Muslim Future In Pluralist India
By
Moin Qazi, New Age Islam
21 October
2023
It
Amounts To Questioning The Purity Of The Nationalism Of Muslims, The Same Way
The So-Called Upper Castes Have Questioned The Purity Of The Spiritualism Of
The So-Called Backward Castes. Muslim Indians Have Neither Compromised
Nationalism Nor Abandoned Religion.
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The
Constitution is not for the exclusive benefit of governments and states; it
also exists for the common man, the poor and the humble ..for the butcher, the
baker and the candlestick maker.
These words
of Justice Vivian Bose effectively sum up the entire piece of work. The book's
premise challenges the (erroneous) notion that some carry: that the
Constitution of India is a document for the elite and the well-off.
Constitutions
were made for modern democratic societies in the same way t the scriptures were
made for pre-modern traditional societies. But while everyone had a clear idea
of how the ancient religious texts worked for everyone in the older societies,
few people have a clear idea of how the Constitution can work for the only
executive and judiciary respect that animates it.
It is an
appreciable feat that the Constitution offers remedies even to the most
marginalized people in society, and equally commendable is the fact that these
people put enough trust and confidence in the Constitution that they move the
courts seeking to enforce their rights.
Other
faiths were accorded equal status. Islam, unlike Marxism, continues to be
deeply rooted and still present in everyday life and profoundly influences
various societies and ideologies. Islam remains a system of values by which
Muslims live. It is robust enough to survive the complexities that have
buffeted world civilizations in the past and has the answer to even those
potential threats hovering around in the social environment. Therefore, life in
a plural age should be welcomed because we can pursue paths and learn from
other approaches. Only, it's not that simple, of course. And in truth, this is
the most demanding form of pluralism.
It means
that I must take responsibility for my commitments in a particular way,
recognizing that they are commitments others do not share. At the same time,
this diversity safeguards our humanity. If everyone were to follow the same
path, if utopia were found, then there would be no more questions, no more
questing, only subsistence living. It's often forgotten that Thomas More's
"utopia" coinage means "no place". A philosophy of
pluralism, though, represents a real place because of the grit of others. Others
protect my humanity; their truth sustains my truth, and their difference
enhances my singularity. Ramadan continues.
We have to
rethink the very ideas of Islam and modernity to end the confusion caused by
the controversial or ideological use of the terms, which makes them two
antagonistic forces. Muslims are India's most significant religious minority.
Muslims have considered India their home for more than a millennium. They have
become so seamlessly integrated into its social mainstream that several strands
of their culture and tradition have been subsumed into the national fabric. But
the tragedy is that Muslims are so marginalized that their presence in critical
public spheres is almost invisible. Most of them are poor, semiliterate, and
driven into ghettos.
When the
British withdrew from the Indian subcontinent in 1947, paving the way for the
independence of the newly partitioned nations of India and Pakistan, the
Muslims could stay back in their homeland or migrate. They could resettle in
Pakistan, where they would be among a Muslim majority, or remain in India,
where they would live as a minority in a majority-Hindu but constitutionally
secular state. But, logistically, this could never be feasible, and the problem
got rooted in this vortex.
Long before
the British conquered India, the Hindus had resented their Muslim Mogul masters
and those who, by conversion, followed the same faith. The Muslim had all the
scorn of the warrior for those less martial than himself and was politically
more astute than the others. This historical background would have required
more courage, tolerance, and statecraft than any leaders in India or Pakistan
have yet shown to heal the hereditary strains between the two great communal
factions. Seventy-five years later, those warnings have gained a new
prescience. Nominally, India remains a secular state and a multipath democracy.
Religious minorities account for roughly 20 per cent of the country's 1.4
billion people, who include about 200 million Muslims and 28 million Christians.
But, in the
last decade of rule, the inner fabric of the state has frayed. Beneath the
country's apparent inclusivity runs an undercurrent of Hindu nationalism that
has gained strength during the eight-year rule of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The concern shared by many among the country's religious minorities, as well as
by more secular-minded liberals within the Hindu majority, is that the
country's secular and inclusive ethos is already beyond healing.
Today, many
Hindu nationalists seem to see it as their life's mission to deprive Indian
Muslims of equal rights or even expel them. They would also like to introduce
Hindu religious writing into Indian law. It's important to remember that
Muslims are India's largest minority, over 14 per cent of the population. There
was a time when Hindus and Muslims, including my family, fought for freedom
against British colonial rule. They firmly rejected the theory, propagated by
power-hungry politicians, that Hindus and Muslims cannot live together in one
country. Today, to suggest that Indian Muslims are anti-national and aliens, as
some do, is preposterous.
Muslims in
India continue to suffer significant political, social, and economic
deprivation. Their situation is so dire that economic reforms precede all other
amelioration policies. Improvement in their social and educational conditions,
as well as the much-talked-about gender reforms, will automatically follow
their economic uplift. Muslims in India are not just humiliated on the streets.
They are being demonized and vilified on the big screen. Modi has praised and
defended two films criticized as deeply Islamophobic, The Kashmir Files and The
Kerala Story, in his election rallies. Some state governments even exempted the
movie from certain entertainment taxes. With the culture saturated with imagery
that portrays Muslims as anti-Indian traitors, it is little surprise that a day
after India's feted moon-landing, the country found itself watching a teacher
in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh asking her pupils to take turns slapping
a seven-year-old
Modi has
two languages: speaking eloquently and inclusively of Gandhi and democracy when
the world is watching, and another language of silence as his country descends
into violent, Hindu-nationalist majoritarianism. I have closely followed Modi
and his political style over the last 15 years, and the most striking feature
is what you might term the art of looking away. But what
They lag on
almost every measure of success—the number of Muslims in the I.A.S., the police
and the army, the number of Muslim-owned companies in the top five hundred
Indian firms, and the percentage of Muslim C.E.O.s or national newspaper
editors far behind their statistical entitlements. And then millions of Muslims
live in abject poverty.
The
backwardness of Muslims deprives the country of nearly one-fifth of its
valuable talent. Economic problems cannot be solved with civil rights remedies
but can be relieved with public and private action encouraging economic
redevelopment. The government has aggressively been pursuing the agenda of
reforms in the personal laws of Muslims, alleging genuine concern for Muslim
women. But economic backwardness is a much more complex and bitterer reality
for Muslim Indians. The state can't turn its eyes away, mainly when training
many telescopes on the community's social issues.
It amounts
to questioning the purity of the nationalism of Muslims, the same way the
so-called upper castes have questioned the purity of the spiritualism of the
so-called backward castes. Muslim Indians have neither compromised nationalism
nor abandoned religion.
The
economic agenda is more urgent for the community than most of the reforms the
government is contemplating. The whole chorus of gender and other social
reforms gives the impression that civil society faces multiple problems today.
Most Muslims see these social reforms as a subterfuge for deflecting attention
from the community's most pressing discrimination on the economic front.
The
relative economic condition of Muslims has suffered significantly compared to
everyone else despite spectacular growth in the country's economy. It makes for
both good economics and politics if a fraction of new economic gain can correct
the negative trajectory of the Muslim reality in India. Poor Muslims are much
poorer than poor Hindus and can easily be bracketed with the lowest Hindu
castes, Adivasis, and Dalits. Muslims are stuck at the bottom of almost every
economic or social ladder.
All
political parties at the helm of government have resorted to "strategic
secularism" to secure the so-called Muslim vote bank. For this reason,
Indian liberalists have always couched Indian secularism in more progressive
terms, namely, from a constitutional framework focused on supporting religious
minorities to one that promotes community development, social justice, and
cultural diversity.
Economic
development cannot happen in a vacuum. It can be sustained only in a conducive
social atmosphere. The comprehensive result is possible only when we have the
rule of law, social harmony, equality before the law, respect for religion, and
tolerance for diversity.
In theory,
politicians and preachers have always extolled a grand vision—that India
historically has been a place of religious tolerance where settlers found a
welcome melting pot in which everyone was free to practice their faith. This
approach has stoked resentment among many of the country's Hindus while doing
little to improve Muslims' well-being. This resentment will hit India's Muslims
particularly hard, with further social and political marginalization
undermining their economic prospects. The size of India's Muslim population is
bound to drag down overall development. In post-independent India, the state has
paid lip service to this comforting tableau of the nation's pluralism.
The Social
and Political Barometer Survey 2023 conducted by CSDS-Lokniti is very relevant
for one to go beyond the established stereotypical imaginations about Muslims.
This survey's findings offer a complex picture in which Hindus and Muslims do
not always emerge as conflicting identities. More specifically, the Muslim
response to Narendra Modi's leadership as Prime Minister of the country for
nearly a decade provides insights for a serious discussion on the Muslim-Modi
connection.
In this
sense, three questions are relevant from our point of view. First, how do
Muslims relate to fundamental existential issues such as poverty, unemployment,
and price rise? Do they think differently? Second, how do Muslims evaluate the
performance of B.J.P. governments? Does this assessment influence their voting
pattern? Finally, what is the Muslim perception of Narendra Modi? What are the
qualities of leadership they identify in him?
CSDS-Lokniti
undertook an excellent exercise for The idea of the 'Muslim Mind', which seems
to influence our public discussions interestingly. CSDS-Lokniti surveys
emphasize rigorous sampling techniques and the language used in survey
questions. These findings only offer a few indications or directions to analyze
further ordinary people's views, anxieties, perceptions and beliefs. Survey
results will always become meaningful if placed in a proper analytical
framework. Although there has always been some curiosity about "how
Muslims think and behave in secular India", the rise of the Modi-led
B.J.P. as the dominant force at the national level has transformed this sincere
concern into political anxiety.
The
B.J.P.'s Hindutva politics revolves around the slogan of sab ka saath, sab ka
vikas, sab ka vishwas, claiming that there is no need to treat Muslims as a
separate social entity. The party, no doubt, is making serious efforts to reach
out to the Pasmanda Muslim communities, yet the 'Muslim mind' is still seen as
a problematic question.
Critics of
the B.J.P. are equally puzzled. Non-BJP parties have indeed opposed aggressive
Hindutva and its violent anti-Muslim manifestations. Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo
Yatra, supported by civil society organizations and people's movements, was a
serious attempt in this regard. Yet, there is unease among non-BJP groups.
Despite advocating communal brotherhood as a core political value, opposition
parties do not want to be labelled "pro-Muslim". The impression that
the 'Muslim mind' can only be understood as an anti-BJP phenomenon seems to
guide their political strategy.
The
Conclusions Highlight Three Broad Observations:
• First,
Muslim communities, like other social groups, are concerned about deteriorating
economic conditions. The communal divide does not affect their perceptions
about everyday life and their resolve for collective survival.
• Second,
Muslim communities still take the idea of political participation very
seriously for their survival as a religious minority. They are highly uncomfortable
with aggressive Hindutva, so they constantly search for the best political
option. That is why a section of Muslims does not hesitate to support the
B.J.P.
• Finally,
Muslims recognize the political importance of the figure of Narendra Modi. Again,
there is a mixed response to this question. He is admired, disliked, and even
ignored. This diversity of Muslim opinion, in a way, highlights a conscious and
peaceful struggle for securing a meaningful existence in contemporary India.
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Moin Qazi is the author of the bestselling book,
Village Diary of a Heretic Banker. He has worked in the development finance
sector for almost four decades.
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-politics/muslim-pluralist-india/d/130946
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