Time for introspection
INDIAN MUSLIMS — Where Have They Gone Wrong? Rafiq Zakaria; Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Kulapati K.M. Munshi Marg, Mumbai-400007. Rs. 495.
THE STANDPOINT of an insider offers an often unrecognised but real licence when critiquing a subject. The provocative title of Rafiq Zakaria's new book — Indian Muslims: Where Have They Gone Wrong? — may have been regarded as much too contentious had it been written by a member of another community.
Issues
In these politically correct times, many of the issues and questions he raises in the book are regarded taboo; so much so, they are rarely addressed in a sober and objective fashion. If they are raised at all, it is usually in a spirit of animosity and without any hint of dispassionate scholarship.
Has the community's leadership badly let Indian Muslims down? What is the strategy Indian Muslims should adopt to become an integral part of the national mainstream? Is there a need for a change in Muslim outlook? Zakaria seems unconcerned that the very act of asking these and related questions could lead to allegations of bias or prejudice.
It is a confidence that stems from a man whose record in public service (Cabinet Minister, Member of Parliament, scholar, educationist) is irreproachable — the poise and assurance of someone who commands the respect of the Muslim community, who knows that his motives will not be called into question and that he will not be misunderstood.
A collection of essays written over a span of more than five decades, the book is divided into 12 sections with a variety of themes that range from the role of the community in the freedom struggle to the threat it faces from communal Hindu organisations. As one might expect from a Congressman who was associated with the Independence movement, Jinnah gets a bad rap.
Partition and its aftermath
Apart from holding the Pakistani leader responsible for cynically advocating the two-nation theory, he argues it was Jinnah's Partition power-play that resulted in Indian Muslims being reduced to a small minority. Pre-Partition, Muslims who comprised 33 per cent of the sub-continental population, had a pivotal position at the Centre and had their "own'' governments in five states.
Post-Partition, they were down to 12 per cent, in other words, a much smaller and more vulnerable minority. "Its (Partition's) aftermath was horrendous, both Hindus and Muslims went through virtual hell. But while Hindus have managed to recover and improve their lot, Muslims have been ruined in every respect — economically and socially and much more so politically.''
The way forward
Striking a more nuanced note, Zakaria also argues that Nehru and Patel gave in somewhat too easily to the Partition demand and that Congress insensitivity encouraged Jinnah and the Muslim League to go their separatist way.
There is an important theme that runs through these diverse essays. It is that rather than see themselves solely as victims of the post-Independence socio-political order, Indian Muslims should also regard themselves as responsible for what has happened to them.
It is important, the author suggests, to look ahead rather than keep harking back to the past, something that is encouraged by politicians who play the vote-bank and leaders who exploit religious sentiments. "If Indian Muslims have to preserve their identity, there are five factors they must concentrate on: education, employment, social adjustment with Hindus, family planning and political realism."
Here, social adjustment is a euphemism for a common civil code and political realism is an exhortation to give up playing vote-bank politics, which he regards as a self-defeating game. As M.J. Akbar in his foreword points out, Zakaria does not shy away from answering the central question of his book: where have Indian Muslims gone wrong? "The answer: whenever they have forgotten their Indian roots.''
Plea for modernity
His plea for modernity is made in the full awareness of the increasing threat to Indian Muslims — from majoritarianism, from stereotyped perceptions of the community and from misperceptions about Islam and what it stands for. He is severely critical of Hindutva and its proponents but apportions equal blame to the communal forces in both the communities for keeping Hindus and Muslims apart.
There are places where his writing is suffused with an old-fashioned romanticism, one that is based on a yearning for a more congenial, a more communally innocent time. But his confidence that it is possible "to check and replace the present divisive pattern of politics by a broad based common brotherhood'' is unshaken throughout the 500-odd pages of this well-intentioned and eminently readable book.
MUKUND PADMANABHAN
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