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January     Last updated:January 20 : 7:00 p.m.

The Moving Finger Writes
M. V. Kamnath

The ravaging of the Muslim soul

The sickening manner in which the Opposition-and most notably the Congress-is playing the Muslim card on the Babri Masjid issue can be met by only one party, the Muslim himself. The Muslim community remains silent for several reasons: one, it has no all-India leader who can command respect from all sections of Muslim society from one end of the country to another. In consequence it has remained inarticulate and ineffective. Two, it is allowing itself to be led by politicians each of whom has his own axe to grind whether it be V.P. Singh or Mulayam Singh Yadav. Three, it refuses to face up to the facts of history and has preferred to be on the defensive. It would not admit that the majority Hindu community could possibly have reason to be aggrieved over despotic Islamic rule down the centuries-for an entire millennium, in fact-preferring to gloss over obvious atrocities perpetrated by Muslim rulers that do not bear scrutiny. There is, in the circumstances, no common meeting ground between Muslim and Hindu.

The reckless manner in which Muslim fears are exploited by the likes of Mulayam Singh Yadav, V.P. Singh and now even the Congress has only added to the prevailing confusion among a leaderless community. The low level of education among the Muslims, their comparative economic backwardness and the control over their minds by committed mullahs all have contributed to make confusion twice confounded. The average Muslim just does not know which way to turn. He wants to live in peace. If he can, he does not want to offend any political party, so long as he is left alone. He is tormented by political opportunists who pretend to be his saviour. He is beset by doubts. Pakistan has now ceased to be the lodestar, but what is he in India: a mere cog in the wheel? He feels unwanted, uncared, a pawn in the hands of others, practically all of them Hindus whose only objective is to capture the Muslim vote. He is tired of being manipulated. He may wish to break out of his self-imposed isolation but is chary of taking the first step. He has stopped harking back to the days when Islamic rule reigned supreme in the country. He knows that those days will never come again. Then where lies his future? He is suspicious of Hindutva. He cannot bear the thought of being absorbed into the culture of the majority. He feels making the study of Sanskrit compulsory is a way to entrap Muslims into the fold of Hindu culture, "an attempt to transform Aurangzeb into Dara Shikoh". A fascinating window into the "average" Muslim mind is now available in a just-released book by a Muslim scholar Dr Dawood Kashmiri entitled Rabies of Communalism.

It is as honest a representation of the Muslim mind as any can be. According to Dr Kashmiri, "the 'secular' Government at Centre or State not only (has) suppressed Urdu to compel Muslims to become unacquainted with their cultural values and identity as a community but they (have) also trapped the Muslims constantly into a network of serial communal riots"-a remarkable statement to make. Dr Kashmiri is afraid that Hindutva means Muslims assuming Sanskrit and not Arabic names though no important BJP leader has made any such silly suggestion. But even if such has been made would the naming of Muslim children in Sanskrit terminology make them less Muslims? Many Indonesian Muslims carry Sanskrit names-think of Sukarno, Soharto, Meghavati et al-and one would presume that they are no less Muslim than Dr Kashmiri. But the fear persists. Dr Kashmiri attributes it to "mutual distrust" and one is led to ask why this should be. The usual Muslim explanation to Ghazni Mohammed's attack on Somnath temple is that he came to "plunder the wealth accumulated there by pujaris through their exploitation of the religious sentiments of superstitious Hindus" and not-poor man- because of his antagonism towards Hindus or Hindu religion.

The imposition of the hated jaziya tax on Hindus by Muslim rulers was to protect their lives and rights. Aurangzeb's army chief was a Hindu, so how could he be evil? Jihad is not indicative of the crusade against kafirs to eliminate them or forcibly convert them into Islam. These are the beliefs of the "average" Muslim as represented by Dr Dawood Kashmiri. How, under the circumstances, can one ever expect any Muslim to concede that the Babri Masjid is even remotely connected with the demolition of a temple? To concede that would be to admit that Islamic rulers have been in the wrong. Beyond which is the question of izzat. It requires more than understanding or trust to accept that Hindus might possibly have a case. Grace, one supposes, is not something one can expect from the Muslim community. The tragedy is that in their zest to prove their secular credentials, our Congress politicians would not mind seeing their country destroyed by mutual recrimination between Hindus and Muslims; after all, they are upholding a great principle, aren't they? They are defending the honour and integrity of the minorities, aren't they? With one gracious admission that the Hindus have a right to build a temple on the site of Ramjanmabhoomi, the Muslims can bring peace and goodwill to prevail in the land. But they won't do it. Pro-offering the hand of friendship is just not in their blood. The BJP just does not seem to know what it wants. It can resign and challenge the Congress and the Opposition to raise a masjid on the Babri Masjid site, if they dare.

This the BJP does not seem willing to do. If resignations are in order, the entire party- and not just L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Umashri Bharati-should resign on a matter of principle and dare the Opposition led by the Congress or the Third Front to run the Government and furthermore to raise a masjid where once the Babri Masjid stood. The next elections should be fought on this one single issue and make it a kind of referendum. How long are the Muslims going to remain spoilsports and how long is the Opposition going to indulge in its hypocrisy? No one wants the judiciary to get into the act, but no one either wants the resolution of the conflict-which, incidentally, only the Muslims can resolve. Not the Congress, not the Third Front, not V.P. Singh or Mulayam Singh Yadav, not anybody. The Muslim community and the Muslim community alone can resolve the crisis by a show of large-heartedness and a spirit of forgive-and-forget. This it is either incapable or unwilling to do. And it is too much to expect Opposition rowdies to behave in a civilized way in the Lok Sabha. We have elected goondas and we have to put up with them. It is the tragedy of our times. But the responsibility of the Muslim community remains on top. It can't dodge it, on whatever ground. In its hands lies in a large measure, the resolution of the current conflict and confusion. It can't pretend otherwise.