Sometimes The World Is
Kind To Mavericks Too
The Jamait Chief Syed Mehmood Madani, accusing the Congress
Party in the main, of trying to scare Muslims, has performed a signal act of truthfulness
and courage. Madani says Congress, and others like the Samajwadi Party, are trying
to create a spurious Narendra Modi bogey.
After all, there have
been many more pogroms and riots involving Muslims and other minorities,
including Sikhs, in Congress ruled states over the years. But throughout, Congress
has proved unable to protect the very minorities it has extracted its votes
from. The Congress may prefer to be blasé about this, but the Muslims of India
may have had enough of being duped.
For it is not every day that a senior and respected voice
from the Indian Muslim community speaks up like this, without prevarication,
and in crystal clear terms. The same Mr. Madani had earlier taken issue with
the then Deoband Chief, Maulana Ghulam Vastanvi, leading to the latter’s
ouster, in February 2013. Vastanvi had done no more than make a similar a
pro-Modi remark.
So Madani’s dramatic
and pointed turn- around and change of stance now may have been occasioned by
the anguish and disgust generated by the recent
highly political Muzaffarnagar riots. Mr. Madani could well be raising his
influential voice to express the anger of the Muslim rank and file against the
insincerity and manipulation of the so- called ‘secular’ parties.
Timing his statement to the media, shortly before a slew of
Assembly elections, and just after Eid Al
Adha, Madani probably intends to signal the restiveness of the Muslim about
the traditional vote-bank politics.
This could be a protest against the hoary tactics practiced
by parties like the Congress, The Samajwadi Party, the Janata Dal United and
sundry others, some who could even end up in the NDA post- elections.
Combined with Mr. Sharad Pawar’s recent remark about how no
political party should be regarded as ‘untouchable’ in a democratic polity, the
old sureties seem to be under strain.
The NCP is an uneasy and untrusted Congress ally in
Maharashtra, and disenchanted with its role at the Centre. It may be looking to
redefine the hidden code that tries to suggest that secular means Congress and
communal means BJP.
Other words of praise has come Narendra Modi’s way from Ms. Jayalalithaa of Tamil Nadu, both Chandra
Babu Naidu and Jagan Reddy from Andhra
Pradesh, who think highly of his development record and are keen on his even-handed
leadership, and former Chief Minister BS Yeddurappa of Karnataka.
But the old certainties are definitely shifting ground. The
Congress cannot be sure of its support base anymore, not amongst the voters or
amongst the regional parties, nor its supposed patent on ‘secularism’.
The handling of Hurricane Phailin, with over 5 lakh people
efficiently evacuated in 48 hours, with just 23 known casualties so far,
compared to over 10,000 dead in the last cyclone of 1999, is highly
commendable.
If Patnaik, along with other leading lights of
the ‘third front’ find they have too many generals and not enough soldiers, it
may be just as well for the BJD to rejoin the NDA and play a stellar role in
its government.
And not everyone in the regional line-up that are comfortable
at present, will fare equally well in the general elections. Some will be
affected by anti-incumbency, others like Mr. Lalu Prasad, by the new stringent
anti-criminal strictures. Their
interrelated numbers will change. The equations between the possible third
front constituents therefore are necessarily in flux.
The Jamait Chief meanwhile, is saying that Muslim Indians have
every right to choose their new government in 2014 freely, fairly and without
pressure. Madani said Muslims are not like ‘batasha’,
designed to melt if a little water is poured on it.
Meanwhile, every bit of
Congress sponsored Welfarism, designed to deliver UPA III is failing because of
rampant corruption. The children’s
mid-day meal scheme kills children around the country. The Public Distribution
System distributes food and grain mostly to the commercial markets rather than
the intended recipients.
The fact that youth form the bulk of the electorate this
time, will mean that the old formulaic politics will be automatically
challenged both in the urban and rural areas. The aspirations of the young for
a decisive leadership that can deliver growth and development is what is
attracting millions to Narendra Modi.
They prefer the 64 year old NaMo’s dynamism and energy to
the younger but uninspiring Rahul Gandhi and his party of old war horses and
largely untested dynastic yuppies.
The Indian people may be maturing in ways not too
comfortable for its largely aged political leadership unable and unwilling to
grasp new realities. It is no good for them to dwell on poverty and victimhood
when the relentless glare of media exposes their own opulent lifestyles and
high-flying ways.
These very people who claim to feel for the poor and
minorities live protected, sanitised and deodorised lives, far removed from all
their professed concerns. Many are indeed far more comfortable when they can
get away abroad to enjoy their wealth out of sight. The voting peasant and the
slum dweller know this, perhaps they always have. But now, being young and aspirational, they
will not tolerate blatant non-performance given an alternative.
And the corruption on top of the hypocrisy is hard to bear
when coupled with the chimera of aam aadmi
sloganeering, the political content
of which is a confection made of many self- serving fantasies, none of which
have anything to do with the actual common man!
The Mufti Mukarram of Fatehpuri Mosque in the Capital,
commenting further on Madani’s remarks, says the fabric of secularism is strong
enough now to persuade a Modi to moderate his stance if he wins. This had to be
done by then fire-brand LK Advani when
he became Deputy PM and Home Minister, and it will be the same for Narendra Modi,
should he become prime minister.
Other pro-Modi Muslim voices such as Editor Shahid Siddiqui of
Urdu weekly Nai Duniya are also
saying they have had enough of pretend politics with regard to Muslims. Muslims
are the most backward and economically depressed people in the country, says
Siddiqui, behind Dalits, behind everyone.
These confident and properly secular ‘minority’ voices of
India, may have realised that it will take a Narendra Modi to help Muslims take
their rightful places amongst the empowered and prosperous of this country.
Besides, if the 175 million Muslims and 50 odd million of
other minorities are truly brought into the mainstream, Pakistan may have to
look elsewhere to export its terror.
(1,096
words)
October 15th,
2013
Gautam Mukherjee
No comments:
Post a Comment