Though persecution and harassment of Indian Muslims have increased after 2014, yet they remain firmly patriotic, identify themselves as Indians, and refuse to be radicalized
No doubt there has been increasing in polarization after 2014, but how many Muslims have suffered because of that? Hindus and Muslims are in the same boat
By Justice Markandey Katju For several days the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians has been going on. We in India have seen on YouTube rockets being fired by Hamas, which are often intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome, and the demolition of buildings in Gaza by the Israeli Air Force. What do Indians think about all this ? About 80% Indians are Hindus, and about 16% are Muslims. Almost all Hindus, including the so called ‘intellectuals’ among them ( academics, mediapersons, professionals like lawyers and doctors, writers, etc ) support Israel in this conflict, and almost all Indian Muslims support the Palestinians. Only the so called ‘liberals’ among the Hindus support the Palestinians, but these would be hardly 5% of all Hindus. The rest believe all Muslims everywhere in the world to be trouble makers and terrorists. This is because despite the Indian Constitution calling India a secular country, the truth is it is highly communal. Most Hindus are communal, and so are most Muslims. This I can say from personal knowledge. When I am with my own relatives, and they are sure no Muslim is around, they often spout venom against Muslims, who are perceived as fanatics and anti-national. When a Muslim is lynched in India most Hindus are indifferent, and some even happy. One terrorist less ! In fact it is because most Hindus are communal that the BJP, which claims to represent the Hindus, won the parliamentary elections in India in 2014 and 2019, and came to power. Thereafter polarisation of Indian society on religious lines has grown exponentially. No doubt the recent farmers agitation in India cut through caste and religious lines, and the ongoing pandemic has been a reverse to the BJP which is being blamed by the people for not properly handling it. But these are temporary phenomena. Once they are over, the country will again revert to the old status. The truth is that secularism is a feature of industrial society, as in North America and Europe, but India is still semi-feudal, and most people here are strongly religious. The religious divide…
MUSLIMS OF INDIA GET PUNISHED DESPITE TABLIGHI JAMAT’S HAVING TAG OF GOOD MUSLIMS FROM BJP-RSS RULERS In 1920s began the most fruitful phase of the freedom movement with Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs presenting a united challenge to the foreign rulers. The beginning was made at Jallianwala Bagh where on April 13, 1919, 220 Hindus, 94 Sikhs and 61 Muslims together laid down their lives (as per the official figures the actual deaths were three times). It was the period when revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh, Chandershekhar Azad, Ashfaqullah Khan and Ram Prasad Bismil became symbols of the united freedom struggle. The communal unity was the danger the British rulers dread most. It was no coincidence that during the same phase India saw proliferation of religious organizations which took birth to work for Hinduization and Islamization of Indians. TABLIGHI JAMAT, RSS and Shuddhi Movement (founded by Swami Shraddhanand Arya Samaj as ‘Bhartiya Hindu Shuddhi Mahasabha’ or Indian Hindu Purification Council) appeared around 1925 with the aim to shape good Muslims and good Hindus. It is significant to know that neither RSS nor TABLIGHI JAMAT was banned during the British rule; none of their leaders went to jail for the cause of freedom of India. Hedgewar went to jail twice but as a Congressman. It was a ploy to sabotage the coming together of the people of the two largest religious communities of the country. An official biography of the founder of RSS, KB Hedgewar confessed that the reason for forming tha RSS was that the Gandhi led freedom movement was working to unite Hindus and Muslims as one nation whereas India was an exclusive Hindu nation. RSS rejected the concept of an all-inclusive India. TABLIGHI JAMAT was started to convince Muslims that Muslims first should become SHUDDH (pure) Muslims and get rid of practices/habits which had crept into the community due to mingling with the Hindus. This politics of ‘we’ and ‘others’ went a long way in causing communal riots in different parts of the country. How alarmed were revolutionaries by this communal divide and how earnestly they wanted to expose the…
