptance of it. How can then a party proclaiming "Hindutva"doctrine be accepted as secular? It defies common sense.

The BJP often quotes one Judge Supreme Court Judgement that "Hindutva" is a way of life. It may be so but it cannot be political way of life as our political way is nothing but secular, devoid of, or neutral to, any religious way of life or doctrines or interests only of one religion or followers thereof.

How can building a Ram Temple be agenda of a secular political party though uniform civil code and abolition of Article 370 are quite secular in nature? Building Ram temple, howsoever desirable for any religious organisation, can certainly not be a political agenda of any political party operating within secular framework of our Constitution of which secularism is the fundamental structure. It is Supreme Court judgement in Golaknath case that secularism is fundamental structure of the Constitution which cannot be changed even by another Constituent Assembly.

The CD produced by the BJP (its denial carries no conviction as during its release function senior leaders like Tandon and even BJP president Rajnath Singh were allegedly present) for its U.P. election campaign once again proves convincingly that it is not a secular party and is basically anti-Muslim in character. It uses very derogatory words for Muslims saying therein they marry four wives and produce 35 pillas, a derogatory Hindi word for unwanted children.

The contents of the CD are highly surprising. The Sangh Parivar even otherwise has been regularly propagating that Muslims marry four wives and produces 25 children (its campaign puts it as ham panch, hamare pacchis - we five our twenty five). Vishwa Hindu Parishad had taken out Ekatma Yatra in 1985 across the country and during this Yatra had distributed hundreds of thousands of such pamphlets.

How absurd is this propaganda that every Muslim marries four wives when the male-female ratio in our country is 935 female for 1000 male. And central Government survey conducted in 1997 shows that Muslims are at the bottom of those who practice polygamy. Muslims practicing bigamy or polygamy are just 5.2% whereas 5.8% upper caste Hindus

Practice bigamy or polygamy. The tribals, dalits and Jains constitute even higher percentage of bigamous or polygamous marriage.

It is also wrong that no Muslim practices family planning and produces host of children. In 14 states family planning among Muslims is higher than that of Hindus. In Kerala family planning among Muslims is 64% as against just 35% among Hindus in U.P. In Pondicherry too family planning among Muslims is of the order of 85 per cent. This kind of cheap propaganda that Muslims marry four wives and produce 35 children does not behove an all India political party which aspires to come to power at the Centre.

Also, BJP claims to be most patriotic of all other parties. How can BJP be patriotic when it hates the largest minority of the country which is nearly 140 million in number? Mr. Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat always talks of five crores of Gujaratis' asmita and makes it absolutely difficult for Muslims to live life of dignity and security. Even today Muslims in Gujarat are living as secondary citizens and most of the villages in Gujarat declare proudly 'you are welcome in village in Hindu Rashtra'.

It is unfortunate that even Union Government has never taken notice of such sign boards in hundreds of Gujarat villages. And on top of this Rajasthan text book of 12th standard tells its students that fascism is better than democracy as under fascism leader can take right decisions while in democracy it is not possible. It is also well known that the Sangh Parivar, particularly the RSS admires Hitler.

And one knows what relations exist between the RSS and BJP. BJP cannot defy any of the RSS dictates. Who knows this better than Mr. L.K.Advani who was removed as president of BJP just because he expressed his opinion about Jinnah in Pakistan. Do we need any more proofs for declaring BJP as non-secular, approving of fascism and targeting minorities? Can our democratic secular political culture allow such party to function within the parameters of our Constitution?

It is high time the Election Commission takes serious notice of all this and takes appropriate action under the People's Representation Act so that our democratic and secular culture remains unpolluted.

Bomb blasts in Mumbai : crossing the limits

By Asghar Ali Engineer

It was indeed terrible Tuesday (11/7/06) when innocent commuters going back home after hard day’s work were targeted with bomb blast from Matunga to Bhayandar on western suburban trains in Mumbai. So far the death toll is more than 200 and about 700 people injured, many of them quite severely. No words are enough to condemn such horrible crime against humanity. No one who has even elementary sense of being human will commit such dastardly act.

Same day in the morning eight persons lost their lives in Srinagar, five of them tourists from West Bengal. Grenades were thrown at the tourist bus proceeding towards Pahalgam. Why these killings? Who is behind it? Earlier violence was mostly confined to Kashmir Valley. Now this has spread to various cities of North India, Delhi, Varanasi, Ayodhya and Mumbai. Mumbai witnessed such horrifying bomb blasts second time, first time in March 1993 in which more than 250 innocent people lost their lives.

Some people think, as many Kashmiris thought in 1989, that violence is the only way out and if they take to guns, azadi will be near at hand. Now after loosing 80 thousand people they have realised what repercussions use of violence has. ‘Azadi’ is as far away as it ever was for Kashmiris and all they have gained is violence and more violence. Peace now is as elusive as azadi itself.

We can very well realise the wisdom of Gandhiji’s insistence on non-violence for attaining freedom for India from clutches of British imperialism. No one believed Gandhiji when he talked of achieving India’s freedom through non-violence. Even Churchill, the then Prime Minister of Britain, talked of Gandhiji with scorn and said what this ‘naked faqir’ can do to mighty British empire on whom sun does not set.

The world saw that the naked faqir and his non-violence shook the British Empire and got freedom for India. Generally people think that oppressed are justified in using violence and secondly that without using violence one cannot achieve liberation from the oppressors. However, one forgets that while violence is physical, non-violence is moral and spiritual. While the oppressed may not be able to match violence of the oppressor, non-violence gives the oppressed moral superiority and puts the oppressor to shame.

However, it is not easy to practice non-violence for an ordinary person. It requires tremendous inner discipline. Thus in Gandhiji’s theory of non-violence there is equally important concept of what he called satyagraha (insistence on truth) and this requires tremendous patience. Thus non-violence, insistence on truth and patience, all go together and this has appeal of its own and if practiced honestly, it can achieve tremendous results as Gandhiji showed.

Interestingly, Gandhiji’s concept comes very close to the Qur’anic teaching of truth and patience (haq and sabr) as enshrined in chapter 103. It is great shame that the so called ‘jihadis are committing such dastardly acts of violence in the name of Islam. Nothing can be more un-Islamic than these horrifying inhuman acts. This game is being played for power and pelf by the section of Pakistani army. These terrorists cannot carry on such powerful blasts without the support of ISI of Pakistan. Lashkar-I-Tayyiba, which is suspected to be behind such acts cannot sustain itself without active help from ISI. Though Lashkar-I-Taiyyibah has not claimed responsibility for bombing on trains on Tuesday neither police has reached any decisive conclusion but all available indications point in that direction.

Nawaz Sharif, the Ex-Prime Minister of Pakistan has said in his recently published biography that ISI is not under government control and has been trying to de-stabilise India and Bangla Desh. He is certainly in know of things in Pakistan and what he says cannot be lightly dismissed.

It is such a matter of shame that Pakistan, which claims to be an Islamic state is bringing shame and disgrace to Islam. No other Islamic country is home to so many terrorists as Pakistan is. Pakistan also has become a front state for all American designs, which further fuels violence and creates more terrorists. In fact if Pakistan is true to Islam than it should have been heaven of peace. The prophet of Islam made peace central to Islamic teachings.

He accepted peace treaty of Hudaibiyah, which was thought to be humiliating by most of his close companions and yet the Prophet (PBUH) insisted on accepting the treaty as it led to establishing peace. What better noble example than this? But these terrorists feel no pang of conscience in killing innocent citizens. Even according to the rules of Shari’ah, non-combatants cannot be killed. These rules are precursors to the Geneva Agreement, which was drawn up hundreds of years after these Shari’ah rule.

However, it is these Muslims who are openly defying these Shari’ah rules in the name of Islam. What could be more condemnable? Also how can one say that one needs jihad for taking Kashmir? Jihad is not meant for conquering territory it is for defending oneself, if attacked and for controlling ones evil desires. The Qur’an specifically prohibits any war of aggression. It clearly says, “Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you. Do not commit aggression; Allah does not love aggressors.� (2:190)

And in throwing bombs and killing innocent people they are doubly guilty: they are aggressing against those who are not aggressors and over and above that they are killing non-combatants. Thus they are violating every injunction of Islam and ironically in the name of Islam. They have named their armed groups as “Lashkar-I-Tayyiba� (Holy Army) and “Jaish-I-Mohammad� (the Army of Mohammad, peace be upon him). How can an army which kills innocent people be a holy army or army of Holy Prophet. Those who commit such inhuman deeds can never deserve to be called holy army or army of Mohammad (PBUH).

And as for jihad, it has never been used in the sense of war in the Qur’an. There are other words like qital and harb for war. The Prophet (PBUH) when asked what is jihad he is reported to have said that best form of jihad is speaking truth in the face of tyrannical ruler. Here so called jihadis them selves are tyrannical and it is needed to speak plain truth in the face. They need to be told that what they are doing is tyranny against innocent people.

It is such dastardly acts, which has brought bad name to Islam in popular imagination. We claim that Islam is a religion of peace but such acts convince people that Islam has nothing to do with peace but with violence and terrorism. It is in fact duty of Muslims to project them selves as model for peaceful behaviour. We cannot expect common people to discern and discriminate between handful of aggressors and large mass of Muslims living in peace with others and sticking to the Islamic teaching of peace.

It is believed that one of the intentions of throwing bomb on innocent people is to start communal violence in India. They threw bombs in Ayodhya, in a temple in Varanasi and earlier in a market place in Delhi last October. But people of India are mature enough not to fall prey to such dirty game. When bomb was thrown at a temple in Varanasi it was feared that it would trigger off communal riots. But not only Muslim leaders and intellectuals but also the chief mufti of Varanasi issued a fatwa decrying that attack on temple quoting the Qur’anic verse that to kill one innocent human being amounts to killing the whole humanity (5:32).

The chief mufti and chief priest of the temple in Varanasi came together and expressed solidarity thus completely frustrating the designs of those who wanted to ignite Hindu-Muslim riots. When a bomb as thrown at Ayodhya it was feared in the same way that it might trigger off violence between Hindus and Muslims and nothing happened. We must salute maturity of Indian people.

This time around also all important Muslim leaders have condemned this cowardly attack on innocent people. Jamiat-I-Ulama-i-Hind, Muslim League, Jamat-e-Islami-Hind, all of them spare no words in condemning this heinous crime against humanity. No saner person will ever condone such ghastly killings. The Hindus and Muslims in Mumbai rose to the occasion and helped all those who were injured and removed dead bodies to hospitals.

It seems India will have to live with such attacks for sometime to come. It is therefore, necessary to be ever alert. What happened on terrible Tuesday is also partly an intelligence failure. Though it is very difficult to predict when and where terrorists will choose to attack, it becomes all the more necessary to be very very alert. It is the duty of the Government of India to protect the lives of people against such attacks.

Also, it appears there was lack of alertness and disaster management. The police and other authorities took long time to reach spots of disaster. Time and again it has been stressed by the NGOs and other activists that India woefully lacks in disaster management. It has been proved once again that India needs to work hard to provide for emergency situations.

People themselves were, it appears, more prepared than the authorities. Such major disaster man-made or natural, are bound to take place time and again and so government should work in all seriousness to evolve sooner than later the disaster management plan.

Communal violence and minority-majority relations

By Asghar Ali Engineer

Often I face a question in various workshops and seminars on communalism as to why majority is often blamed for violence and not minorities. Those who ask this question often ask with genuine feelings and not necessarily as a result of communal bias. It will also be wrong to maintain that minorities are blameless and do nothing that is questionable.

First of all it is necessary to emphasise that one should not homogenise whole community, be it majority or minority. Neither all are communal in any community nor all are secular and peace loving. Also, there is no single political trend in any religious community. Here it would be interesting to give the example of partition in 1947. It would be wrong to maintain that all Muslims supported partition and all Hindus opposed it. Large number of Muslims including ulama (theologians) opposed partition. Similarly, it is equally wrong to maintain that all Hindus opposed partition. Many Hindus were of the view that partition was the only solution. Not only that Hindu Mahasabha believed in Hindu Rashtra and thus strengthened two-nation theory propounded by Jinnah but also leaders like Lala Lajpat Rai supported partition of the Punjab in 1924 itself.

In post partition period also in every community there are divergent political trends. It is wrong to assume, as communal elements often do, that all Muslims support the Congress. Large number of Muslims, for example, in West Bengal and Kerala support the left parties and in Tamil Nadu the DMK and AIDMK. Now Muslim vote also goes to different parties in different regions. The Hindu vote, of course, is divided among different political parties. Interestingly, all communal forces claim to be champions of entire community. The Sangh Parivar claims to be championing the cause of entire Hindu community. The Muslim League, similarly, claimed to be sole representative of Muslims in pre-partition days.

Thus when we talk in terms of majority-minority it creates an impression as if entire majority or minority community supports one particular point of view or one particular political trend. Large number of Hindus fight against the Sangh Parivar and large number of Muslims opposed Muslim League politics in pre-partition days. Thus while using the term majority or minority we should be conscious of this fact.

Thus when we say Hindu-Muslim problem it is not between all Hindus and all Muslims but between communal Hindus and communal Muslims. When we say Hindu communalism we mean communal politics of the Sangh Parivar who swear by Hindu Rashtra or incite Hindu feelings against Muslims. All Hindus do not support the Sangh Parivar.

It is important to note that after partition Muslims have been reduced to a small minority and cannot afford to be very aggressive. A section of Muslim leadership took aggressive posture during the eighties on questions like Shah Bano and Babri Masjid and launched aggressive movements. The result was strengthening the Sangh Parivar, which began to get more Hindu support. However, realisation about negative outfall of aggressive postures by a section of minority leaders came after demolition of Babri Masjid and consequent communal riots in Mumbai, Surat, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Bhopal and other places. Since then the Muslim leaders have been sobered down.

It is also important to note that majority tends to be arrogant and assertive not only in India but in all countries including those of the West. The white majority in Europe and North America (including Canada) tend to be racist and assertive vis-à-vis other Asian minorities. In Muslim countries the Muslim majority behaves no differently. In Bangla Desh Hindus are at receiving end and in Pakistan the Shia minority suffers at the hands of Sunni majority. In Sri Lanka the Sinhala majority tends to be quite aggressive vis-à-vis Tamil and Muslim minorities.

Thus Majority-minority conflict is almost universal. It is not specific to India. Majority feels arrogant on account of number and political power. In some countries minority may wield political power as the Alawis in Syria over Sunni majority or Sunnis in Iraq over Shia majority. But this is possible only under dictatorship and not in democracy. In Iraq today it is Sunni minority, which is using violence in protest against loss of power and prospects of Shias and Kurds ruling over them under democracy.

In all these countries usually those who are supporters of democracy and inclined towards left tend to be more sympathetic towards minorities. Thus we see in India left parties are very sympathetic of Muslim minority. It was left which consistently opposed the NDA rule and helped Congress form the government to keep NDA led by the BJP out of power. Also some caste -based parties like RJD, SP and BSP have taken sympathetic vie of Muslims. But this is more on account of compulsions of minority votes than on ideological grounds as in the case of the left.

But nevertheless such alliances, though not ideological, are nevertheless important to keep communal peace. Thus Bihar has seen communal peace in last 13 years largely because Lalu Prasad needs Muslim votes. However, in West Bengal the left has maintained communal peace in last 23 years not simply because of compulsions of vote but ideologically it is against communalism. And this is an important difference.

Besides arrogance of majority there are other factors like class, caste and race at work. In this connection the example of communal and racial violence, which has been going on for last 20 days is quite important. The police in suburbs of Paris was chasing some North African youth and two of them got electrocuted while running away from the police and the violence against police and subsequently against others broke out.

The North African youth attacking police and burning down cars every night belong to Algeria. Thus they are Muslims, black and poor. Thus they are thrice removed from white, French and middle class majority. These youth live in poor suburbs of Paris and other French cities, are less educated and unemployed. They are totally frustrated in life and have been victims of white racialism and economically downtrodden.

The police has so far failed to restore order. The fury of the youth is unparalleled. Here it can be argued that Black Muslim minority is being very aggressive. But it is not the whole truth. The white upper class majority has been highly arrogant and unjust to the Black Muslim Algerians. Violence results from victims of severe injustice as much as from arrogance of power. The violence borne out of frustration and continued injustices can at times be quite intense.

We can give example of Naxalite violence in India. The tribals and dalits who belong to minority in Indian society, tends to be quite intense as it is result of centuries of oppression and exploitation. Similarly the LTTE also tends to be very vicious in its attacks though Tamilians are in minority in Sri Lanka. Thus it will be seen that much depends on concrete situation and it is very difficult to generalise. In many cases minority can be very vicious in its attacks on majority people or on government constituted by the majority community.

If the minority is poor and illiterate it may tend to be less aggressive but if it is facing intense exploitation the situation might change. In case of India its secular democratic political structure becomes a cushion against more intense violence. The Muslim minority tends to benefit from democratic secularism and hence it does not resort to violence as minorities do in other authoritarian countries.

Indian Muslims were also traumatised by partition experience and soon realised that democratic secularism is there for their benefit. In this connection it is important to note that in India been most orthodox ulama support secular democracy as against the ulama in Muslim majority countries who denounce secularism as against Islam. The ulama feel empowered in Muslim majority countries through assertion of religious dogmas as majority of people follow Islam.

However in Muslim minority countries like India such assertion does not bring political empowerment but arouses suspicion of majority and hence such assertion for political empowerment is avoided and instead it is acceptance of secularism which brings more acceptability and so the ulama tend to support democratic secularism.

Thus to understand majority-minority dynamics one has to understand political dynamics of the country. One cannot understand it in political vacuum. It certainly cannot be understood only in terms of religion, as usually we tend to do. It is not a religious but a political problem. If it is a tiny minority like the Parsis it will not create any problem but if it is a sizeable minority like Muslims, it will give rise to majority-minority problem. The tiny minorities like that of Parsis cannot influence power dynamics while sizeable minority like that of Muslims can.

Thus when we discuss Hindu-Muslim problem we should be aware that all Hindus are not communal but most of them tend to be peace loving and democratic. It is only a tiny minority, which is aggressive and communal as it invokes religious identity in order to come to power. The question of blaming entire community does not arise at all. There would have been no democracy, let alone secularism, if all Hindus had toed the communal line.

Five years of Gujarat carnage: an overview

By Asghar Ali Engineer

Five years have past since the Gujarat carnage of February 28 2002 which lasted over six months. The carnage followed the burning of S-6 at Godhra on 27th February. It is great mystery as to who set fire to S-6 or was it an accidental fire? Before even news spread all over India of this ghastly incident at Godhra in which 59 persons were burnt, Ahmedabad city started burning on the morning of 28th February. In the post-Godhra carnage in central and north Gujarat more than 2000 persons, mostly of minority origin, were killed most brutally. Several women were raped and weapons inserted in their private parts.

The then NDA Government at the Centre and Modi in Gujarat maintained that S-6 was set afire as a result of conspiracy hatched by the ISI of Pakistan with the help of some Muslims in Godhra. The Modi Government arrested about 100 persons under POTA which was then in force. However, during last five years the Modi Government has not been able to produce an iota of proof against the accused in the ‘Godhra conspiracy case.’

The POTA review committee opined last year that there are no substantial grounds for keeping the accused under the POTA but even then the Modi Government refused to release these accused.

It is real mystery as to who set fire to the coach S-6 or was it an accidental fire. The Banerjee Commission set up by Shri Lalu Prasad, the Railway Minister in the UPA Government concluded that the fire was result of short circuit inside S-6 and there is no evidence for setting fire from outside. Mr. Mukul Sinha, the defense lawyer thinks that fire was result of bursting of cooking stove carried by karsevaks went on long tour to Ayodhya. The Shah-Nanvati Commission, which is also probing in the train burning at Godhra has still not published its report. One wonders what conclusion it would draw.

Before even the cause of fire was known Modi pronounced the theory of ‘equal and opposite reaction’ and justified the carnage in Gujarat on the very first day the carnage began. Modi also insisted on carrying the dead bodies of Godhra train tragedy in procession in Ahmedabad thus providing direct provocation for the carnage. No administration, let alone a chief minister, would permit dead bodies of those killed in any sensitive communal incident to be taken out in procession as it acts as direct provocation for more violence. But Modi wanted precisely that.

The Gujarat carnage of 2002 was very different from other riots in post-independence India for following reasons:

1) In no other riot in post-independence period chief minister directly provided justification for massacre as Modi himself did. There have been instances of chief minister not effectively quelling the riots but never of justifying them.

2) In no other riot ministers and police officers led the marauding mob. In case of Gujarat carnage many eye witnesses named two ministers including Mr. Zadaphiya, the then Minister of state for Home involved in directing the marauding mobs. He even entered the police control room and directed the police what to do. His cell numbers also have been recorded. No outsider is ever allowed in police control rooms.

3) In no other riots police officers have been transferred for effectively controlling communal violence. In Gujarat 2002 several honest and committed police officers were transferred on this ground and soon after their transfer riots broke out in that region.

4) In no other riots refugee camps were suddenly closed without providing either alternate accommodation or allowing the refugees to return to their homes and hearth. Modi Government closed the camps without any justification and without providing refugees any alternate accommodation or making arrangements to return to their homes and hearths. Modi while closing down the camps even derisively remarked that I cannot allow ‘baby-producing factories’ to go on, simply because few Muslim women who were pregnant at the time of riots gave birth to babies in refugee camps.

Not only that the refugee camps were closed down even today i.e. five years after the carnage more than 5000 families are rotting in horrifying conditions in various refugee camps. Not only this Modi recently returned more than Rs.19 crore to Central Government saying funds are no more needed as all have been ‘settled’. The victims of Gujarat carnage are unable to return to their original homes as they are still threatened by the VHP activists of the affected villages.

They say that victims would be allowed to return only if they agree to withdraw all cases against the perpetrators of carnage in the village and on condition that they will live in separate quarters like the apartheid and would not give azan on loud speakers. Naturally many victims have refused to agree to these humiliating conditions and are living in most despicable conditions.

What is most shocking is that the Gujarat society is still completely polarised and one sees no signs of repentance among those who indulged in most brutal violence against fellow human beings. They still feel the violence against Muslims was justified. The Sangh Parivar has been carrying on high-pitched hate campaign against minorities even today. Modi need this campaign to go on as it is to be used as political capital in coming assembly elections.

In fact the Gujarat carnage, as it is well known was carried out with the sole purpose of winning the 2002 assembly elections in Gujarat. When the Modi Government won the elections with two-third majority the BJP functionaries celebrated the victory by saying we have found a ‘model’ to win the elections and we will repeat it in other states. Even Mr.Vajpayee, the then Prime Minister of India when asked for his reaction as to the winning model, he replied ‘will Muslims burn train in other place?’ In other words even Vajpayee found the ‘model’ acceptable.

However, the BJP lost general elections of 2004 and Mr. Vajpayee accepted that NDA Government was defeated mainly because of Gujarat carnage. The people of India who are basically peace-loving and secular rejected the BJP-led NDA Government lest other states should experience such carnage. The BJP is in disarray ever since and has not been able to find yet its political bearings. The BJP and Shiv Sena are the two political parties which, thrive on anti-minority hate campaign. They want to base their victory in elections on hatred against minorities. The Sena Chief Bal Thackaray again made sharp attack on Muslims during the Mumbai Municipal Corporation elections.

Is there any way out? In Gujarat one does not find any way out as of now. What Gujarat needs in healing touch and only civil society can provide it. But as pointed out above, the civil society itself is deeply polarised on communal lines. In South Africa the blacks and coloured had suffered immensely under the White Government. When Nelson Mandela could establish government of people of African origin, he did not seek any revenge and instead set up a truth and justice commission. Bishop Desmond Tutu played very vital role in functioning of the commission. It provided the healing touch.

But one does not see any Desmond Tutu in Gujarat. The civil society is badly divided. In democracy a vibrant society can play very important role but when it is itself polarised on communal lines how can it intervene to set things right? Harsh Mandar, who himself is not from Gujarat, but is extremely sensitive soul, is trying his best to bring about some reconciliation is few villages of Gujarat. But it is only a lonely battle of an outsider.

Why the Gujarat society is so polarised today? The BJP has won over dalits, backwards and tribals in its political fold and thus Hindus, despite deep internal cleavages appear to be united. There has never been a strong dalit movement in Gujarat emphasising their own separate identity like in Maharashtra and other states. There has been no reform movement either. Thus in absence of such a movement dalits, backwards and tribals find it politically beneficial to be part of Hindutva parivar.

Only in 1985 the then chief minister of Gujarat Mr. Solanki had made a feeble attempt to unite weaker sections of Gujarat society by forming a KHAM alliance. KHAM stood for kshatriya, harijans, adivasis and Muslims. He gave them reservations as per Bakhshi Commission recommendations and won 1985 assembly elections with two-third majority. However, the BJP saw the red and launched an aggressive movement against KHAM alliance and succeeded in toppling Solanki Government. Solanki also unfortunately did not stand up firmly with the alliance and suspended reservations to save his government.

However, that knocked the ground off the KHAM alliance and except Muslims, other weaker sections sought refuge under the Sangh Parivar. That is the main reason why Sangh parivar has been able to successfully create the illusion of ‘Hindu unity’ and Hindu rashtra. The Congress after Solanki could not stand up and almost willingly conceded ground to the Sangh Parivar. Most of the Congressmen themselves subscribe to Hindutva ideology in Gujarat. It has rightly been described the B-party of BJP.

The BJP has been further helped by the identity crisis among the Gujarati NRIs living in U.K. and USA. They help the Hindutva movement in Gujarat generously through their financial contributions to compensate for their identity crisis. Most of the Gujaratis have struck it rich in USA and satisfy their conscience by supporting the Hindutva movement back home. Taking all this into account there is very little hope in Gujarat for the time being. Let us hope for better days in future.

[photo by Itamar Goldstein]

Future of communal relations in India

By Asghar Ali Engineer

What is the future of communal relations in India? What will be the likely scenario in coming 30 years? This is an important question. Is India doomed as a secular democracy? Or does India’s future lie in secular democracy? Will the Hindutva forces gain or loose? There are different answers to these questions, which is quite natural. In complex social and political problems there are no easy answers. To get some probable answers one has to get at the root of the problem.

India, it is important to note, has been a multi-religious, multi-cultural and multi-lingual society for centuries. Forces of tolerance have always been strong in its soil. Besides others Emperors Ashoka and Akbar have been great symbols of tolerance and openness to other religions. Throughout medieval ages, one hardly finds instances of inter-communal clashes though among religious priesthood there was bigotry and sectarianism. This bigotry and sectarianism as exposed by poets like Kabir.

However, the Sufi and Bhakti movements acted as bridge builders. They effectively countered the narrow mindedness of priestly class and spread love and humanism. The Sufi and Bhakti saints, were more spiritual than religious in ritualistic sense. Their whole emphasis was on love, peace and harmony. They had their roots among common people, poor and of lowly origin. They kept their distance from rulers and ruling classes.

It is important to note that it is clash of interests, which brings about unrest and communal tensions in society, not clash of religions. Religions do not clash; it is vested interests, which do. In medieval ages religious communities were not politically organised, they were distinctly different yet not hostile to each other as they did not cater to political needs.

It is with the event of colonialism on one hand, and, subsequent parliamentary democracy that led to politicisation of religion and religious communities. Thus inter-religious clashes are in fact, inter-political clashes. Different political parties carve out their vote-banks among different religious communities and target some community, in order to emerge as champion of ones own community. In fact, they are champions of their own political interests, rather than community’s interests.

In India such communal division occurred mainly due to colonial machinations. It ultimately led to division of our motherland. This political vivisection became a running sore for people of India, particularly for those of majority community as they saw Muslims as responsible for division of the country. Muslims as a community were not responsible for division but only a section of upper class Muslim elite in collaboration with British colonial power brought about this division. In fact common Muslims are really suffering today on account of this division.

The rightwing Hindu politicians exploited the issue of partition to the hilt with an eye to Hindu votes and often incited communal violence. This violence intensified during the decade of eighties in post-independence India. Most of the major riots in independent India took place during 1980 to 1992-93. There are number of reasons for this. By the time we saw dawn of eighties about 40 years had passed since India became independent. The democratic processes intensified and brought more democratic awareness among the minorities and weaker sections of India and they got better organised by then to demand their due share in power.

The upper caste Hindus felt that in coming years they will have to yield more and more share of power to minorities and low caste Hindus (dalits) and hence the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), mainly representing the political and economic interests of upper caste Hindu elite, raised alarm and began propaganda blast against minorities and dalits and led to heightened inter-communal and inter-caste tensions. The BJP used Ram Temple controversy as a powerful symbol to mobilise Hindu votes and ultimately rode to power in 1999 and remained in power until 2004.

The Sangh Parivar (which includes Rashtriya Seva Sangh, Vishwa Hindu parishad and BJP) tried to weaken secularism and Hinduise Indian plot during their rule. It was during the BJP rule (both at the Centre as well as in Gujarat state) that Gujarat carnage took place in 2002, which officially 1000 and unofficially 2000 Muslims were brutally killed. Thus inter-religious violence achieved its climax during the BJP rule, which bases its politics on hatred of minority communities.

It was during the BJP rule that attacks against miniscule minority of Christians also began. An Australian Christian priest James Staines, working for lepers among tribals in a distant village of Orissa in Eastern India was burnt to death along with his two young children. Many other Christian priests and nuns were also attacked or murdered. This was the darkest period of secular India.

But it is to be noted that people of India rejected the BJP rule because of its communal excesses and voted the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government led by the Congress to power in the elections of 2004. Thus the people of India once again proved that they are secular and tolerant and desire communal harmony and better inter-religious relations. Though one cannot see inter-communal relations in straight line as much depends on political dynamics in the country.

However, on the whole, it can be said that common people of India are desirous of peaceful co-existence and do not appreciate communal turmoil in the country. The dark side of economic development is vast poverty-stricken underbelly of India. India is still at 137th place out of 139 countries surveyed as far as malnutrition and deaths caused by hunger is concerned. Such stark poverty cannot but have political implications.

The ruling classes use caste and communal issues to divert attention from such horrific problems. Many politicians are tempted to resort to communal-based, instead of issue-based politics. The Gujarat carnage of 2002 took place precisely when the BJP Government was signing various international trade treaties and liberalising economy benefiting handful of economic elite.

Thus in coming 30 years one cannot expect smooth inter-caste and inter-communal relations as the ruling classes would certainly tempted to employ emotional issues to catch votes of common people without solving their problems. This process of emotionalising and communalising politics is aided and abated by the media also, as media itself is controlled by political and economic elite.

The Sangh Parivar has consolidated its base during six years of its rule and possesses disciplined cadre and thus possesses great capacity to communalise politics and provoke communal violence. But there are countervailing forces too which go in favour of more secularised democracy.

The lower castes (dalits) though at times get used by upper caste Hindus and are swept off their feet by powerful emotional propaganda but on the whole tend to be anti-Sangh Parivar force. These dalits are main victims of upper caste elite politics and their leaders try to counter communal politics in order to keep their caste flock with them. The caste awarene