Gujarat: Some Thoughts with Pauses
By Rafat Nayeem
Quadri
25 February 2012
In the last 10 years since the Godhra train carnage and then months-long
massacres of Muslims, the state of Gujarat has seen changes taking place in the
society. The Ahmedabad-based author presents her observation about the present
Gujarat--Editor
• Still a Gujarati means a Hindu native of
Gujarat. Both communities do not deny or defy it.
Communal harmony
• There should be more and more sincere
efforts and attempts from civil society and not NGOs alone to rope in two
communities and youth in large numbers to promote and spread the message of
communal harmony while establishing the fact that justice is a precondition of
peace and communal harmony.
• Time is changing. Youth can be made more
sensitive and proactive to promote harmony and ask questions, seek answers to
the questions which remained unanswered.
• Reconciliation and bridging the gap is
far from being achieved between the two communities.
What Muslims feel
• Muslims to a large extent want to forget
the 2002 and march ahead although they are still not in a mood to forgive.
• Several studies and books that have been
written by ample number of national and international authors and common
people, students of research etc reveal that Muslims do not have any vengeance
in them even after ten years of being hated and isolated. Because now they are
realising that for this even their community and their so-called religious
elements are also responsible and that it is the refuge in the name of faith that
they have been exploited to This awakening is not very bold and apparent but
slowly surging among educated Muslims at least.
• Hardly any attempt has been consistently
and seriously made to bring the two communities together. In fact Muslim donors
and doers took it as an opportunity to drag Muslims to the mosques rather than
teaching them or allowing them to take a pause and understand what was going
wrong and where. As a result, a common feeling among Muslims which has been
reinforced and imposed on them prevails that what happened ten years back and
till date is the result of ‘bandagi me kami rah gayi’ (shortcomings in
prayers). Consequently, rampant Muslim ghettos (Juhapura in the New Ahmedabad
West is considered to be the biggest Muslim Ghetto of Asia) have come up at
various pockets of Ahmedabad and in several parts of Gujarat. Interestingly,
individually when you go and ask Muslim families as a unit to whether they are
happy and feel safe about it they vehemently deny. They want to be part of the
mainstream but no efforts almost nil have been done from the community which
lacks leadership in all sense here in Gujarat. Muslims have division in the
name of castes, sub-castes …functions rituals, condemnation of each other has
only and sharply multipled in Muslim areas and population. As a result smart
operators like Modi are busy appeasing marginalised Muslims to some extent
which is slowly on the rise and mainstream Muslims have gone from bad to worse
in terms of their overall standard and thinking of living.
Justice
• Faith in judiciary has sometimes
dwindled among Muslims and justice seekers but it has only strengthened with
the recent observations that court made in several cases.
• Not that no one has been booked, lots of
hardcore but ‘used’ sort of dalits, SCs, STs, and VHP peop including some
ministers and leaders have been booked.
• Maximum number of serving police
officers, leaders from BJP has found themselves in jail in Gujarat during this
span of time.
• NGOs have only grown harnessing on
issues which can’t be solved in courts alone, although some of them did
marvelous job and fought with vigour and character.
Modi is hero;
Gujarat vibrant
• Hero worshipping and ‘maare shoo’ (‘how
does it concern/bother me’) attitude of the majority community (both in terms
of average middle class educated Hindu population and some of Muslim population
NRGs included) has only increased. They seem to forget the scars and project
both Gujarat and Narendra Modi at the top everywhere since it is long time
Gujarat’s leaders have been at the helm of affairs. People of Gujarat have
hardly any time to poke their nose in all political matters but are eager and
very sincerely serious to make money and explore every opportunity of doing so.
• Faith and ghetto following towards Modi
has increased rampantly so much so that Modi is Gujarat and Gujarat is Modi.
• Modi is indispensable for every Gujarati
today; at least in his daily talk once they must be using his name and it could
not be for bad reasons for many.
• Modi is at the helm of affairs both for
good and bad.
• Entire world is looking at Gujarat with
pride and honour and Modi is responsible for it is a common feeling among the
mediocres of the society which is true or not is debatable but it has only seen
more takers to it.
Opposition failed
• Opposition which is just Congress here
has miserably and utterly failed to check and bring to books the government and
its bureaucrats, forget about leaders. In stray case, their participation and
even endorsement has been documented and narrated both by victims and the
media. This leaves no room for any credit to be given to the party. Now that
the elections are approaching there has been some exercise to grab the power
for past one year. Internal rifts, non-functioning and lack of any proactive leadership
raise more doubts about its sincerity towards the issues of Muslims. This even
Muslims are realizing after a hard phase of suffering.
Modi’s ambition and
Muslim politics
• Modi may come up in a big way to allot
tickets to Muslim candidates or place them at key posts in some or the other
governmental positions, it could be just before the election time or soon after
it, once he is sure that nothing much is going to happen against him.
• At least 100 Muslims have been elected
from different municipalities and corporations etc on BJP tickets within last
ten years while the number has only gone down in case of Congress.
• Quite a few temples were dismantled and
grounded by Modi’s government, which gives an idea that he is trying to show
the world that he knows what is what?
• Derogatory speeches made by Modi ten
years back and around that time is a thing of PAST now. He wants to forget it
all now. This is his requirement and the need of the hour since his aim is no
less than Centre.
• Modi may have taken full advantage of
the situation but hard-line psyche and planning for teaching a lesson to
‘Miahs’ (Muslims) was much before Modi; even Keshubhai time saw all this but
for Modi’s self image building to the rank and stature that it stands today he
has been criticized more than any other BJPite.
• Modi has been successful to introduce
and strengthen a direct dialogue through personal communication (even Sadbhavna
has done it in a major way you admit it or not) with his voters. At the same
time without giving any bad name, making any derogatory speeches he has been
successful to keep both the opposition and Muslims at bay.
Silver lining
• Great silver lining for and among the
Muslims after 2002 has been the idea and implementation of education to girls.
Despite resistance from some ‘mullah corners’ there are efforts form the
community who is enabling education of both in religious and worldly education
to their daughters and sisters. This is indicative of a Better Tomorrow.
• Muslim women played an important role
and need to be celebrated and felicitated for it. However the clutches of
fundamentalism should be not the jewel that they have to be gifted but
empowerment and education which they have already started walking on. This
perhaps is the biggest achievement of the tears and sighs of the community
since past ten years and more.
Rafat Nayeem Quadri is Editor, BILKUL, first English
Fortnightly of Gujarat
Source: twocircles.net
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-politics/gujarat-some-thoughts-with-pauses/d/6779