A Conversation with Irfan Ali: Industrialisation, Democracy, and the Idea of Indian Reunification
Why Justice Katju Says Industrialisation, Not Pollution, Is India’s Real Priority
Justice Katju on India’s Real Crisis: Industrialisation, Democracy, and Reunification
Justice Katju on Industrialisation, Communalism, and the Question of Indian Reunification
Justice Markandey Katju reflects on industrialisation, colonial roots of communalism, democratic limits, and the long-term case for reunifying India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
A conversation with Irfan Ali and a relative
By Justice Markandey Katju
Last afternoon a dear friend of mine, Irfan Ali, came to meet me in my flat, and we had a long interesting conversation, in which a relative of mine was also present.'
Irfan, now 48, was originally from Meeerut, but after doing his M.Tech migrated to USA, where he has lived for about 25 years in Princeton, New Jersey, and works in a senior position in a computer company. He is also the Vice Chairman of Ibaadatkhana, an organization for promoting communal harmony ( of which I am the patron ).
The conversation began when Irfan said that the biggest problem for India's progress is our pollution.
I disagreed, and said that the biggest problem for India is how to rapidly industrialise and become a modern industrial giant, like China or USA, for that alone can abolish the massive and widespread poverty, unemployment, child malnutrition ( every second child in India is malnourished, according to Global Hunger Index ), lack of proper healthcare and good education for our masses, etc.
I explained that when the present developed countries were doing their early industrialization they never bothered about their air or river pollution, and it was only after that industrialization was done that they started stopping it.
For example, when England ( which was the first country in the world to industrialize ) began its industrialization in the first half of the 18th century, the Britishers never bothered about the pollution which their industries were causing. The air in London and other cities was full of smog caused by the air pollution by the factories, and the rivers polluted by the effluents discharged by them. The air and rivers ( like the Thames ) were all polluted at that time, but the British authorities took no notice of them, and the whole emphasis was on rapid industrialization. The same was the situation in France, Germany, USA etc.
It was only thereafter that they started the process of keeping the environment clean, by making strict rules against pollution, and today the air and rivers in European countries and USA are no longer polluted.
No doubt pollution is a problem in India, but to regard it as our main problem is to divert attention from our main objective viz to transform India from a relatively backward country to a modern industrial giant.
This transformation will require a revolution.
The transformation cannot be done within our present Constitutional framework, since the democracy we have largely runs on the basis of caste and communal vote banks. Casteism and communalism are feudal forces, which must be destroyed if India is to progress, but democracy ( as practised in India ) further entrenches, fortifies and strengthens them ( as it largely runs on their basis ).
India has 28 states and 8 union territories, so elections are either going on, or their preparations are going on all the time. In other words, India is permanently on an election mode. The entire focus of our politicians ( of all parties ) is not developing the economy but how to win the next elections. And for this they polarise society and spread caste or communal hatred to get votes.
In China, on the other hand, where there is no democracy, the entire focus of the Chinese leaders is on developing the economy, with the result that China has emerged as a super power, with a GDP of about 20 trillion dollars, next only to USA which is about 30 trillion dollars, and far ahead of India which is only about 4 trllion dollars. China has lited 800 million of its people above the poverty line
Then our conversation shifted to my idea of reunification of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, for propagating which I have formed an organization called the Indian Reunification Association ( IRA ).
My relative, who was present in the meeting along with Irfan, strongly opposed the idea. He said that presently only about 15% of India's population is Muslim, but if there is reunification it will become about twice that much, and this will result in a great increase in strife, communal riots etc.
I replied that he must first know some facts. Up to 1857, there was no communal problem in India. All communal riots and animosity began after 1857. No doubt even before 1857, there were differences between Hindus and Muslims, the Hindus going to temples and the Muslims going to mosques, but there was no animosity. In fact, the Hindus and Muslims used to help each other like brothers; Hindus used to participate in Eid and Moharram, and Muslims in Holi and Diwali. Muslim rulers like the Mughals, Nawabs of Awadh and Murshidabad, Tipu Sultan, etc were totally secular; they organised Ramlilas, participated in Holi, Diwali, etc. Ghalib’s affectionate letters to his Hindu friends like Munshi Shiv Naraln Aram, Har Gopal Tofta, etc attest to the affection between Hindus and Muslims at that time.
So it is not true that Hindu-Muslim animosity is inherent, and was always present.
In 1857, the ‘Great Mutiny’ broke out in which the Hindus and Muslims jointly fought against the British. This shocked the British government so much that after suppressing the Mutiny, they decided to start the policy of divide and rule (see online “History in the Service of Imperialism” by B.N. Pande), as they thought that was the only way of controlling and ruling India.
All communalism started after 1857, artificially engineered by the British authorities. The British collector would secretly call the Hindu Pandit, pay him money, and tell him to speak against Muslims, and similarly he would secretly call the Maulvi, pay him money, and tell him to speak against Hindus. Agent provocateurs were hired, to incite communal hatred between Hindus and Muslims. They would kill a cow and throw its carcass overnight into a Hindu temple, and write on the temple wall ' Allaho Akbar ', so that the next morning when Hindus saw it they would think that all Muslims are wicked people. Similarly, they would kill a pig and throw its carcass overnight in a mosque, writing on the wall ' Jai Bajrangbali ' or something like that, so that Muslims, on seeing it would think all Hindus to be evil. This communal poison was injected into our body politic systematically year after year and decade after decade.
In 1909, the ‘Minto-Morley Reforms’ introduced separate electorates for Hindus and Muslims. The idea was propagated that Hindi is the language of Hindus, while Urdu of Muslims (although Urdu was the common language of all educated people, whether Hindu, Muslim or Sikh in large parts of India upto 1947). The RSS and Hindu Mahasabha were created by the British to spread hatred of Muslims, and Muslim League was created by them to spread hatred of Hindus ( the Congress party was also created by the British through their agent A.O.Hume, and its leadership later taken over by their agent Gandhi, who ensured that the genuine independence struggle initiated by Bhagat Singh, Surya Sen, etc was diverted to a harmless non violent direction so as not to harm British interests ) ). The Aligarh Muslim University and Benaras Hindu University were set up to further this communal divide. All this vicious propaganda resulted in the partition of 1947, which created a fake, artificial theocratic nation called Pakistan.
When the British left India in 1947, they divided us so that we may keep fighting each other and remain backward and weak, and not emerge as a modern powerful industrial state (for which we have now all the potential, as we have a huge pool of technical talent and immense natural resources ). This was the real reason for creating Pakistan.
We can see the result of creating a theocratic state (Pakistan) in which chaos and religious extremism is prevailing. Apart from the minorities (Hindus, Christians, Sikhs,etc), Ahmadis, Shias, etc are also persecuted in Pakistan, and intolerance and terrorism is the order of the day. In India, too, certain vested interests thrive on communalism by inciting hatred against minorities ( particularly Muslims ). So secularism is the only policy which is suitable to our subcontinent.
I am confident that with passage of time people in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh will realise the truth in what I am saying, and India, Pakistan and Bangladesh will reunite under a strong, secular government which does not tolerate religious extremism, whether Hindu or Muslim, and crushes with it with an iron hand.
Secularism does not mean that one cannot practice his religion. It means that religion is a private affair, unconnected with the state, that will have no religion.
What is Pakistan ? It is Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan and NWFP. All these were part of India since Mughal times.
When I meet or talk on whatsapp with Pakistanis, we speak in Hindustani, we look like each other, share the same culture, and feel no difference between ourselves. We were befooled by the Britishers into thinking that we are enemies, but how much longer must we remain befooled? How much longer must blood flow in religious violence ?
Those who oppose the idea of reunification say it is only a pipe dream. But when Mazzini proposed unification of Italy his idea too was initially regarded as a pipe dream, but this dream became a reality later under Cavour and Garibaldi. Germany was united by Bismarck.
Many people say that we were divided in 1947, and much water has flown since then. But Germany was united in 1990 after being divided for 45 years. Vietnam was united in 1975 after being divided for 30 years. China has not yet recognized Taiwan, though separated from it since 1945.
Many people say that we cannot unite because there is too much religious extremism on both sides. I submit that this extremism is largely artificially created, and will subside once we are reunited under a strong secular government which does not tolerate it. Most people want to live in peace and harmony.
I do not expect reunification in the immediate future, particularly since those who divided us will not let us easily reunite ( as they fear that if we reunite India will emerge as a modern industrial giant, and thus a big rival to their industries ). But we must reunite, for presently we spend a huge amount of money on buying foreign arms at huge cost, and waste our precious limited resources on hostility with each other.
Hence Indian reunification is an idea whose time has come, and this idea must be spread by all patriotic people.
(Justice Markandey Katju is a former Judge of the Supreme Court of India, and former Chairman of the Press Council of India. The views expressed are his own.)
