Revivalism of religious rights is a challenge to democratic secular constitution

[yogesh saxena]

Revivalism of religious rights is a challenge to democratic secular
constitution
Immediately after the Delhi bomb blast, the police as usual, claimed
to have cracked the case by arresting several people in a raid at
Batla House, in the South Delhi’s Jamia Nagar area. Vice Chancellor of
Jamia Milia Islamia, Mushir-ul-Hasan, who was seen to be a villain in
the community on his forthright comment on the prohibition of ‘
Satanic Verses’, became a hero as soon as he decided that the
University would provide all the legal assistance to the alleged
terrorists who were student of the University. While ‘seculars’ have
applauded the case, the Hindutva affiliates are up in arm against
this, terming it unconstitutional as well as appeasement of the
Muslims.
I am not entering into this debate on what is right and what is wrong
as some people have decided to become judgmental terming one community
always wrong while other always feel that it is victimized without
introspecting our own self. Prof. Mushirul Hasan recently said in a
meeting in Delhi as why should Muslim always be answerable to
everything that is happening around them. He was actually saying that
why do we expect Muslims only to react when there are bomb blasts or
there is a Fatwa. His question was that the debate liberal verses
fundamentalist Muslims is a sham and nobody ever think of other
communities in the same way. Have we ever talked of a liberal Hindu
verses communal one? That question would not arise as the upper caste
Hindus are always perceived to be liberal one. Prof Hasan suggests as
why should Muslims in India be responsible for whatever happening
elsewhere? Ofcourse, Muslims of India are not responsible for whatever
is happening in Bangladesh, Pakistan or any other ‘Islamic’ country
but definitely they can speak against the treatment that minorities
gets in these countries. Let us not speak about ordinary Muslim who is
working harder for his survival in this country but why should those
who champion the cause of Muslims remain mute to such things. Are we
so naïve to say that there is nothing common in South Asia and we
remained neutral to things happening in our neighborhood even when
majority of us have relations in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan
as well as Sri-Lanka. If the things in our neighbors do not affect us
then Karunanidhi and entire Tamilnadu should not have felt the jitters
because of the conditions of Tamils prevailing in Sri-Lanka.
Now, the debate revolves around the students who were picked up by the
police as well as the encounter that was carried out by the Delhi
police in Batla House. It is extremely unfortunate that today’s
embedded media do not give the other side of the story. This
CNNisation of the news and later pontification by the editors on their
own story is a bit too much to digest. Much worst is the case when
‘breaking news’ appears and a reporter gets ‘confession’ from the
‘terrorist’. If we accept police confessions as the proof then why the
Indian media and agencies are afraid of not accepting the same when an
Indian prisoner in Pakistan confessed his hand in bombing.
Unfortunately, we are in the midst of an information war. Whether it
is the Islamic sites or the Hindu fascists, every one is speaking to
their own converts. And the biggest casualty here is the truth and
freedom. Fact of the matter is that in this game of religious war, the
common man, the poor and the women are at the receiving end. All talks
of reforms are closed down as the main threat is then perceived from
outside the community.
It is unfortunate that a legal aid given to a person is considered
against the nation. One can disagree on the nature of support but one
can not deny right to defense to those ‘alleged terrorists’. Ofcourse,
I would hate it if people like Mulayan, Advani and Amar Singh jumps
into the fray and sing the chorus. The political degeneration of the
country is so much that none is going to believe in the truth. Hence
every community should be vary of these power hungry politicians who
are selling the country to the private parties, engineering communal
and caste riots and then coming with great ideas for a secular idea.
Sorry, in the state of affair, the credibility of our political class
is so low that it gives strength to fundamentalist forces as they
appear better than others. People easily ignore that corruption and
dishonesty is not just in financial term but also in the ideological
form.
As the elections season approaches we will witness continuous violence
against the minorities in the country. Muslims are already in the
receiving end and now the Christians are also being targeted
systematically. The Hindutva propagandists have planned every thing
well in advance and how to describe each of their action which has one
agenda in different forms. The Muslims therefore are easily described
as ‘terrorists’, suited to each one of us in India after George Bush’s
notorious Islamic Fascism and ‘ either with us or our enemy’
statements. Christians, the blue eyed boy of Indian establishment are
now at the receiving end. Despite churning out best Brahmins of the
Hindutva brand today, the Christians face the dilemma of the political
system in India. Surely, evangelism is part of Christianity but
definitely there will always be violence on such cases as Hindutva’s
targeting Christians is a threat to freedom and liberty of choosing
one’s faith. It threaten the Dalits indirectly to be ware of such
conversion to either to Christianity or Islam, else you will meet with
the same fate.
Yet, Orissa’s violence can undoubtedly be termed as ethnic cleansing
of the Christian minorities. That Sangh’s goons are roaming around,
preaching hatred and killing people at their will shows how the Navin
Patnayak’s administration has failed to protect the hapless Christians
who happened to be Dalits. The Sangh parivar and its offshoot
organizations have organized their hatred in the tribal dominated
areas. From the very beginning the Sangh says that Lakshmananda was
not killed by the Maoists despite their claim. Ofcourse, most of those
who have been following such violence know that Maoists rarely make
such claims and counter claim and in this case their claims are also
surprising. Nevertheless, the government of Orissa’s pathetic
helplessness reflects a mindset which gives an almost free hand to RSS
and its affiliates to do things at their will.
Union Home Minister Shiv Raj Patil and his two colleagues have been
miserable for the country. Patil had lost his Latur seat and was
awarded the plum ministry for his loyalty to Gandhi family. If he was
an efficient man, nobody would have objected to his cooption in the
Ministry but he seems to be a Minister for nothing. Such sensitive
department can not be left to just personal loyalists as country would
have to pay a price for it.
If the home ministry had been strong enough to take action in each of
these issues, the Sangh Parivar and its goons could not have got such
freedom to assault any one at their will. Patil represent at best the
duality of Congress party in dealing with the communal elements.
Congress, which actually was a representative body of a majority of
diverse Indian communities once upon a time despite its Brahmanical
character slid in the decimation after 1980s as Indira Gandhi started
using the upper caste Hindu sentiments and the first call was
Congress’s role in subsequent elections in Jammu and Kashmir and then
operation Blue Star in June 1984, when the government ordered Army
assault at the Harmandir Saheb. It mobilized the Hindu population of
the country despite the fact that Sikh were completely marginalized.
None had bothered to wipe the tears of those Sikh families who became
victim of this marginalization.
But the rulers have understood well that by making mockery of law and
vilifying one community, you can easily come close to power and
therefore there is always a danger in India which is the entry of
brahmanical supremacy through various doors. Through, the Hindutva
propaganda and vicious violence against minorities, through the
congress in action which allow the Hindutva lunatics to carry on their
threat to minorities and Congress than proclaiming their sole
protector and thirdly, through the state apparatus which has
completely been Hinduised in the name of terrorism and goes by the
same way as have inherited from the British and finally through
secular platform which look different from Congress but a motley group
of disgruntled politicians mainly from the upper caste Hindu
background, secularism for whom means sitting with an Imam Bukhari or
some Holy priests who can cry against the Indian state and the
government of the day . Secularism has other vanguards also in India.
Whenever these things happen, we see the same faces at one platform
swearing in the name of secularism and protecting ‘minorities’. Deve
Gowda, the other day, said how much pained he was on the happenings
against the minorities. One should have asked him the question if he
had thought beyond his son’s interest in Karnataka state, BJP would
not have played havoc with them. Yeren Naidu was there who had no
words for the Sangh parivar and their activist. Rather, his focus was
how Congress had engineered communal riots in Andhra. Mulayam Singh
and Amar Singh are now the biggest champion of secularism as Bombay’s
king Bal Thackeray has asked for a ban on Samajwadi party and asking
Amar Singh to leave India. Amar Singh’s greatest friend and brother
Amitabh Bachchan is one of the best friends of the Thackrays so one
does not know what kind of ideology they belong to. So far, Indian
secularism has always been of pampering communities through bad
examples like issue of terrorism, uniform civil code, Shariat and so
on. None of them have time to feel that secularism is participation in
nation building and socio-cultural political life of the country. And
therefore, any one who believes in secularism, must feel convinced
that Muslims are one of the most vulnerable communities in India at
the moment. A majority of them live in poverty, malnutrition and deep
insecurity. There is a hidden biasness against them in the government
and even in the secular circles. If the secular parties were so much
concern including Mr Mulayam Singh and Deve Gowda, they should have
been more worried about the common Muslims and not with the issues of
giving certificate who is a terrorist and who is not. Instead, one
would have thanked to ensure fair participation of Muslims in our
administration, in police and paramilitary forces, in our industries
as well as civil services. Alas, our politician would never venture to
think as why Muslim participation in our power structure is reducing
and that it need redressed. As long as this happen, only the caste
Hindus will be the leaders of Muslims in the name of secularism and
those Muslims who do not believe in these fundamentalist leaders will
either be termed as liberals or terrorists.
India’s basic problem lies in this certification of what is terrorism
and what is not. While the Advani and company want every Muslim to be
arrested and hanged for the ‘blasphemy’ of challenging the Indian
state, the Indian ‘secular’ parties and political activists, seems to
have lost faith in the political structure. And in this, the
fundamentalist grains the most because those who do not believe in
democracy and secular values are actually the biggest beneficiary of
the secular state.
The threat to Indian statehood is bigger and vital but the response
has been mute and reactionary. Rather than proactive, it is becoming
more in the form of symbols and so called unity of all the
reactionaries who are outside the brahmancial reactions. So, it is
becoming a fight between the Hindu reactionaries and all other
reactionaries who do not like them. Can India survive a fight between
different reactionaries? Where will be the common person and her
interest? All these reactionaries are opposed to basic human rights,
whether right to livelihood, right to choice and right to abort. They
preach gospels and are against individual freedom and right to
question religion.
Yes, these reactionaries only feed each other. They cry against the
other except questioning their own misdeeds. The state of India has
become a virtual enslave to these religious heads. It would have been
greater if the Hindus, Muslims, Dalits, Sikhs, Christians demand for
secular laws and secular values san the fundamentalist leaders. The
longer the leadership goes to the religious fanatics pretending peace
mongers, the more dangerous the entire issue of diversity. These
priests actually do not fight a political battle but a battle of
religious supremacy. They know the weaknesses of others but not ready
to discuss their own issues. They scuttle all kind of reforms with in
the communities and therefore this war of various religious identities
in India is going to defeat people’s movement for reform. Secular
groups must be vary of this and join hand in such a war where a common
man can challenge the religious head of the community and even
question him.
The other day, a few members of the catholic community met at Advani’s
house. Some of them ‘discussed’ the growing tension between different
religious and the answer was Advani’s condemnation of the rape of the
nun. Are things so simple as our priests think? The goons of Sangh
Parivar have been active in Orissa and they need to be tackled
administratively by the government but here the Christian priests
showing their spine to Advani and he in term is talking a dialogue
between different communities. The problem is what is an
administrative problem has been made a national problem and an
ideological fight on the secular vision is completely been termed as
communal problem. The hoodlums of the Hindutva are roaming free,
taking course of action which they like and finally the political
patronage.
It is important to understand the current crisis in India is self
created by the Hindutva protagonists which in turn strengthen the
similar forces elsewhere as the religious heads take over as the
leader of the community. Now, one should ask the government what is
the need to discuss about what happened in Adilabad. A shameful and
most atrocious incident happened in Andhra Pradesh when a Muslim
family of six was burnt alive by the Hindu militants and nothing
happened. It is tragic that the government seems to be sleeping and
the incidents just passed as we see so much from the secular gangs
about Batla house simply because the things happened in Delhi and you
make a good news but why we keep quiet on what happened in Adilabad
which should have put all of us to shame and shock.
Many of our friends say that Muslims do not need to speak all the
time. Why not? We all need to speak all the time against
fundamentalism. Muslims are no exception. If we do not speak the space
will be taken over by the fundamentalists gangs who need some enemies
to fight with and if there is no enemy they will create one.
After the Batala House incident, a well known TV anchor wrote an
article asking Muslims to ponder over as why they need to support
terrorists when Jamia Milia teachers decided to speak. In democracy,
we all need to be vigilant and if an incident like Batla House can
happen in Delhi, you can not imagine what happen in other parts of the
country. Indian media as well as activist-politicians are treading
dangerous path. Here people are already being declared as terrorists
according to their religion and hence none of the media person will
dare to call Bajrang Dal a terrorist organization. Advani is a
nationalist, so is Thackeray and others but if other do the same; they
will be branded and questioned. But the interesting news has just
appeared in the Indian Express today when for the first time the
mainstream media has reported in its front paged item that behind the
Malegaon and other blasts, the police believe the hand of Hindu Jagarn
Manch. ( Indian Express, Delhi October 23, 2008). I am sure the next
day there will be many ifs and buts and not all Hindus would be
declared as ‘terrorists’. Question is why the entire community should
be vilified for the act of a few if they happen to be from the
community. Indian media and society will have to ponder over this
before putting any question.
Normally, these ‘liberal’ Hindus are more dangerous. Often they put
question as ‘we accept that every Muslim is not a terrorist but why
every terrorist is a Muslim’. This question is often asked to me and
my answer is simple. It depends on your definition. You have not
called people who can burn a family in Adilabad or Ahemedabad as
terrorist. You have not called those who raped the nun and killed her
as terrorist. You do not call who start his Rathyatra with a trail of
blood behind it, as terrorist. You do not even stop him from becoming
a prominent minister. You talk of morality but for others as you have
information and media with you.
Yes, we are living in time when each one of us is passive about our
own issues and about own communities. We have documents, truths and
everything about our communities. We want to sale that victimization
mindset. And it is here we are getting nowhere. Those who do not read
history will always misinterpret it as we only believe in what our
forefathers have told us. That is the beginning of fundamentalism and
radicalism in our self. Therefore the Hindu liberal intellect would
always say as why no Muslim country is either secular or democratic.
It wont understand that in Algeria and Turkey the military had always
intervened to stop a democratically elected government in the name of
secularism. That the Islamic fundamentalist groups had been winning
elections in these countries providing ample fuel to ‘secular’ army to
intervene in the interest of the nation. Can we think of such an
intervention in India to stop the likes of Narendra Modi in the
interest of the country? Why should the same journalists, writer
ignore the vital fact that the secular regimes in the middle eastern
countries were dictatorial in nature resulting in religious revivalism
fully supported by the American regimes to counter the former Soviet
regimes.
It is important to understand the issues in wider perspectives and not
be judgmental simply because somebody has got a newspaper and a
channel in his hand. Media, academics as well as activists in India
need lot of introspection. We simply do not speak on issues but are
divided on communities line, both simply justifying their own
positions. None of them dare to speak and support the dissent with in
their own communities. As most of our communities want to listen to
only those ideas which they have been conditioned and writers and
activist know that and therefore vilify others. The biggest victim of
this calumny is free thought and human rights which are perhaps still
far cry with in each of these communities. Our state just represents
our existing mindset. Why should we pretend that a democratic India is
secular India also? The dirt in the name of secularism need to be
cleaned first. Those who take shelter in the name of secularism need
to believe in its perception and practice otherwise India is heading
for a Afghanistan kind of a situation where we all will be speaking
for our respective communities and not for those whose rights are
violated and dignity challenged. It is a grave challenge and we must
think it over. Give a space to common man please do not make the
religious thugs an alternative to what is happening among us. A
country victim of religious hatred can not look again to the mindsets
who have concealed hatred in their heart and pretended smiles on their
faces when they meet for a photo session.