Stop This Alienation

The Hindu communalist may gloat over the massacre of more than a thousand Muslims in Gujarat. But he hasbetrayed the very faith of which he claims to be a devotee. He has disowned Gandhi and rejected his legacy ofnon violence.

Moreover, he has justified the bestial killings and looting as a measure of revenge for the gruesometorching of the kar sewaks in the ill-fated Sabarmati Express.

The Ghanchis who did it were illiterate, uncivilised brutes, who were Muslims in name but absolutelyignorant of what Islam stands for. They must pay for their crimes against the helpless, innocent women andchildren and, according to the Quran, in their life hereafter they will burn in hell forever. But for themadness of those few, why were the innocent Muslims in different parts of Gujarat taken out of their homes andslaughtered mercilessly; their businesses, homes and properties looted by Hindu miscreants? In what way werethey responsible for what happened in Godhra?

The only answer is that they were so brutalised because they were Muslims. It is happening all the timethese days. Some Muslims misbehave with some Hindus and the rest of the Muslims have to bear the brunt of theangry Hindus elsewhere. It is thus time for Indian Muslims as a whole to think seriously as to what theyshould do with those Muslims whose crimes bring about a carnage of such horrendous magnitude on the rest ofthem.

Those who know nothing of Islam are bringing disaster after disaster on the real followers of the religion.The sins of some lunatics in the community are being visited upon the whole people who are completely innocentof such terrible brutalities. This is the worst kind of travesty of justice that Muslims are being made tosuffer in India.

Instead of confronting the criminal Muslims and saving the rest of the community from the consequences oftheir lunacy, there are some Muslim fanatics who are working up the spirit of retaliation and generatingfurther ill-will against Hindus. This will cause more alienation between the two communities.

The Hindus too are, no less, guilty of fostering and furthering it. Some of them have outdone the worst ofMuslim criminals. But while they can get away with it, Muslims in India become the ultimate sufferers. Theymust, therefore, find a way out to safeguard themselves against the possibility of a calamity such as the oneMuslims in Gujarat have suffered.

I have written enough about the part Jinnah played in bringing about the division of the country which hasruined Indian Muslims in every respect. His propagation of the pernicious two-nation theory erected suchbarriers of hate between Hindus and Muslims that it gave a fatal blow to Mahatma Gandhi’s mission ofHindu-Muslim unity.

Abul Kalam Azad cried himself hoarse about how this would strike the death-knell for Indian Muslims. Butnobody heeded him. After Partition, most of those who took over the leadership of Indian Muslims continued thepolicy of confrontation against Hindus. They created one crisis after another on issues which had littlerelevance to the day-to-day existence of Indian Muslims.

The result of their aggressive utterances and senseless activities hardly brought any relief to IndianMuslims. On the contrary, their repeated agitations brought in their wake Hindu backlash, causing more miseryto Muslims everywhere.

More than a decade ago, some of them mounted a countrywide protest against the Supreme Court judgment inthe Shah Bano case. They forced the then government of Rajiv Gandhi to amend the Constitution and enact a lawto give better maintenance to divorced Muslim women. Instead, it encouraged more divorces and threw thousandsof young Muslim women on the streets. Worse still, it provoked communal Hindus to organise the Ramjanmabhoomimovement to reassert their supremacy in their motherland.

Of late, the so-called jehadis have emerged, who in the name of Islam are murdering innocent Hindus dayafter day, particularly in Jammu and Kashmir. Backed by Pakistan, their murderous adventures are addingconstantly to Hindu hatred against Muslims.

In last week’s Outlook, Dilip D’Souza mentions his conversation with a young Hindu student in SabarmatiAshram. He writes, the young man told him: "‘Eighty per cent of Muslims are terrorists," his lower lipquivering in rage. "They have attacked us here for 55 years."’ He went on and on, avers D’Souza.

That is the mindset of many Hindus who are becoming increasingly hostile to Muslims. Some openly talk ofenacting a Bosnia here. There are others who quietly propagate that unless Hindus get rid of Muslims, Indiawill never prosper.

As a result, a number of Hindus are beginning to look upon Muslims as undesirable Indians. Among the eliteand those from the middle-class as well, many Hindus talk of keeping away from Muslims. They have becomeresentful and even averse to them. Partnerships or collaborations with Muslims in business enterprises arebeing withdrawn.

There is a threat of boycott all around. Too much distrust is growing against the Muslims. Isn’t this incomplete contrast to what Swami Vivekananda has said: "Our watchword, then, should be acceptance and notexclusion. Not only toleration, for so-called toleration is often blasphemy, and I do not believe in it. Ibelieve in acceptance. Why should I tolerate? Toleration means that I think that you are wrong and I am justallowing you to live. Is it not blasphemy to think that you and I are allowing others to live? I accept allreligions that were in the past and worship with them all."

A number of Muslims also persist in their attitude of segregation from Hindus. They discourage socialcontact with them. They wrongly believe that their religion prohibits them to trust or collaborate with them.They distort Quranic injunctions and misrepresent the prophetic traditions. There is no desire on their partto develop a meaningful relationship with Hindus. Hence the gulf between the two communities is widening.

For almost a decade, Muslims have been fighting for Babri masjid. But strangely, they seem unconcerned thathundreds of mosques meanwhile have been destroyed in Gujarat and some parts of Maharashtra like Malegaon. Whyis this onslaught taking place on their sacred places? Muslims have to go into the causes and strive to bringabout a more congenial atmosphere.

Those, who are playing with fire in the name of protecting Islam, must give serious thought to the factthat confrontationist bravado is now proving utterly counterproductive. Muslims are becoming victims of thishate and counter-hate phenomenon, which is also harming the larger interests of the country. Both sides mustsit together with leaders who believe in collaboration and harmony. They must make an earnest effort to breakonce and for all, the walls of hostility so that more bloodshed can be avoided and every Indian is assured ofa stable and secure environment which will bring prosperity to all.

They must shed their in-built prejudices which breed antagonism and resolve to stop this terriblealienation between the two religious groups, which, even the RSS admits, consists of ‘blood brothers’.Allah’s message to his creatures is clear, unequivocal. It has been put in a beautiful couplet by MaulanaRumi, the greatest Sufi that Islam produced:

Too baraaye wasl kardan aamadi
Na baraaya fasl kardan aamadi

(You’ve been sent to unite people
You’ve not been sent to divide people)