[sacw] Mushirul Hasan's recent paper

Sun, 6 Jun 1999 01:25:23 +0200

South Asia Citizens Web
June 6, 1999

Posted below is a paper by Mushirul Hasan the well known Indian historian
and commentator

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=46rom: THE INDIAN EXPRESS, Saturday, June 5, 1999

SALVATION IS SECULAR

by Mushirul Hasan =20

The representation of a privileged Muslim community has been woven around
a palpably false theory of Muslim appeasement. The reality, one that is
still not adequately recognised in government and bureaucratic circles, is
that India's 110 million Muslims lag far behind other communities in
literacy, government and private employment, business and industry. They
have low levels of income in urban areas, especially when measured in per
capita terms.

More than half of the population live below the poverty line: fewer urban
Muslims work for a regular wage or salary than members of other religious
groups. Widespread illiteracy and a higher drop-out rate at the elementary
stage are additional problems. That is why the average literacy rate among
Muslims is much less than the national average. Most Muslim women, in
particular, do not receive school education, let alone higher education.
Their empowerment is both a challenge and an urgent necessity.

It is true that there are regional variations, especially wherethe
Muslims, along with Christians, enjoy benefits in the shape of liberal
admission to institutions and scholarships, or in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and
Delhi where job opportunities have steadily increased after Urdu earned its
rightful status. Signs of progress and prosperity are also visible in some
parts of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and
Kerala. Yet the overall picture is disconcerting.

The worrying aspect is that they will remain, unless remedial measures are
taken, outside the area of state employment and in the unorganised sector
either as workers or as self-employed petty bourgeoisie. This was the
principal theme of several conferences held at Delhi's India International
Centre in recent weeks.

Much anguish was expressed, over generous helpings of qorma, biryani and
nan, over the community's woeful underrepresentation in many sectors of the
economy and polity. Most participants bemoaned, as their predecessors have
done time and time again, thatopportunities for economic advance are
specially blocked for Muslims because of official neglect and
discrimination. This, they insisted, has contributed to Muslims being `the
hewers of wood and drawers of waters'.

Around the same time some other individuals and groups, far removed from
the plush IIC surroundings, floated the idea of launching not one but
several Muslim political parties. Such moves are afoot in Bangalore,
Hyderabad and Delhi. Who knows, the bubble may burst sooner than later. If
not, this may turn out to be an ominous trend. My fears are based in part
on past experiences and, in part, on present-day social and political
realities.

Among other things, I recount the fate of the Majlis-i Mushawarat (in the
1960s) in Uttar Pradesh and the imminent collapse of similar outfits that
surfaced thereafter. For one, democratic institutions, though easy to work
with, do not always lend themselves to being effectively used or
manipulated by religious collectivities.
Second, the Muslim share of thevotes is, all said and done, small in most
constituencies, though they can tilt the balance in some. So that, as the
sole spokesmen of their co-religionists, Muslim political activists,
regardless of their tall claims, have not carried much influence in
decision-making processes. Nor have they succeeded in acquiring the profile
of the backward caste leaders in Uttar Pradesh or Bihar. Here the caste
configuration has not only altered the political landscape but also ensured
that Muslims play second fiddle to the more dominant caste alignments.
Although politicians of all hues would continue to court Muslims for
electoral gains, the steady decline of the Congress has, in reality,
gradually diminished the value of the `Muslim vote'.

In effect, Muslim leaders, unless tied with progressive political
formations, would remain minor players in any electoral or political
arrangement in New Delhi as well as in Lucknow and Patna. What they can do
best, more so after the collapse of the Congress hegemony, is to make their
choices from a large number of secular options available in the political
marketplace and hitch their fortunes with the secular combinations.

After all, this strategy has paid off in recent decades, though perhaps
not to everybody's satisfaction. To give you an instance, Urdu has earned
its rightful place in UP and Bihar, despite the lukewarm approach of the
Congress and the stout opposition of the BJP, because of the intervention
of leaders like Mulayam Singh Yadav and Laloo Prasad Yadav. An Urdu
university was set up in Hyderabad by the United Front government.
Similarly, non-Congress governments in several southern states have
initiated various compensatory programmes, including reservation in certain
sectors, and lent wholesome support to various community initiatives in
education.
The broad-based alliances with secular parties in Bengal, Tamil Nadu and
Andhra Pradesh, though periodically strained, have paid rich dividends. The
moral of the story is that the Muslim communities, whether fortactical or
other tangible reasons, must work out, as they have so often done after
independence, cross-community linkages, not community-based ones.

In other words, the secular and democratic regime, rather than the
Islamist dimension, must provide the overarching framework to build new
political networks. Taking refuge in or drawing sustenance from
fundamentalist organisations, some of which are unwittingly perpetuating
the community's backwardness through their ill-conceived Islamist agenda,
is a recipe for disaster.

Nobody can take exception to the pursuit of one's faith. Nobody can object
to Muslims starting schools and colleges, including madarsas, reforming
charitable endowment (auqaf), improving the status of Muslim women,
generating employment and energising the defunct Muslim institutions. After
all, such activities have been undertaken by the Al-Ameen Educational
Society in Bangalore, the Islamic Foundation in Chennai and the Muslim
Education Society in Kerala.
Perhaps, many moregroups would surface elsewhere and learn a lesson or two
from the constructive engagements of several Christian missions, the Arya
Samaj and the Ramakrishna Mission.

Why, then, is it necessary to create an exclusive Muslim political front?
I think it is patently foolish and counterproductive to do so. Serious and
fundamental issues of poverty, education and social emancipation that
afflict the Muslim communities cannot be resolved by flexing one's muscles.

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