Muslims Existential Journey in its Churning Out Phase

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By Syed Ali Mujtaba, Edited By Adam Rizvi, The India Observer, TIO: Muslims in India find themselves in an intellectual trap. They are caught between being branded as communal or secular in this tug-of-war of ideological pulls. The moderates and the communists among Muslims have long vanished from the face of India. Even the secular lot is becoming extinct and those more visible are on the communal side of the divide. Thanks to the persecution of the Muslim community under the BJP Raj, this is a picture-perfect of the Muslims in India.

Muslims have always found their feet in the secular camp. They are at home adjusting to an inclusive society maintaining their exclusive identity. This was the Nehruvian idea of secularism. Muslims under its umbrella flourished in the first three decades of the Indian political scene.

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The Congress started the politics to keep Muslims insecure. This was done with the deliberate purpose of pocketing the Muslim votes en bloc. This understanding made Muslims gravitate to the communal camp.

It was a forced choice for the Muslims because the secular political parties wanted their votes on communal lines though they preached the ideology of secularism.  So the secular political parties made a great deal of contribution in pushing the Muslims on the communal path.

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The rise of the BJP on the anti-Muslim vitriol further pushed Muslims into the communal whirlpool. The BJP’s propaganda that secularism is nothing but Muslim appeasement made them tread the communal path. The BJP’s posturing made the Muslims guilty of its secular conviction and willy-nilly they took refuge in the communal camp.

The BJP in its communal design painted the Muslims as one unified community of villains who are against Hindus of India. As a result, to protect the majority community should unite against the Muslims. In this narrative, the BJP presented Muslims as a homogenous group that’s threatening the Hindu identity in the country.

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However, when we look deep into the BJP’s Muslim game is no more than a mirror image of the “communal” Hindu agenda, even though the BJP proposes this idea in its public conduct.

To circumvent this duality the BJP called Hindu communal grouping Hindu religious nationalism and it dubbed the Muslim communal grouping as anti-national. The BJP on this political template, designed an 80% vs 20% formula to remain in power.

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This hit formula of the BJP to call Hindu communalism religious nationalism and Muslim communalism as anti-Indian kept them afloat.  This kind of communal politics opposed the secular politics of the Congress and proposed to keep them in power with Hindu communalism as its raison d’être. 

As the BJP moves ahead with its project of reducing every Hindu voter to his or her religious identity it’s collaborating in reducing every Muslim to its communal slough. The BJP wants both Hindus and Muslims to be straight-jacketed as a unified political bloc. It wants both to be in perpetual conflict mode so that the saffron party can remain in power for eternity.  This means the BJP wants to project itself as the savior of the Hindu community while labeling the Congress, a savior of the Muslims.

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The BJP to keep the Hindus united under the communal path is trying to influence the Hindu community on two points. First, it is raising the specter of Muslim fear that it would take over India very soon. Second, it’s selling the dream of a Hindu nation where the elimination of the Muslims will remove all the obstacles of the Hindus. And in the brand new republic, Hindus can flourish without any hindrance in India.

In this ecosystem, Muslims are left with three options — i) resentful submission to the BJP’s logic of their marginality, ii) buy peace and make a shameful submission to the BJP. iii) Present an angry manifestation of their sense of alienation and victimhood.

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All these options are a poor understanding of Indian politics. None of these options are a dignified response from the Muslim community.

So what should be the Muslim response? The heterogeneity of the Muslims goes against the project of a unified nationwide Muslim political community. The idea of one unified Muslim political bloc is unachievable, undesirable, and can be counterproductive.

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The more AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owasi tries to organize Muslims on the communal lines the more he is trying to push the community into the communal vortext.  The idea of a homogenized Muslim minority bloc can in turn contribute to the project of a homogenous Hindu political bloc that the BJP dreams of being in power till eternity.

So this is a futile and counterproductive exercise that some Muslim fundamentalist leaders and a section of clerics are currently working on.

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A healthy political choice for Muslims should be the politics of “More than Muslim.” This is about uniting local Muslim communities with non-Muslim communities with whom they share social and economic location. This connects Muslim politics with Dalit, Adivasi, and Bahujan politics, showing solidarity with other oppressed classes of India.

The principle energy of “More than Muslim” politics has to be on forging unity with all oppressed categories. Muslims and non-Muslims must restart secular politics— one leg planted inside the community and the other firmly placed outside. The motto should be peaceful coexistence, unity in diversity, etc.

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That leaves many to ponder will the quest for “More than Muslim” politics combat the hegemonic control of the BJP which wields considerable power all over the country. Is there any space left for such kind of politics to be flagged by the liberals and progressive people in the country? Do such endangered species still exist in India?

Undoubtedly, forging a coherent and effective politics of “More than Muslim” is a foremost necessity in India today. At the same time, it is the most difficult political project of our time. The main problem in this is will the mainstream political parties take up this secular agenda of the Muslims. If not them, then who?

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In contemporary India Muslims are condemned to vote for survival, to escape from lynching, bulldozer raj, and communal riots. Muslims cannot vote for the party that treats them with antipathy. They cannot vote for the party that treats them as a vote bank.

 These are some imponderable that Muslims face in their existential journey, searching its politico-ideological moorings in its churning-out phase.

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Curated and Compiled by Humra Kidwai

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