The hallmark of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government is its propensity and enthusiasm to confuse remedies with maladies. Nowhere is this confusion as conspicuous as on the issue of minorities (read Muslims).
The government shows considerable solicitude for the Muslims. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in his address on Independence Day, 2005, said, ?We will also revise and revamp the Fifteen Point Programme for Minorities. The new Fifteen Point Programme will have definite goals which are to be achieved in a specific time frame.? Then there is also the Sachar report which, if implemented, would keep the community perpetually mired in obscurantism, mullahdom and backwardness.
Consider a few features of the Prime Minister'sFifteen Point Programme. The Fourth Point is: ?The Central Plan Scheme of Area Intensive and Madrasa Modernisation Programme provides basic educational infrastructure in areas of concentration of educationally backward minorities and resources for the modernisation of madrasa education. Keeping in view the importance of addressing this need, this programme will be substantially strengthened and implemented effectively.?
Now let'ssee what great things the madrasas (and mosques) are doing in our country. India'sTask Force on Border Management, in its report of October 2000, wrote about the ominous developments along the India-Nepal border: ?On the Indo-Nepal border, madrasas and mosques have sprung up on both sides in the Terai region, accompanied by four-fold increase in the population of the minority community in the region. There are 343 mosques, 300 madrasas and 17 mosques-cum-madrasas within 10 kilometres of the border on the Indian side. On the Nepal side, there are 282 mosques, 181 madrasas and eight mosques-cum-madrasas. These mosques and madrasas receive huge funds from Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Managers of various madrasas and ulemas maintain close links with the embassy officials of those countries located at Kathmandu. Financial assistance is also channelised through the Islamic Development Bank (Jeddah), Habib Bank of Pakistan and also through some Indian Muslims living in Gulf countries. Pakistan'sHabib Bank, after becoming a partner in Nepal'sHimalayan Bank, has expanded its network in the border areas including Biratnagar and Krishna Nagar. It is suspected that foreign currency is converted into Indian currency in Nepal and then brought to India clandestinely? Madrasas and mosques on the Indo-Nepal border are frequently visited by prominent Muslim leaders, tablighi jamats (proselytising groups) and pro-Pak Nepali leaders. Officials of Pak Embassy have come to notice visiting Terai area of Nepal to strengthen Islamic institutions and to disburse funds to them. Pro-Pak elements in Nepal also help in demographic subversion of the Terai belt.?
The madrasas in other parts are part of the same pattern. For instance, The Pioneer quoted a Muslim cleric, Maulana Rehan Ahmad, of the Madrasa Faizul Ulum Hathishala in Laxmi Nagar, near Delhi Police headquarters in August 2005, as saying, ?Khuda himself has determined the punishment (sazaa) of the kafir. It is to reside forever in hell (jahannum), burn in fire? [with] all kinds of horrors there. [jehad is waged on non-Muslims after] he is invited to join the faith (din ki dawat), asked to place his faith on Allah, when he does not do so, then at that moment the hukum for jehad is given.?
The Mushirul Hasans and the Javed Akhtars would fiercely contend such interpretations of jehad; they would argue that jehad means internal, spiritual purification, that such spiritualistic interpretation is ?true.? Unfortunately for them, and for us, most Muslims believe in the versions of Islam as taught by the clerics like Maulana Rehan Ahmad. And it is these versions that are taught in madrasas.
Sachar report, the most disgraceful and mendacious document produced in India in this century, is typically in a denial mode. Despite a mountain of evidence to suggest that madrasas are factories producing jehadis, it says: ?Madrasas, through which the community ensures that its future generations acquire knowledge of Islam, have become a symbol of Muslim identity in India. Often they are looked upon with suspicion by the wider society, despite the fact that they are involved in providing religious education to the Muslim community. Labelling of madrasas as a den for terrorists is extremely worrisome for the Muslim community. Even though there has been no evidence to suggest that madrasas are producing terrorists they are constantly under scrutiny.?
Notice the ostrich-like attitude: ?no evidence to suggest that madrasas are producing terrorists?? The Sachar report'srecommendations on madrasas could not have been more appalling and frightening. It wants a ?provision of ?equivalence? to madrasa certificates/degrees for subsequent admissions into institutions of higher level of education. Flexibility should be introduced so as to enable madrasa graduates to move across to regular mainstream education after graduating from these institutions, if they so wish. In other words the opportunity should be made available to them, especially in courses where admission is done through an entrance test/competitive examination.?
The Sachar report also favours ?Recognition of the degrees from madrasas for eligibility in competitive examinations such as the Civil Services, banks, defence services and other such examinations. The idea is to facilitate a process whereby madrasas graduates too have a choice and an incentive to participate in these employment streams. This should, however, remain within the existing framework of these competitive examinations.?
The report, therefore, not only recommends induction of incompetence in government and semi-government jobs?for madrasa students can scarcely be considered competent?but also tries to ensure that the administration and the public sector become infested with potential jehadis. And all this at our own expense!
In fact, the UPA regime'sentire effort to woo Muslim votes is at the expense of the taxpayer. The Swarnjayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojna (SGSY) is the primary self-employment programme for rural areas. According to the Fifteen Point Programme, ?A certain percentage of the physical and financial targets under the SGSY will be earmarked for beneficiaries belonging to the minority communities living below the poverty line in rural areas.? Similarly, the Swarnjayanti Shahari Rojgar Yojna (SSRY) consists of two major components namely, the Urban Self-Employment Programme (USEP) and the Urban Wage Employment Programme(UWEP). ?A certain percentage of the physical and financial targets under USEP and UWEP will be earmarked to benefit people below the poverty line from the minority communities.?
The UPA regime'seagerness to appease Muslims has eclipsed its own state objectives. For instance, the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP) of 2004 said, ?Public sector banks will be given full managerial autonomy.? It further said, ?The UPA government is committed to a strong and effective public sector whose social objectives are met by its commercial functioning? The UPA is pledged to devolve full managerial and commercial autonomy to successful, profit-making companies operating in a competitive environment.?
The important features of the Fifteen Point Programme and the Sachar report unmistakably militate against the Magna Carta of the UPA government. This has happened because the UPA functionaries are unable to distinguish problems with solutions. The biggest problem that the Muslim community faces is the cleric; the UPA sees a solution in him! The NCMP is just one of the casualties.
The Left, which greatly influenced the NCMP, is not screaming. Nor are the champions of liberalisation, who normally berate the measures which increase the size and scope of the government. The so-called liberal Muslims are also silent as the mad mullahs get empowered.
(The writer is a senior economic analyst and columnist and can be contacted at [email protected])
