The Secularist Dilemma
As the Narendra Modi government firmly ensconced itself in the saddle, the secularists – real as well as the not-so-real – as the RSS would like to say – find themselves in a real dilemma as to what stand they should be taking in view of the newly emerged situation.
The cleric Mahmood Madani, General Secretary of Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind, who had been vocal about Muslims’ not backing Modi till the election results were out on May 16th, took a somersault stand when he declared publicly that the need of the hour is to tone down the anti-Narendra Modi rhetoric. Adding that a change of dispensation was “the norm in a democracy”, he urged the new government to pass a resolution to take up governance without any discrimination.
Interestingly Mahmood Madani was seen to have softened his stand on Modi during the course of run-up to the elections, when the realization dawned that there was indeed a wave for Narendra Modi among the masses, thereby evoking much criticism from the clerics. However, he had maintained all through that Muslims won’t back Modi.
On the other hand, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind president Maulana Arshad Madani had said in an interview that pro-Hindutva forces coming to power would be the worst nightmare for the country’s Muslims. The Deoband chief had even gone on to say in an interview: “India will be partitioned if Modi comes to power.” There is no word from Arshad Madani till now.
Meanwhile, Ram Puniyani, Kamayani Bali, Sukla Sen and other civil society activists and groups met at Shramik Dadar in Mumbai under the banner “In Defense of Democracy”. The issue in contention was the statement made by the CM of Goa Manohar Parrikar accusing Fr. Cedric Prakash of “spreading religious discontent” and “equating him (Fr. Prakash) with the rabid Sri Rama Sene chief Pramod Muthalik.” The statement said “Fr. Prakash is a long-standing campaigner for human rights, justice and peace-and he has been consistently taking up the cause of those whose human rights have been violated irrespective of their religious background. He has been a strong promoter of communal harmony and has received several national and international recognitions for his work.” A joint statement by Hiren Gandhi of Darshan and Dr. Saroop Dhruv of Insaaf said: “Parrikar’s statements are certainly in bad taste and are totally false – they are obviously meant to divert the focus from the plight of those who suffer in our society and are a blatant attempt to intimidate human rights defenders like Fr. Prakash. Fr. Prakash has every right as a free citizen of India to critique and expound his views on Modi’s Gujarat model.” It appears beyond doubt that the civil society would continue to criticize Modi wherever he is seen to compromise on democratic and secular fabric of the country. “We condemn Goa CM Parrikar’s statements and call upon all democratic and secular citizens to echo this call.”
An organization by name Social Workers Association that claims to be “seriously engaged in working towards creating social awareness and reform in the society, since 1987,” has rallied behind the masses who have high hopes from Narendra Modi. Says a post: “It doesn’t matter who is in power. Narendra Modi has shown the promise to deliver, a great many people have reposed faith in his ability to deliver and the public at large have high hopes from him. We will wait and watch. If he delivers in accordance with hopes of the nation, he should rule for another 10 years.”
In another case, Khudai Khidmatgar held a meeting on post 2014-election scenario in Delhi recently. The meeting was attended by Sadbhav Mission President Professor VK Tripathy, Faisal Khan, SU Khan, Chinmay Khare, Advocate Firoz Alam, Pawan Kumar, Prof. Sanat Mohanty, Anjum Agrwal, Mohammad Altamash, Vishwnath, Syed Lubna Qadri, Moulana Fateh Nadwi, Vikas Sharma, Inamul Hasan (Secretary), Saif Ikram, Mohammad Faizan, Tabish Bhatti and others. The general discussion revolved around the changed political scenario and the strategy to tackle the situation in the midst of polarization on religious ground that has been generated courtesy the elections. It was decided that mobilization campaign of youths will organized to promote dialogue between communities.
Noted writer Javed Jamil writes: “After the formation of the new Lok Sabha, which will have the lowest representation of Muslims for several decades, it is time to move on. We have suffered hugely in terms of our political empowerment, and are in danger of further sliding in terms of socio-economic and ideological empowerment. With a government in place, which faces no danger in near future, it’s time to refresh our strategies. Fortunately, this seems to be the new thinking in almost all the intellectual circles. I have been receiving regular calls from various quarters about the need of taking stock of the situation at the earliest and embark upon a mission of self-reliant socioeconomic empowerment. In addition of course, we have to revise our political strategies.”
Javed Jamil sees a silver lining in the coming of Narendra Modi to power. “The community also needs to realize that the presence of different streaks and streams is a boon not bane. We need the soft liners, the hardliners and the moderates. Sometimes a soft line is effective; occasionally a hard-line does the trick but moderate approach delivers in most cases. However the work of moderates is made easy by the presence of hardliners and soft liners.”
Via RNI News Network
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Muslims and their leaders must realise that time has come when Muslims have to forget their religious denomination and think only as citizens of India.India have to realise that it is a land of Indians and not Hindu or Muslims.The conclusion of recent election has abadantly demonstrated that the Hindus,irrespective of castes polerised in favour of BJP as the majority of Hindus were sick of bogus seculerism propogated by bogus seculerists.Seculerism has become a most hated term and evokes serious contempt by the majority.If India have to become a homogeneous society,minorities must also bear the responsibilities and mingle with all.The secluded minority will not earn them anycredit.