TIME TO REVIVE SIR SYED'S SPIRIT

Symposium with Muslim Clerics on, " TIME TO REVIVE SIR SYED'S SPIRIT"

If Muslims wish to rise and live with self respect like any other citizen of India, they will have to keep away from electoral politics for a while and, instead, concentrate on educations.

A segment of Hindus may not like the sight of Muslims,but 75% of Hindus are secular. They are the best protectors of India's secularism. Muslim candidates now have just become a red rag to even secular Hindus who rally behind the non secular parties, turning every election into a Hindu-Muslim one.

Muslims need to become like the Parsis or, better still, behave the way the Chinese Indians do in Kolkata,they focus on dentistry or [their] shoe business, go out to vote on polling day and return to work and Muslims? They hold meetings at night, cook deghs (huge vessels) of biryani, and work themselves into a frenzy. They think the burden of secularism rests on their shoulders. They need to educate their people and make them self-reliant.

I say that Muslims will have to keep away from contesting elections. This seems to be the only way of ensuring that elections don’t turn into a Hindu-Muslim one. Muslims should keep a low profile. Go ahead and vote the party of their choice. But after that, play the role of a citizen. If people don’t get electricity, protest with others. You can’t be forgiving of those for whom you voted only because they can keep the BJP out of power. This is what angers aspirational Hindu social groups.

Most narratives of Muslims have a strong element of self-criticism. Almost all vented their ire against Muslim clerics. Did they have to direct Muslims which party they should vote for? Didn’t they know their recklessness would trigger a Hindu polarization? Unable to fathom their irresponsible behavior, some plump for conspiracy theories. It therefore doesn’t come as a surprise to hear Obaidullah Nasir, editor of the Urdu newspaper Avadhnama, say, “They take money from the Bharatiya Janata Party to create confusion among Muslims. I got abused for writing this. But how else can you explain their decision to go public with their instructions to Muslims?”

Poet Ameer Imam, who teaches in a college in the Muslim-dominated Sambhal constituency said, “Muslims will have to tell the maulanas that their services are required in mosques, not in politics. When Muslims applaud their rabble rousers, can they complain against those in the BJP? Most will assume that Muslims fear the communal cauldron that Uttar Pradesh has become will be kept on the boil. But this is not what worries them. Not because they think the Bharatiya Janata Party in power will change its stripes, but because they fear Muslims will feel so cowered that they will recoil, and live in submission. “their agony arises from being reduced to second-class citizens, of becoming politically irrelevant.