*Q: Indian Muslims often complain that they lack effective and
sincere leaders. Why is this so?*
A: When India gained independence, the Indian Muslims made a conscious choice to stay on in what they hoped would be a secular, democratic country where all communities and all individuals would enjoy equal rights. In such a polity there would, ideally speaking, have been no reason for a separate leadership for different religious communities. After all, I do not see why a truly secular leader cannot be a leader of all communities—Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Dalits, Christians and so on—at the same time. In fact, this is what I deeply believe in personally.
However, the fact of the matter is that, especially after the
Gujarat genocide directed against Muslims in 2002, I have begun to
feel that Muslims do need a leadership of their own to have their
voices, interests and concerns properly and effectively identified
and highlighted. In theory, or ideologically-speaking, I may not
approve of that, but now, looking at how the state, the media and
large sections of civil society have been infected with mounting
prejudices against Muslims, I think Muslims ought to have a platform
to articulate their voices and issues. Communalism and anti-Muslim
hatred have become so deep-rooted that there is a desperate need for
socially-rooted but progressive-minded Muslims to speak out on
Muslim affairs and to provide proper leadership and direction.
Sadly, however, the only Muslim voices that the media and political
parties want to hear are the most reactionary and conservative ones.
Yet, the fact remains that these voices do not represent educated or
liberal-minded Muslims or even the vast majority of ordinary
Muslims, although they might claim to speak for all Muslims. It is
only these self-styled custodians of Islam or saviours of the
Muslims who are heard and then projected as spokesmen (they are all
men) of the community.
*Q: The situation in parts of south India might be quite different
from what you have described. There, middle-class Muslims are
setting up modern educational institutions and seeking to provide
alternate leadership to the community. Do you think it is right to
generalize in the manner you seem to?
A: I am not very familiar with the scenario in the south. In any
case, I am not sure if simply setting up modern educational
institutions is synonymous with, or leads to, educating people in a
secular ethos. And, then, the south Indian context is quite
different, because there aggressively anti-Muslim Hindutva forces
were, till recently, quite marginal. This enabled a section of south
Indian Muslims to focus on internal reform and institution-building
and working together with people of other communities, not forced to
feel insecure and pushed to the wall and therefore not overly
concerned with identity-related issues, as is the case in much of
north India.
*Q: Why is it that relatively few modern-educated Muslims seem to be
involved in community affairs, including at the level of leadership
of various Muslim organizations?*
A: The Muslim middle-class is still very small, in both absolute as
well as relative terms. Then, it is a fact that, by and large,
middle-class Muslims, like the middle-class in other communities,
are more interested in their own economic or career-related issues.
I don’t see that as something strange, though. After all, there are
millions of Hindus or Muslims for whom their Indian identity or the
class or regional or sectarian identity may be of equal importance
as their communal identity. There is little in common between, say,
a rich Hindi Bania trader in Uttar Pradesh and a Hindu Dalit
labourer in Tamil Nadu, or, for that matter, between a Muslim Syed
landlord in Bihar and an impoverished Muslim Ansari weaver in
Maharashtra. The mere fact that they share a religious or communal
identity does not necessarily mean that they should be concerned
about each other’s welfare.
I feel that the enormous stress on communal identity that we are
faced with today has actually been forced on many of us quite
against our will. This process has gathered considerable momentum in
the last two decades. Earlier, I was just a human rights activist
who happened to have a Muslim name, but now whenever there is a
discussion of a Muslim-related issue in the media I am identified as
a Muslim and asked to speak about it. This was not the case before.
This assertion of homogenized identities is coming from conservative
quarters—from Hindutva- and maulvi-led groups, and is not something
that ordinary folk consciously seek, for, left to themselves, they
are quite comfortable with their multiple identities without having
to prioritise one over the others. This tendency has been
strengthened with the state rapidly abdicating its responsibilities
in areas such as education and health, creating a vacuum that has
been filled by a rapid rise of madrasas in Muslim localities or
RSS-run schools in Adivasi areas, for instance, which actively seek
to develop and reinforce these homogenized religious-based identities.
* *
*Q: Although in their demands on the state Muslim organizations are
increasingly referring to economic and educational issues, it
appears that most of their demands are related to identity
concerns—Urdu, Muslim Personal Law, the Aligarh Muslim University,
the Babri Masjid and so on. What do you feel about this?*
A: You are right, but this not true just for these Muslim groups,
however. The agenda of Hindutva groups is almost the same. They are
completely silent on the economic and other such issues and concerns
of the Hindu poor. One reason why these organizations and outfits
focus only, or mainly, on religious or identity-related issues,
projected in a very narrow, communal sense, is because this is what
sells, and can be used to attract people and then control them.
*Q: Muslims and Islam enjoy a poor image in the media, and, through
it, among non-Muslims generally. How do you think this situation can
be remedied?*
A: It is true that large sections of the media are engaged in a
concerted campaign to demonise Muslims and Islam. However, I find
very few Muslims and Muslim organizations doing anything meaningful
and effective to counter this trend. Indeed, some statements and
fatwas of Muslim leaders and maulvis only tend to reinforce negative
stereotypes about Muslims and their religion. These statements and
fatwas only further embolden Hindutva forces—I won’t be surprised if
some of them are actually responsible for asking maulvis for some
absurd fatwas so as to make Muslims a laughing-stock. The statements
that some clerics come up with, from time to time, serve no other
purpose than to help Hindutva forces further demonise Muslims. The
point is that obscurantist forces on both sides feed on each other
and cannot exist without each other.
There is another issue related to both the existing Muslim
leadership and negative portrayals of Muslims in the media that
needs to be mentioned. This is the fact that, generally speaking,
Muslims do not play much of a role in wider democratic struggles in
India. Nor do Muslim organizations, several of which are very
conservative, even reactionary, concern themselves with wider
issues, issues that are not Muslim-specific. In fact, even in the
struggle for minority rights, activists of Hindu background are much
more prominent than Muslims. One reason for this lamentable state of
affairs is simply that Muslims are socially and educationally much
backward compared to the Hindus, particularly dominant caste Hindus.
It is also because of negative attitudes to other communities as
well as lack of sufficient exposure to people of other faiths. I
find this obsession of Muslim organizations and the Muslim media
simply with Muslim-specific issues, while not being concerned about
general issues, very distressing. It certainly is a reflection of a
sort of communalism. It is also one of the factors for negative
prejudices about Muslims projected through the media, although, of
course, it is not the only factor for this.
Changing the priorities of existing Muslim organizations in this
regard is not easy. They are not ready to accept any sort of
criticism, not matter how sincerely meant, and many would quickly
brand it as an ill-intentioned ‘conspiracy’. I speak from personal
experience here. But, that said, I must also point out that this
attitude is, at least partly, an outcome of the tremendous
insecurity that Muslims face in the context of the ongoing
demonization of the community and of Islam and the continued
discrimination that they face, so that many of them see the only
refuge lying in a conservative form of religion and identity
consciousness. They simply have no other platform to articulate
their views.
As for what Muslims could do to address the demonization of the
community, there is so much one could say and suggest. For one
thing, their self-appointed leaders must cease to issue
meaningless statements and absurd fatwas, which are picked up with
such alacrity by the press, playing on them to reinforce negative
images about Islam and Muslims. Muslims—and this holds true not just
for them but for all communities—also need an enlightened religious
leadership that can provide meaningful and relevant understandings
of religion that can help the cause of justice—for women, for the poor.
*Shabnam Hashmi can be contacted on shabnamhashmi@gmail.com*
*For information about ANHAD, see www.*anhad*in.net
<http://www.anhadin.net/>*