Opinion Hijab and Iqbal in Madhya Pradesh: How Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s polarising politics is sacrificing students’ interests

Then there’s Darul Uloom Deoband, a highly-revered global Islamic seminary. At times, it issues inexplicably ludicrous “fatwas” like the ban on the English language. The seminary administrators have taken a U-turn from Islamic tenets by calling for a ban on English but I am sure that today’s tech-savvy madrasa students understand the utility of English.

The situation in MP makes it seem that Chouhan wants to go a step ahead of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. While Yogi may have ridden roughshod over due processes, he has never bulldozed schools. Chouhan has also objected to the teaching of the works of Mohammed Iqbal, often called the Shayar-e-Mashriq (the poet of the East). He gave us the inimitable, ‘Sarey Jahan se Achchha Hindostan Hamara’.

Chouhan, hitherto seen as a moderate within the BJP, seems to be facing anti-incumbency. Perhaps, like many in his camp, he believes that polarisation garners votes — even if that means trashing Iqbal or denying over 1,000 children access to their school. CM Chouhan must realise that it takes ages to build a school and just hours to destroy it. I hope that better sense prevails and he spares the institution.

There are times when, as a citizen and teacher, I feel the need to lower my eyes, after I read social media reports and witness television debates under the heinous tag of “love jihad”. At the same time, I also feel ashamed and helpless when I witness television debates on “72 hooren” (beauties) or “1008 apsaraen” (fairies). What happened to debates on education, spirituality, cultural nationalism, economy, history, science, sports and yoga? Why is hate our fodder?

Interestingly, recently in Srinagar, another controversy occurred when the principal of Vishva Bharti Girls Higher Secondary School ordered that the abaya (long robe) be banned. The principal had to recant as girls and parents protested. Perhaps, the principal had issued the order thinking that it was rather cumbersome to wear both the uniform and abaya. All these things are secondary to classroom teaching and examinations. But the radicalised mindset on both sides is pulling India back from a place of strength. Constant communal bickering isn’t the hallmark of a vishwa guru.

Then there is the attempt to erase the Mughals from school textbooks. The Mughals ruled over all communities — sometimes with controversial monarchs like Aurangzeb. Under their rule, India’s boundaries stretched to the borders of Iran and Myanmar. However, the period was also marred by the assassination of Guru Tegh Bahadur Singh and the four sahibzadas (sons) of Guru Gobind Singh.

If the Mughal emperors had the desire or the scope to make India a Muslim Rashtra, they would have done so — but they couldn’t and didn’t. Muslims today must not be held responsible for the excesses of the Mughals. In a country so young, history should be a tool for illuminating the road ahead rather than stoking division and hatred.

The way Maulana Azad has been marginalised is disturbing. The major concern of Azad’s life was the reform of Indian Muslims, especially by developing educational excellence and nurturing inter-faith concord. He termed India Darul Aman (land of peace). He developed the idea of Hubbul Watani/Nisful Iman — half of a Muslim’s faith is his patriotism. Azad never questioned the fact that being Muslim in India meant living with non-Muslims in common citizenship. He never contemplated any other political possibility. When incidents of communal strife threatened Hindu-Muslim unity in the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s and the Pakistan movement gathered strength, his spirit rebelled against these trends.

This is the history that we should share with the next generation, not a distorted one. A history that shows that despite the divisions and the gap between the ruler and ruled, and phases of intolerance and brutality, in the end, it was communal harmony that prevailed. This laid the foundation of our nation, the one that today’s schoolchildren will build for the future.

I have studied with non-Muslims at both school and university. In the classroom, we left our religion and rituals behind. During lunch, we relished each other’s tiffin, respectful about who was a vegetarian and who was not. This was easy, and fun. Suspicion and mistrust are hard to sustain. Let’s spare our children. Let’s get them back to school. Let’s demolish the walls between us, and not classrooms.

The writer is former chancellor, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad and a community worker