Indian Muslims ‘need to reinvent and reinvigorate’

By Yasa Iqbal RIYADH — Indian expatriates in Riyadh got together in a massive gathering over the weekend to listen to Yogendra Yadav, founder of the newly-formed Swaraj India party. A noted political analyst, activist and academic, Yadav was making the keynote address at a seminar titled "Current Political Discourse in India – A Challenge for Minorities," organized by Aligarh Muslim University Old Boy’s Association (AMUOBA) Riyadh. “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 that has created a sense of siege, especially after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s victory and consolidation of political power in 2014,” Yadav said. “Muslims, unlike other minorities are different. They have been subjected to social and political discrimination. They are being reduced to second class citizens and the blame does not go to Mr. Modi and his party alone but the general decline of secularism in recent years,” Yadav added. According to Yadav, Muslims of India have been used as a tool for political gain by mainstream parties. While the majoritarians think Muslims are pampered by political parties, this does nothing but brings more disadvantage to their already deplorable situation. He referred the Sachar Committee report where it clearly mentioned that Muslims form only 1 percent of teachers in central universities and just 2.5 percent of their students. “The problem is that this siege-like situation has resulted in a siege mentality among 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 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 Muslim religious and political leaders along with the so-called secular political parties stepped into that trap and made something that wasn't an issue into an issue that serves BJP’s interests,” the political analyst added. “Islam ensures the rights of women more than any other religion and it is being portrayed as a religion that is anti-women. This 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.” When asked about the political challenge, he said, “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 time. Secularism has become a way of keeping Muslims hostage, political hostage. That is what needs to be challenged.” When asked how that can be challenged, the former leader of Aam Admi Party said, “By thinking way forward. Muslims today are at a crossroads. There are four options before them. The first and the laziest one is to go back to the same parties which they had left and which let the Muslims down and who are responsible for bringing Narendra Modi to power. Going back to the 'contractors' of Secularism is not a viable option at all." He said the second is Muslim-only politics, the kind of politics being played by the Owaisis or AUDF in Assam and this again would be a poor and bad choice. “Remember Muslim extremism and Hindu fundamentalism feed each other," the Punjab University professor said. Moving forward, Yadav said, “The third option is the radical one that no one wants to talk about. It is to attack the base of democratic politics. That’s a suicidal move. And I sincerely hope that the Muslim youth would not go for it." He said one of the many strengths of the nation, unlike most other nations, is that the Indian Muslim youth have not yet taken the radical path that leads to extremism, and it should be the task of secular politics to ensure that this does not happen. “The 4th option, which I think is the best option is to re-imagine, re-invent and re-invigorate secular politics,” Yadav said. "This will happen only if we think of a new leadership and a new agenda. Muslim community in the last 20 years has produced a new social leadership, but it is not being accepted as a political leadership," he added. On the other hand, he expressed his concern over the Muslim community becoming entrenched in the age-old agenda of family laws, Muslim character of AMU, the status of Urdu, and the like. Yadav told Muslims not to focus on exclusive community issues but to raise larger secular questions and issues like education, employment and housing. “Challenge for the future is how Muslims join everyone else in facing these issues. We must remember that the challenge that confronts us today is not merely for Muslims or minorities, but rather for the ‘idea of India’ as a whole. The only way is to re-imagine secular politics, which is not Muslim politics but a futuristic vision for defending and protecting the idea of India”.