This is not about Islam. It is about adherence to the law of the land. The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh is duty-bound to dismiss Haji Yaqoob Qureishi, his minister for minority welfare and haj. This weekend in Meerut, Qureishi announced a bounty of Rs 51 crore for the beheading of Danish cartoonists who caricaturised Prophet Mohammed. This is incitement to murder, clear and resounding. It breaches the limits of peaceful agitation. It threatens India’s image a responsible participant in international relations. And it renders untenable Qureishi’s continuance in office. If Mulayam Singh Yadav fails to act upon this outrage, the Central government must let its displeasure be known.The Centre should, in fact, take quick stock of the situation and assess the powder keg protest leaders like Qureishi are compiling. Such protests have a way of acquiring momentum to spiral out of control. It must also take a stern view of the UP administration’s first response in passing off Qureishi’s incitement as an expression of religious hurt. It is, in fact, nothing else than an attempt to use religion and hyperbole to gain political clout. That is why vocal support must be lent to community leaders like Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahali, a member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, in condemning irresponsible reactions to the publication of the cartoons.There is a tendency in situations like these for officialdom and community leaders to withdraw and allow what is perceived to be an outrage to expend itself. This silence may appear expedient, but it can be dangerous. It can enlarge the space for provocation and retaliation to begin feeding off each other — and in the process diminish the sway socio-political leaders initially held over the protesters. Qureishi’s impudence indicates that this situation could come to pass if saner voices and authorities do not enlist in the discourse that is raising tempers across the country. Maulana Khalid’s intervention is welcome. But, by itself, it could become tragically isolated. There is another peril. In the fractured polity of Uttar Pradesh, politicians of the four leading parties have already begun plotting revival or consolidation. Perceived faultlines of caste and creed lend themselves to facile and emotive mobilisation. Let not the doodles of a cartoonist reduce the politics of UP to a farce.
