Silence will no do

A N Dhar

The Muslim citizens of India must think again. They should spurn Syed Shahabuddin (HT April 10) to "maintain an air of ignorance about what was happening in Kashmir and let the Kashmiri people and the Government wrangle with each other." Instead, they must know that the "wrangle" that is now on in Kashmir is also their fight to be respected and heard on issues which affect the country. To take refuge in silence is to hide their heads in sand.

The part they play in ending the "wrangle" will ensure their success as people who want a stable, united, secular India. Their silence will not only be misunderstood but deprive them of the part they can play in shaping a steadfastly secular India. Had they done it earlier, perhaps the Babri Masjid demolition would not have taken place and there would, therefore, have been no Bombay riots. Hindus would have risen in greater numbers to fight for Muslims. In plain and perhaps crude language, the Hindus would have said that if the Muslims of the rest of India can give their lifeblood for keeping Kashmir with the country, what harm would a dispute over masjid-mandir do? The movement would not have taken off. There would have been no hordes of angry people in Ayodhya. The Muslim citizens of the rest of India would have been thought to be the best guarantors of Kashmir being a part of the country. The separatist movement in Kashmir would have died, however hard Pakistan tried to keep it alive.

 

'Bombay' protest

If it is not fighting for Kashmir's continued accession to India, what role should Muslims in the country give themselves? Fighting for a few scenes they do not like in a movie called Bombay? Seeing that the BJP does not hoist the national flag in a maidan in Bangalore? Shouting that the police should not have entered Dar-ul-Uloom in search of a suspect? Surely, Muslims of India have better causes to fight for. Now that the vast majority of Indians (which means Hindus) have accepted secularism as the binding faith of the country, Muslims should see to it that they make it solid in every way. True, this is not the work of only Muslims. But Muslims have a big role to play in this. The best way to do it is to tell the world that however bad the administration has been in Kashmir, so far as its link with the rest of the country is concerned it cannot be broken. In doing so Muslims would have looked hundreds of years ahead in securing their future as India's equal citizens.

Hindus of India did it after partition. Would anyone have asked them to remain silent after an Islamic state was formed in the neighbourhood? They went ahead to declare that whatever may happen in Pakistan, India will be a secular state. That is the kind of leadership Nehru and Patel gave to India at that time. That is the kind of leadership Muslims of India should get now to put their shoulders to the wheel of securing Kashmir as an integral part of India.

Positive role

Where the integrity of India is concerned, Muslims, like Hindus and others, cannot play a neutral role. In a way where Muslims, however small their number, want a separation, the vast majority of Muslims have a very positive role to see to it that this does not happen. History has given them this role and they cannot escape it. They must play it with all energy and enthusiasm to bring themselves closer to the rest of the country. What is happening in Kashmir is not just a "wrangle" between the people and the government.

It is a war set off to kill India's secularism. Everyone who has a stake in a secular India has a part to play. Muslims have to do a little more because their co-religionists are involved and also that Pakistan uses religion in fighting its battles with India

The points that the Kashmir "wrangle" has started because the elections have been rigged there, the promised autonomy has been eroded, the country has not developed a truly secular order in which religious minorities would have felt secure may be true. There has been maladministration of this order and rigging of elections in other states too but this has not led to the demand of separation. The demand has come about because Kashmir has a Muslim majority, is a border state, and Pakistan has been not only supplying men and material but playing at the religious heartstrings of the people ever since 1948 when the first invasion of Kashmir took place.

Syed Shahabuddin is quite right when he says that the Muslims of Kashmir are non-communal by ethos and temperament. More than that they are, when left to themselves, non-violent, tolerant and friendly. You cannot have a better friend or a neighbour than a Kashmiri Muslim or Hindu. Here is why the Indian Muslims' intervention in assuring the Kashmiri Muslims that the propaganda that Kashmir must separate from India is totally wrong would help. The estranged Kashmiri Muslims would have felt that here are a people who have taken the bitter and the sweet of the rest of India and if they say that remaining with India is the right thing to do, there must be quite good sense in it. India needs someone to counter the Pakistani propaganda. Who would be better than the Muslims who live in the rest of India? Of course, India's self-example too would help a great deal. Kashmiri Muslims needed this assurance. This is as important as Bal Thackeray's remarks about taking action against a community is dangerous.

In their confusion Kashmiri Muslims needed an anchor. This could be provided by Muslims in the rest of India telling them that going out of the country is no solution to their problems.

Plank of religion

There is another aspect to it. This would have shown Muslims in the rest of India as defenders of India's secularism. This is needed. The Muslims of India, together with secular Hindus, have to fight off the elements who want to build their own influence on the plank of religion. It is their duty to take on this fight for the sake of secularism. This is not said in criticism of the BJP or the Shiv Sena but in defence of the secular thought. Anyone, even from the Congress or the Leftists, who wants to defeat the country's secularism has to be fought.

Indian Muslims do not have to fight for it as a class apart and they do not have to remain silent on it. One of their main tasks is to help in the integration of Kashmir with India at a time when the state is facing the greatest trial of its history, its faith is shaken and the gun has acquired a supreme position. If Syed Shahabuddin instead of remaining silent goes out in full voice to say that the Muslims of Kashmir have a great future with a secular India, it would create a new atmosphere in the country. That this was not done is sad for the future of secularism.

Demolition

This should not be said in the case of Kashmir alone. In the case of the demolition of Babri Masjid, it would have been better if more Hindus had come out in its condemnation. It would have been a balm for Muslims' hurt feelings. The anguish expressed by Atal Behari Vajpayee should have solved the Muslim feeling a little. But, true, that was not enough. If the Hindus came out in large, very large numbers condemning the demolition, it would have created a great feeling of healing.

The Muslims in the rest of the country could have done the same in the case of Kashmir. They could have expressed their solidarity in many ways. A furore was created when the police entered a hallowed Muslim institution to get hold of an alleged terrorist. If this was right, why did not the plight of Muslims and Pandits who have fled terrorism in the Valley move Muslims in the rest of the country? For instance, they could have contributed in some way to the welfare of the Muslim and Pandit migrants. Imagine the impression it would have created if Muslim individuals and institutions would have made even token contributions to a welfare fund. Shabana Azmi made a personal contribution and it created a good impression. But how many others?

These are the kinds of gestures that would have brought Muslims in the rest of India closer to Hindus, made them a fitting partner in the making of a secular, united India and also brought about sanity in Kashmir. Everyone would have profited. Their silence does not do any good to anyone.

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Courtesy:- A. N. Dhar and June 1995 Kosher Samachar