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Islam and Politics ( 21 Oct 2023, NewAgeIslam.Com)

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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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