“Muslims need to re-imagine, re-invent and re-invigorate” – Yogendra Yadav.

                  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, held an event this weekend in the capital on ‘Current Political Discourse in India – A Challenge for Minorities’.

The event that took place on 2^nd December was graced by Mr. Yogendra Yadav, a professor, politician, and political analyst. At the invitation of the Aligarh Muslim University Old Boys’ Association (AMUOBA) in Riyadh, Professor Yadav graced the occasion.

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 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 for years for political benefits by age-old parties. While the majoritarian think that Muslims are being favored by the parties, this does nothing but bring more disadvantage to the already deplorable situation.

He referred to 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 to do 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 opined, “Islam provides rights to women more than any other religion, and it is being portrayed as a religion which is anti-women. This is all 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 a 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, politically 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 for bringing 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. In my view, that would be a poor 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 4^th 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 adopt new leadership and a new agenda. Muslim community in the last 20 years has produced new social leadership, but it's not being accepted as 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 Muslim-exclusive issues should not be the only focus, but that broader 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”.