From
Left to Right (Arshad Khan, Salman Khurshid, Yogendra Yadav and Suhail Ahmad)
The Indian community in Riyadh, one
of the largest Indian Muslim communities abroad to be precise, held an event
this weekend in the capital on ‘Current Political Discourse in India – A
Challenge for Minorities’.
The event that took place on 2nd
December was graced by Mr. Yogendra Yadav, a professor, politician and a
political analyst. On the invitation of the Aligarh Muslim University Old Boy’s
Association (AMUOBA) in Riyadh, Professor Yadav ennobled the affair.
The founder of Swaraj India,
spoke eloquently at the event. He said “More than a minority question, we are
looking at the specific question of Indian Muslims. Because Indian Muslims
suffer, not merely as a religious minority, but also suffer as a socially
disadvantaged and discriminated group. This is what makes the situation of
Indian Muslims unique. They face a challenge today. A challenge which has
created a sense of siege especially after Prime Minister Modi’s victory and his
political consolidation in 2014”
“Muslims, unlike other minorities
are different. They have been subjected to social and political differences. They
are being reduced to second citizens and the blame is not to go on Mr. Modi and
his party but the general idea of secularism which has prevailed in the recent
years.” Added Mr. Yogendra.
According to him, the Muslims are
a political tool and have been used since years for political benefits by age
old parties. While the majoritarian think that Muslims are being favored by the
parties, this does nothing but brings more disadvantage to the already
deplorable situation.
He referred the Sachar Committee
report where it clearly mentioned that Muslims add only a percent of the total
teachers in the central universities and just 2.5% of them as students.
“The problem is that this siege
like situation has resulted in a siege like mentality among the Indian Muslims,
their leaders, their intellectuals and their politicians. And this siege
mentality leads them in doing things which are detrimental to their own
interest.” He explained. “What siege mentality does is that it makes you play
the script of your opponent. I believe the national debate on Uniform Civil
Code is a classic example of that. Mr. Amit Shah laid a trap and Muslims,
religious and political leaders along with the so called secular political
parties stepped into that trap and made something an issue which wasn’t one, an
issue in the sense that serves BJP’s interest.” The political analyst added.
Talking to our reporter in the
capital, he opinionated “Islam provides rights to women more than any other
religion and it is being portrayed as a religion which is anti-women. This all
is because of the siege mentality. If we want to come out of the siege mentality,
we have to diagnose and debunk the fundamental reasons why the Muslim community
is in dilemma and the only thing that comes to my mind right now is that the
basic reason is the fraudulent character of secular politics.”
On being asked about the
challenge, he expressed “We must learn to identify the root cause of Mr. Modi’s
victory in the abysmal failure and fraudulence of the so called secular parties
because while secularism is a sacred principle, secular politics has become one
of the biggest frauds and hoaxes of our politics. Secularism has become a way
of keeping Muslims hostage, political hostage. That is what needs to be
challenged.”
When approached on how that can
be challenged?
The ex – AAPian and the founder
of Swaraj India said “By thinking a new way forward. Muslims today are at a
cross-road. There are 4 options that they have, first and the laziest one is to
go back to the same parties whom they had left and which have led the Muslims
down and who are responsible in brining Mr. Modi to power. Going back to the
‘contractors’ of Secularism is not an option at all. Second one is that of exclusively
Muslim only politics, the kind of Mr. Owasi’s or AUDF’s in Assam or maybe that
of Ulema Council’s which are being proposed. According to me, that would be a
poor and bad option. An only Muslim politics will feed Hindu fundamentalism.”
“Remember that Muslim Extremism
and Hindu Fundamentalism feed each other” worried the Professor of Punjab
University.
Moving forward, Professor Yadav
explained that “The third option is the radical one. The one no one wants to
talk about. The way that opposes the base of democratic politics.”
“That’s a suicidal move. And I
sincerely hope that the Muslim youth don’t go for it. One of the many strengths
of our nation is that unlike most other nations, the Indian Muslim youth have
not yet taken the path that is radical and leads to extremism. And it should be
the task of secular politics to ensure that this does not happen” added Mr.
Yogendra.
He further explained “The 4th
option, as per me, the best one is to re-imagine, re-invent and re-invigorate a
new secular politics.”
According to him, this can happen
if we think of a new leadership and a new agenda. Muslim community in the last
20 years has produced new social leadership but its not being accepted as a
political leadership.
On the other hand, he even showed
his concern over the Muslim community’s idea of age old agendas of family laws
like Aligarh ‘Muslim’ University and Urdu kind of things.
Mr. Yogendra expressed that the
Muslim exclusive issues should not be the only focus but that larger secular
questions and issues like education, employment and housing should be.
He ended saying “Challenge for
the future is how Muslims join everyone else in facing these issues and that we
must remember that the challenge that confronts us today is not merely just for
Muslims or minorities but rather for the ‘idea of India’ as a whole. The only
way is to re-imagine a secular politics in the real form which is not merely a
Muslim politics but a long futuristic politics for defending and protecting the
idea of India”.
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