MUSLIMS & THE STRAIGHT PATH: Part - 1-K - The Problem Child

Muslims & The Straight Path  [Published 2010]

Part - 1-K

THE PROBLEM CHILD

What is it that makes the Muslim a problem child? Apparently, it is this (later you will find far more serious reasons)! Is it better for Muslim Indians to assimilate and thereby lose their identity? Or are they bound by Islam to preserve their identity and thereby suffer the mental, physical, social, and economic consequences of non-assimilation? More importantly, they are also responsible for inhibiting the progress of the great nation – India.

Only recently, I read a view of somebody who said that if we cannot curtail the growth of population, then we should use it to our advantage. The real reason for China to fear India is that while China’s huge population is ageing, India has a greatly young population, which has the capacity and potential to make India the world’s greatest super-power in another 20 to 30 years.

If this is an acknowledged truth, how shall we expect the present day super-powers to react? Will they so easily allow India to become a super-power? Or will they put all possible hurdles in our path so that we continue to bleed, thereby diminishing the energy that would have led to faster growth towards strength and eventually a Great Nation.

The present mass of 150-200 million Indian Muslims, as it is today, will go a long way in stopping India’s growth. Such a huge chunk of population, if it does not take active part in growth of the Nation, will eventually end up slowing the progress of our country.

Sachar Committee and Ranganath Mishra Commission have depicted only one part of the sordid state of Indian Muslims. They have shown that this huge chunk of population has become incapable of participating in the affairs of the Country and is thus like a huge weight tied to a runners leg, which does not allow it to run at the pace that it would otherwise have. If there is one reason why the forward looking people from majority Hindu committee should collectively sit and work out programs to take the Muslims out of this pit, it is this. And they will have to do this, despite all the negative faces that are shown to them from amongst the Muslim community and all the negative reactions that they get in return. Our responsibilities are more towards our country than anybody else!

The other most important issue that needs to be addressed is the repulsive tendencies that have begun to show up in the form of militancy and terrorism. Neither Islam has any place for terrorism nor can we, as Indians, allow such activities to mushroom. Unfortunately, till date we have resorted to short time measures only in our attempts to crush the virus of terrorism. Counter-offensive against those who are terrorists is not wrong. But again, in our country’s larger interests, we will have to look at all the aspects and find long-lasting solutions.

Take the example of Naxalites. Why is Mr. Chidambaram refraining from sending armed forces to take on Naxalites head on? There are only a handful of them who have taken up arms. But even then, leaders seeking votes talk about some slain Naxalite leader in their speeches. Is the vote of a few armed men, who have waged a war against the state, so important?

The real issue is not the Naxalites who are in the battle-front, but their sympathizers who are growing by the day. These Naxalites would not have been able to deliver so much harm, if there had not  been a great number of sympathizers for their cause and a few who are aiding them directly or indirectly. When leaders talk about some slain Naxalite, it is this large chunk of Naxal sympathizers whom they are targeting. And it is this reason why Mr. Chidambaram knows, for sure, that unless the root cause of their issues are addressed, any use of force will create more sympathizers and,  possibly, greater number of recruits to take to arms and wage a war against the State. We have already made the matters worse through inept handling of the Kashmir problem and the same kind of mishandling right in India’s heartland will create everlasting problems.

Our politician’s and bureaucratic set-up’s inability to take at least some of the fruits of developments and country’s progress to these deprived lots has resulted in disenchantment and aversion from the law of the land, thereby leading to militant behaviour. The writing was on the wall since years, right from the time CPI-ML and other similar outfits started getting popular. But we paid no heed to getting to the root cause of the problem, other than resorting to short cut measures like arrest or encounter of few of their leaders and suppressing their revolt through brutal use of force. Today, that little creature has become like a demon, threatening to devour or harm certain parts of our country.

As long as judiciary, the police and other legislative and administrative pillars of democracy do not realize their role and as long as we do not get out of the mere vote-bank politics, we will not be able to give a sincere thought to the problems which, though small, have potential to become big-sized demons inhibiting nation’s progress. 

Naxal problem is not just one such problem. Human rights violations and uneven distribution of country’s wealth and resources are taking place ceaselessly. This is certainly the reason for the Naxal problem but it will be too naïve to think that this uneven distribution has only taken the Naxals beyond the borderline of adherence to law and order.

There are a lot many big-sized chunks of population who too are getting marginalized because of discrepancies in our existing system. Take the farmer community in several states, for example. The 55% population of the country that feeds the country is living in miserable conditions. Our Government machinery has been unable to provide them the basic infrastructure and sort out their petty problems related to sustenance. Many of them have gone below the poverty line. A good number has already committed suicide. Let’s not forget that it is these penniless farmers who are becoming recruiting grounds for the Maoist cause. State of farmers in several other states is very similar and if we have not seen similar adverse circumstances developing there, we should be thankful to our stars for it.

No points for guessing that our subject is the Muslims here! Another 150-200 million mass that threatens to jeopardize India’s progress towards Greatness is the Indian Muslims. This community has become marginalized, less because of Hindu indifference and more because of its own incapability to inter-mingle with the rest of the country. As we have said previously, this huge population, more than the population of several European countries, is not capable of coming out of the pit that it has fallen into, on its own self. There is a need that the majority community own up the challenge of allaying the fears and concerns of their own ‘problem child’, that has no political leadership, whose religious leadership is still living in the seventh century and whose great mass is far removed from mental, physical, social, and economic development that rest of the country has seen lately.

Finding solutions to the real concerns and problems of the ‘problem child’ won’t be possible unless we try to get to the root cause. It is the duty of all progressive members of the Indian society to try to put these questions across and seek their answers.