Minority: In the shrill of election campaign where claims and counter claims
In the shrill of election campaign where claims and counter claims were made, galaxy of leaders were in a race to outdo each other in Modi bashing for the minority votes. Leaders like Imran Masood, Farooq Abdullah, Akberuddin Owaisi, Azam Khan displayed their fascist nature. Not to be left behind, Sonia Gandhi paid obeisance to Imam of Delhi for the Muslim votes to stop the juggernaut of Narendra Modi. In between two significant events happened which were ignored by the media at large- the kidnapping of the school girls in Nigeria by Boko Haram and the news that Indian community in UK is doing comparatively better than the Pakistanis and Bangladeshis.
A fear factor has been created in the last 10 years amongst the Muslims of India by the so called secular brigade and a handful of left leaning intellectuals in the mainstream media. Hardly a day passed when Television (TV) channels did not come up with a debate on the Godhra riots and Ishrat Jahan case. Every debate was a well scripted one with four to five spokespersons from Congress, Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Janata Dal United JD(U). Muslim leaders from these political parties would attack the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Gujarat government and many TV anchors would nod in their favour. The idea was to create a fear syndrome amongst the Muslims and to convince them that they will be unsafe if BJP comes to power in Delhi. Little did the self-proclaimed secular brigade realise the damage they had caused to the social fabric by blaming every saffron organisation for all the conflicts. And the same brigade maintained a stoic silence on the inaction of the Akhilesh-led SP government in UP where more than 100 riots took place in the past two years.
Indian Muslims do not need to worry about the safety and security under the leadership of a democratically elected Modi government. It’s the Hindus who should nurse a grudge as history is full of instances where our ancestors were butchered, slaughtered, maimed, enslaved, wealth looted, Jizya imposed.
Congress during elections not only indulged in hate speeches, they intended to blemish Modi’s image by raising Snoopgate controversy and, Rahul Gandhi addressing the women voters in his speeches said that they would not be safe if BJP comes to power. But all his attempts were in vain. Same Rahul, who uses Gandhi as his sir name, was silent on the kidnapping of the girls by the Boko Haram group when world leaders were active in their protests against the Boko Haram’s coward action. Ironically, there were also no protests or candle marches by the left leaning Women organisations, intellectuals or the so-called parties which talk about women emancipation and are swift to attack Hindu organisations.
What happened to our Bollywood fraternity who were threatening to quit India after 16May to stay in limelight? How come the safety of these girls did not stir the Bollywood as the rights of LGBT did? Many responsible Muslim leaders gave statements during elections that if BJP comes to power and Modiji becomes the PM they would leave the country. Can anyone ask these leaders-Can the Hindus in Bangladesh or in Pakistan ever dare to say that they would not accept Zardari, Nawaz Sharif, Imran Khan or Sheikh Hasina or Khalida Zia as the head of the country; for had they, they would have been wiped out?
Former Prime Minister of India Mr. Manmohan Singh had once said that the Muslims have the first right on the resources of this country. The important question is why then the Congress was unable to provide level playing field to the 18crore Muslims.
During Manmohan’s tenure Sachhar Committee was commissioned to prepare the report on the condition of Muslims in India.
Recently, Rishi Sunak’s report on the minorities in UK has found Indians to be the most prosperous among all minority groups. Around 43% of the Indians work in the highest skill profession and Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are the most likely to be self employed. About 50% of Bangladeshis only work part time and 35% of Bangladeshis work in the lowest skilled profession. Around 39% of Pakistanis and 42% of Bangladeshis women have never worked whereas 11% of Indian women work in higher managerial posts which indicates the Indian community is more dispersed than the Bangladeshis.
Will our former PM, Manmohan Singh, and Rajinder Sachhar dwell on the facts of the report which says that despite a level playing field and a neutral govt in UK, the Muslims from Pakistan and Bangladesh lag behind the Hindu Indians? Indian Muslims should also introspect why they are still backward and left behind in the race for progress; for somewhere it is they who have remained oblivious to communities decline.
-Manoj Sharma
