Daily Times

So India as expected got ‘Modi-fied’. Last year when at our end the PML-N claimed victory, as a populist relatively right wing party, I had predicted on my favourite media Twitter that a similar fate lay in store for our neighbours. I made those rather simplistic predictions, based on feeling the pulse of Indians on social and electronic media. I give a full disclaimer, that I neither have a ‘humming bird’ like Mr Najam Sethi and nor do I possess his prowess, calibre and acumen of political understanding of so many years. While we are on the business of predictions, I suggest that 2016 will bring conservatives in power here in the US as well. I am an ordinary observer, who tries to read between the lines and that is about it. Speaking of observations, as I have stated earlier, we are very similar to our neighbours. The liberals were dogged in both countries by their respective people for rather similar reasons. How similar we are yet how divided as well. To the credit of our neighbours, who have enjoyed this rather stable democratic process, it is immensely impressive. The patience and resilience demonstrated by our Indian brethren to exercise their constitutional right is highly praiseworthy. Here is a lesson or two for our self-styled pundits who reject the idea of a democratic process. According to their feeble brains, it is not meant for the poor or not so well educated. These folks ought to take a tour across Wagah to get a rather quick and enlightening tutorial in some much needed reality.

As soon as the expected result from India started to trickle in, the Twitterville and our English media went abuzz reflecting the concerns of our fellow countrymen for their Muslim brethren in India. A BJP win is viewed as a major problem for Indian Muslims. Our fairly enlightened journos, who do this gig for a living, were echoing the sentiments of an average Pakistani on Twitter. To me, all of that sounded pretentious and a bit absurd. 180 million or so Muslims of India, out of approximately 1.2 billion people, have persevered and thrived in India for 67 years and counting. A conservative Hindu government cannot just sideline, overlook or ignore such a significant minority. I say this with utmost confidence; we will not see any packed trains to Pakistan, bringing us dejected and dissatisfied co-religionists from India. The primary reason why despite upsets — including the Gujarat riots — in the backdrop, Muslims are able to survive and thrive along with other minorities is India’s secular constitution. The last BJP stint did not see gruesomeness like Gujarat spread across the country so there is plenty of hope for this one as well. Any inkling of a conservative government with a Hindu majority, gives most of us an ‘aha’ moment, that solidifies the raison d’être of Pakistan. We thank our heavens and stars and our founder for steering us to this ‘Promised Land’. But I find our stance quite hypocritical, since when it comes to Pakistan, a country that was formed on the base of Islam, people seek and appreciate a conservative government, yet when it comes to India, the same people dislike that idea. My personal views about conservatives are well known — regardless of what country, I am always against any hardline approach. So our folks with their bleeding hearts will regurgitate the tragedies of Gujarat and conveniently ignore the daily bloodshed in our land. To top everything, in our case, it is Muslim on Muslim violence, which gets either swept under the rug or blamed on ‘foreign’ and ‘invisible’ hands.

Perhaps, it would be in Mr Modi’s best interest to send signals to all the minorities of India and alleviate their concerns. This of course should be followed with appropriate measures after he takes his oath of office, because at our end, we have the Hafiz Saeeds and Zaid Hamids and their like, who will paint a gloomy picture for Indian Muslims and cause unnecessary hysteria. I am sure India has its own versions of these loonies, who pump similar rhetoric into their equally mindless followers. Regardless of who occupies the office, whether it is India or Pakistan, the main issues remain the same. At our end, we have the perception that we have gone the extra mile to extend a hand to our neighbours and it seems like on the other end there is the usual stalling tactic. When you try to get the pulse of Indians, their long standing concerns are pertaining to our folks and their involvement in a ‘disputed’ region. We have been going round and round in these circles forever and ever. It is rather ironic and bizarre that two neighbours can be so close yet so far apart. I do not know much of the diplomatic procedures or protocols, but as they say in plain and simple language, whatever these folks are doing, it is not working. If I had my way, I would send all the suits on both sides on administrative leave. I would have a list of prominent artists, poets, writers from both sides. I would have a poll at both ends and let the people select their representatives for these substantive talks. I can assure you, there will be plenty of lights, lots of camera and, yes, swift and undeniable action. Are there any takers for this idea Mr Sharif or Mr Modi?

The writer is a Pakistani-American mortgage banker. He blogs at http://dasghar.blogspot.com and can be reached at dasghar@aol.com. He tweets at http://twitter.com/dasghar