Anti-Muslim sentiments have prevailed in India for quite some time. Since Muslims ruled India for centuries, a significant chunk of the Hindu majority bore a grudge against their erstwhile sovereigns. Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, with prescience, took cognizance of these anti-Muslim sentiments and endeavoured to create Pakistan, a separate homeland for Muslims.
India is a secular state and has a Constitution which is religiously tolerant and has a broad religious representation in various aspects of society including the government. Despite the active role played by autonomous bodies such as National Human Rights Commission of India and National Commission for Minorities, and the ground-level work being done by non-governmental organizations, sporadic and sometimes serious acts of religious violence still occur. The root causes of this religious violence often run deep in history, as well as the religious activities and politics of India.
In 2005, then Prime Minister (PM) of India, Dr Manmohan Singh commissioned a high level committee to look into the contemporary status of Muslims and other minorities in India. The committee was composed of seven members; headed by former Chief Justice Rajinder Sachar, a Hindu by birth, and its other members were Sayyid Hamid, MA Basith, Akhtar Majeed, Abu Saleh Shariff (all Muslims), TK Oommen (Christian) and Rakesh Basant (Hindu). The PM also appointed Syed Zafar Mahmood (Muslim) to serve as Officer on Special Duty to the Committee. The committee did not include any female members, although it did meet with women’s groups and activists.
The committee submitted a 403 page report to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament, on November 30, 2006. This was 20 months after obtaining the terms of reference from the PM’s Office. Highlighting issues facing the Muslim community and their representation in Indian public life, Sachar Committee’s findings indicate that Muslims constitute 14 percent of the Indian population, yet they only comprise 2.5 percent of the Indian bureaucracy, other government jobs and Indian armed forces. The Sachar Committee concluded that the conditions facing Indian Muslims were even worse than those of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Sachar Committee’s findings indicate that Muslims constitute 14 percent of the Indian population, yet they only comprise 2.5 percent of the Indian bureaucracy, other government jobs and Indian armed forces. The Sachar Committee concluded that the conditions facing Indian Muslims were even worse than those of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
The Sachar Committee Report brought the issue of Muslim Indian inequality to national attention but little was done to remedy the situation. Dr Manmohan Singh was succeeded by the hardliner Narendra Modi in the office of the Prime Minister. His policies have further alienated Muslims to the extent that there have been organised ethnic cleansing waves in which Muslims have been targeted. Saner elements in Indian society like Kuldip Nayar (brother-in-law of CJ Rajinder Sachar), Praful Bidwai, and Arundhati Roy et-al have raised their voices against the wave of anti-Muslim extremism. A number of Indian literary and showbiz figures have returned their national awards to the state in protest and demanded that the anti-Muslim wave of terrorism be stopped. Over a thousand international academics and litterateurs including renowned scholar Noam Chomsky have sent a petition to Narendra Modi to cease the organised violence against Muslims in India.
Muslims are being targeted for killing cows and consuming beef. Hindus consider cows to be sacred animals. Most Muslims are cognisant of the Hindu sensitivity and avoid partaking of beef but at times Hindu vigilantes target Muslims under trumped up charges of cow slaughter and lynch poor Muslims.
Recently, thousands of people have turned out in protests across India against a wave of attacks on Muslims by mobs that accuse them of killing cows or eating beef. Waving “Not in My Name” banners and “Stop Cow Terrorism” placards, protesters braved monsoon rains in at least 10 cities including Mumbai, Kolkata and New Delhi where a group of intellectuals and activists were joined by relatives of recent lynching victims.
Critics accuse right-wing Hindu groups, some linked to PM Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), of fomenting trouble or not doing enough to stop violence against Muslims and lower-caste Hindus who eat beef or work in the meat and leather industries.
Numerous members of the low caste Hindu community Dalit, who are considered “untouchables” and looked down upon, converted to Islam to escape persecution. These newly converted Dalits are being forced to revert to their original religion or face harassment by Hindu extremists.
Recently, Narendra Modi’s government went a step further in denying Muslims their legal rights. An exclusive feature aired on KNTV on June 27, 2018 and other Indian and Gulf media exposed the Anti Muslim wave in India. It highlighted Indian Minister for External Affairs; Mst. Sushma Swaraj refusing to censure a passport officer because he was rude to a Muslim Indian man with a Hindu wife and six year old daughter and seized their passports. The bigotry of the Indians is very much visible in their anti-Muslim extremism, which must be taken cognizance of by the Muslim Ummah in bearing down on the Indian government to be secular and tolerant towards Muslims and other minorities.
The writer is a retired Group Captain of PAF. He is a columnist, analyst and TV talk show host, who has authored six books on current affairs, including three on China
Published in Daily Times, July 21st 2018.