Minority report, in numbers

The Imrana case is a symptom of the Indian Muslim8217;s dilemma, not its cause

The tragedy of the family of Mr Nur Ilahi, Mrs Imrana Nur and their five children is so well documented on live TV that it needs no details filled in. The illegal Muslim 8220;panchayat8221; decreeing their marriage annulled after Imrana complained of rape by her father-in-law and rumours of a Deoband fatwa to the same effect, which were vociferously denied by the Deobandis a few days later, all twists and turns were simply a godsend to help the media fuel the story of the deprived Muslim women, now 8212; as the last straw 8212; being forced to cohabit with rapist father-in-laws. It strikes one as odd that at least since the 1980s, all stories aimed at stoking public opinion against conservative orthodoxies in Islam by the mainstream media have only been in terms of the marital and sex lives of its women. Easy to grab eyeballs and write up riveting copy.

The case of the late Shahbano, with her maintenance woes, is a classic one. Those making a case for Hindutva said it proved the Indian state8217;s anxiety to appease the Muslims. Hastily ensuring that the court judgement was reversed by Parliament the court granting her more maintenance than the paltry few rupees as decreed by Islamic laws was not the wisest of moves by the Rajiv Gandhi government, but it all went on to prove how enduring the cliche of the Musalman is 8212; for those who bank on its vote and equally for those who get their vote bank energised by aggressively exaggerating it.

Plenty has been written about the state of the Indian Muslim, even 60 years after Independence the appalling economic and social indices, the institutional prejudice against them. In a week or so, the PM8217;s high-level Committee on Muslims will make its findings public. But even before that, the state of the average Muslim is the worst kept secret.

The most recent India Social Development Report brought out by Council for Social Development reveals some horrifying statistics about how over the past decade, the percentage of poor Muslims has soared; in 1993-4 Muslims in the poorest monthly per capita expenditure class quintile were 30 per cent, a figure that has soared to 40 per cent a decade later. Literacy levels in urban areas especially have also dipped for Muslims 8212; the number of illiterates being 30 per cent for Muslims, and 19 per cent for Hindus. The gap between Muslim and Hindu women literacy numbers has widened even more, especially in 2001, as the excellent work done by Abusaleh Shariff and Azra Razzack reveals.

Even in Overall Work Participation Rate WPR statistics Muslims are at the deep end, with very low WPRs for women 8212; 14 per cent for Muslim women, compared to 28 per cent for Hindu women.

Historical reasons for their 8220;backwardness8221; 8212; starting from the approach of the British state to erstwhile Muslim 8220;ruling classes8221; after the events of 1857 and the consequent withdrawal of the Indian Muslim from 8220;modernity8221; as defined by Westerners except for some exceptions like Sir Syed Ahmed Khan combined with the prejudices that prevailed well after Partition were a deadly cocktail. Prejudices seeking to mark Muslims as a high-risk, 8220;anti-national8221; entity 8212; this, ironically, for those Muslims who chose to stay behind in India 8212; have forced most Muslims to concentrate on the informal sector, as darzis, kalakars and the karigars.

Consequently, you have the dichotomy of Muslims blossoming in areas where 8220;simply merit8221; counts, be it the sensational Khan clique delivering hit after hit, or the quickies that Irfan Pathan or the younger Munaf Patel can deliver over after over 8212; but not in khaki-uniform clad roles, or as civil servants and certainly not as Intelligence Bureau spooks or even as Indian Forest Officers. At last count, in 1983, by one Gopal Singh Committee, the total percentage of Muslims in the elite central services was just over 2 per cent.

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On the other side of the pincer grip of institutional prejudice are the Muslim clerical elite. Pure and genuinely 8220;fundamental8221; Islam actually has no place for the priestly class, it is the believer and his God, a direct dial service. But clerics are ever ready to decree or issue fatwa at the snap of a finger and hold back any initiative individual groups of Muslims show. Ready to cut a tough bargain with 8220;friendly8221; political parties, but always asking for protection for the Mazhab 8220;leave our personal law and women alone8221; and other deeniyat issues 8212; making bald pleas for 8220;reservation8221; 8212; but sorry, no jihad ever for schools in Muslim majority areas, or protests about simple life-altering things like sanitation, better healthcare, more municipal attention or even better connectivity in Muslim majority areas, or saying let women at least secure whatever is their due by way of equal wages as men for the work they do.

The point of listing of numbers earlier is not to simply make a touchy-feely case for underprivileged Indian Muslims, but to say that their state of absolute misery as brought out in these numbers indicates that the problem staring nearly 15 per cent of the Blue Billion in the face each day is different from the easy identification that happens before each election or each Imrana or Gudiya. Therefore its solutions lie somewhere else, in the provision of bread and butter answers, not in simply addressing identity related sexier issues, of four marriages, madrasas, mazhab or the veil. An attempt must be made to differentiate the symptom from the ailment.

So far it has just been easy sloganeering, a show of support from 8220;friendly8221; parties or the Indian state whereas none really has been forthcoming; and from those Muslim groups demanding support too, it has been the same thing, no real demands, just pandering to the sense of injured Muslim identity not saying it is to be dismissed entirely but it certainly is not the first thing the Karims, Rahims or even Imranas need addressed. But then schools, drains and health centres aren8217;t sexy enough. The Shahbanos and Imranas are 8212; better footage for TV, easier to cut to and cut away from, and better mileage for the clerical class. The clerics and the TV reporters almost seem in league on going for this one easy but misplaced focus 8212; the Unholy Muslim League, you might like to call them. Keeps both, the ratings high and keeps Islam Khatre Mein.