Hindu-Muslim ties are a-changing

Today’s Muslim youth has understood that his existence is linked to that of Hindus and that he can’t live in his own ghetto. Muslims have to befriend the BJP and its allies have to make efforts to create paths of understanding. Even the Sangh Parivar has members who are truly secular.

The great fascinating fabric of Indian unity in diversity is still held intact owing to Hindus who are tolerant, and believe in peaceful co-existence. The irony is that even educated Muslims are not clear about what to do. They would like the community to reform but they have shied away from defining the reforms. Can the Muslims form a modus vivendi with the majority community is the question of paramount importance. It all depends on the degree to which they shed their ghettoised image. Assimilation is the watchword today but certainly not to the extent of being termed a mushrik (blasphemer) or a kafir (heretic) as M.R.A. Baig, the private secretary to Mohammed Ali Jinnah, wrote in his book, Muslim Dilemma in India. Baig candidly remarked about Urdu that it was a language without any functional value. Today’s employers want recruits who are proficient in English, Hindi or a regional language. In the process of assimilation, Muslims can contribute to the country, morally and politically. Once Hindus sees changes taking place among the Muslims, they are sure to withdraw their support to Hindutva’s votaries.

The tragedy of the Indian Muslims has been that they have not been able to project the true tenets of their faith which are far more open, broad-based, liberal and practical, besides being scientific. G.B. Shaw once observed that Islam is the best way of life with the worst followers!

Today the younger Muslim is seeking avenues to express his or her aspirations. One of the fall-outs of the chaos and destruction that occurred in the wake of the Ayodhya tragedy is that both Hindus and Muslims now recognise the potential of each community to inflict damage on the other. This, in fact, has injected new dynamics into the Hindu-Muslim equation. Now Muslims have openly started expressing reservations over the brand of secularism or pseudo-secularism being practised by the so-called liberal parties. Now no one pays heed to what rabid Muslim communalists like Syed Shahabuddin, Imam Bukhari, Salahuddin Owaisi, Azam Khan and others say, with their slogans like Islam khatrey mein hai (Islam is in danger) and Babri masjid wahin banegi (Babri masjid will be built only there).

The fact that the BJP has begun to think in terms of augmenting Muslim representation in assemblies and Parliament while awarding tickets to candidates from the community will be a decisive factor in Indian politics. After all, they recognise that India cannot prosper if its Muslims keep languishing in ghettos.