IPA Newspack
  • Home
  • now
  • politics
  • business
  • markets

IPA /

IPA Special

IPA Special

Muslim Indians Too Have Progressive Aspirations

By Harihar Swarup

Before Independence, earthen pitchers containing drinking water at the Railway stations were marked Hindu water and Muslim water. I was a child at that time and amazed to see the marking. Hindus would not drink Muslim water and vice-versa. I had then wondered how can water be divided on religious lines? Irrespective of marking on earthen vessels, there was far better communal harmony in pre-Partition India; of course, there was no Pakistan then.

Years after Independence, we hear expressions like “Hindu terror” and “Muslim terror”, “Hindu Pakistan” (a term used by Shashi Tharoor to bring home the point if BJP returns to power, they will make India like Pakistan”) and the Congress has become a Muslim party. Tharoor’s office in Thiruvananthapuram was vandalized over his remarks. A group of unidentified persons, believed to be owing allegiance to the BJP, put up a black flag and the board read ‘Tharoor’s Pakistan office’, after destroying the original sign board.

The BJP targeted Congress President Rahul Gandhi over an alleged remark attributed to him in which he reportedly said the Congress was “a party of Muslims”. It was pathetic to watch the BJP and government—Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Azamgarh and Defence Minister in Delhi—pick on a remark purportedly made by Rahul Gandhi in a closed-door meeting with Muslim intellectual to ratchet up their attack on the Congress party as a “Muslim Party”. “You can’t be janeu-dhari (Hindu who wears the sacred threat) at one point…. Muslim-dhari at another…”, said Nirmala Sitharaman. In response, the Congress challenged the veracity of the BJP’s version of what Rahul Gandhi said in the meeting and accused the PM of peddling “untruth, half truth, lies”. But the larger question is: Why does the BJP, four years after it came to power in a diverse and plural polity, continue to see the two, majority and minority, Hindu and Muslims, as polar opposites, one striking out the other, instead of as two parts of a single whole?

Rahul Gandhi emphatically denied that he ever said, even by remote interpretation, that “Congress is a Muslim party”. “I stand with the last person in the line. The exploited, marginalized and the persecuted. Their religion, caste or beliefs, mattered little to me. I seek out those in pain and embrace them. I erase hatred and fear. I love all living beings. I am the Congress,” he said.

A women’s rights activist and one of the founding members of Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, Zakia Soman, says “Congress does not have to be pro-Muslim to regain lost grounds. Its policies towards the community need to be guided by democratic principle of inclusiveness laid down in the Constitution.”

What Congress needs is to rethink, as Zakia pointed out, its policies not for the sake of Muslims but to salvage its own image as a party committed to constitutional principles of pluralism, secularism and social justice. By doing this, it would be reminding all Indians about the original Indian National Congress’s commitment to ideas of justice, equality and democracy.

It would be wrong to suggest that Muslims have constantly slid into backwardness and poverty since Independence. Muslims too have progressed along with the rest of their countrymen but if they have remained somewhat backward, it is because of orthodoxy. The Mullas and Maulvis have always come in the way of progressive legislation. The Triple Talaq is one such legislation. The government needs to be appreciated that it did not heed to Mullas and went ahead with the legislation. It should be passed in the current Monsoon session and legitimate objections of the Opposition should be met.

The Sachar Committee (constituted by the UPA government in 2005), has pointed the problems faced by Muslims. It found that Muslims live in poverty, with low education level. The Congress was prompt to assess the conditions of Muslims soon after the formation of its government in 2004 but, it is regrettable that Sachar Committee’s recommendations could not be implemented. The problem is that whenever something is done for the minority community, the slogan of Muslim appeasement is raised by conservative parties like BJP. As a Congress leader pointed out “it is ironical that some of the Congress actions have given rise to the bogey of Muslim appeasement whereas in reality Muslims have come to be among poorest and most marginalized socio-religious communities.

Like all Indians, Muslims too are changing. Both the Congress and BJP must realize that like all Indians, Muslims too have aspirations for a better life. Their aspirations have to be taken into consideration whether the BJP or the Congress rules India. (IPA Service)

The post Muslim Indians Too Have Progressive Aspirations appeared first on Newspack by India Press Agency.

IPA Newspack

Politics

DMK to coordinate opposition unity efforts: Stalin

June 1, 2023
Politics

Modi blasts Cong for misleading poor, ‘guarantee habit’

June 1, 2023
Happening Now

Gehlot adds free power to pre-poll promises

June 1, 2023
Politics

Rahul holds session with Silicon Valley AI experts, entrepreneurs

June 1, 2023
Happening Now

Farmers call Khap Mahapanchayat for wrestlers

June 1, 2023
IPA Special

US Govt Putting Pressure On India To Join NATO+ As A Part Of Asia-Pacific Strategy

May 31, 2023
IPA Special

Political Outcome From Communal Cauldron May Not Favour BJP

May 31, 2023
IPA Special

No Real Truce Is Ready At Ending Gehlot-Pilot Infighting In Rajasthan Congress

May 31, 2023
IPA Special

Slowdown In Containerized Exports Poses Setback To Pro-Export Agenda

May 31, 2023
IPA Special

Sons Of First Joint Climbers Of Mount Everest Are Carrying The Legacy Of Their Fathers

May 31, 2023
IPA Special

Shiites And Not Jews Emerge As Touchstone Of Saudi Moderation

May 31, 2023
IPA Special

Kerala Govt To Move SC Against Centre’s Cut In Net Borrowings Ceiling

May 31, 2023
IPA Special

G7 Conclave Fails To Meet Commitment For Nuclear Weapons Abolition

May 31, 2023
IPA Special

Defection Of Lone Congress MLA In Bengal To TMC Angers Alliance Partner CPI(M)

May 31, 2023
Politics

Gehlot, Pilot patch-up success increasingly in doubt

May 31, 2023
Happening Now

World body condemns action against Indian wrestlers

May 31, 2023
Politics

Yechury appeals to Cong to supports AAP on ordinance

May 31, 2023
Politics

Mamata says Shah trip prompted by her own visit plan

May 31, 2023
Happening Now

Owaisi dares Centre to strike on China instead of Telangana

May 31, 2023
IPA Special

NITI Aayog Has Failed To Play Any Effective Role In Planning For Indian Economy

May 30, 2023

An appeal

The legacy of IPA, founded by Nikhil Chakravartty, the doyen of journalism in India, to keep the flag of independent media flying high, is facing the threat of extinction due to the effect of the Covid pandemic. Only an emergency funding can avert such an eventuality. We appeal to all those who believe in the freedom of expression to contribute to this noble cause.
Click here to learn more

Share

Reply

  • 0
More on IPA

US Govt Putting Pressure On India To Join NATO+ As A Part Of Asia-Pacific Strategy

May 31, 2023 3:56 pm | IPA Staff

By Arun Srivastava Narendra Modi’s yearning to be acknowledged as the world leader (Vishwa Guru) has landed India in a unpleasant quagmire endangering its identity...

IPA Special

Political Outcome From Communal Cauldron May Not Favour BJP

May 31, 2023 3:55 pm | IPA Staff

By Dr. Gyan Pathak BJP has broken its legs in Karnataka   assembly polls when it fell into the pitfalls of majority politics. The party, including...

IPA Special

No Real Truce Is Ready At Ending Gehlot-Pilot Infighting In Rajasthan Congress

May 31, 2023 3:09 pm | IPA Staff

By Sushil Kutty The latest Sachin Pilot-Ashok Gehlot patch-up will last till June 8 when disqualified Congress Member of Parliament Rahul Gandhi returns from his...

IPA Special

Slowdown In Containerized Exports Poses Setback To Pro-Export Agenda

May 31, 2023 1:44 pm | IPA Staff

By K Raveendran There is a marked slowdown in the containerized exports from India, attributed mainly to a decline in consumer demand for Indian goods...

IPA Special

US Govt Putting Pressure On India To Join NATO+ As A Part Of Asia-Pacific Strategy

in IPA Special
May 31, 2023   ·  

Political Outcome From Communal Cauldron May Not Favour BJP

in IPA Special
May 31, 2023   ·  

No Real Truce Is Ready At Ending Gehlot-Pilot Infighting In Rajasthan Congress

in IPA Special
May 31, 2023   ·  

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Follow us on
Up Next: Cameras Wink At Rahul’s Eye To Total Effect
©2020 -2021 India Press Agency, All Rights Reserved.
Newspack by India Press Agency | Statement of Ownership | Contact Us
logo
  • Home
  • now
  • politics
  • business
  • markets