Appeasing Muslims is not exactly a new norm in Indian politics, especially when it comes to the Congress party. Be it the Citizenship Amendment Act or the Waqf Bill, the Congress parties and its allies have been quick to debunk it calling it counter-productive to the Muslims.
Two southern states have recently been in the news for the appeasement politics that is being played out. Last week, the BJP hit out at the ruling LDF and opposition UDF for opposing the amendments to the Waqf law. Even before the amendment bill was discussed or voted in Parliament, the UDF and LDF passed a unanimous resolution in the Kerala assembly opposing it.
It is a fact that the UDF and LDF have remained tight lipped on the persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh, which is taking place on a minute-to-minute basis. These parties have also remained silent on the Temple attack in Canada. However they were quick to oppose the Waqf bill and in the past ridicule the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
The appeasement towards the Muslims is such in Kerala that the government is silent on the concerns raised by the Catholics too. Numerous properties that are owned by Christian families in Cherai and Munambam in the Ernakulam district have been illegally claimed by the Waqf Board by using provisions in the current Act.
The more recent case of appeasement politics when the Siddaramaiah government proposed to consider a demand that Muslims be given a quota in government tenders upto Rs 1 crore.
While many look at these actions as political moves, the fact remains that such acts do pose a severe security risk. The agencies have said this several times that appeasement of the minorities to such large extents is not good since it could be misconstrued by many as a sense of freedom to commit acts of violence or terror.
Congress and its history of appeasement
This is not the first time that the Congress and its allies have played this dangerous game. In doing so for decades together, it has led to the fragmentation along religious lines.
To understand this one should go back to 1985. Shah Bano, a 70 year old divorced Muslim woman was sanctioned maintenance by the Supreme Court. She was ordered to be paid Rs 500 by her husband as maintenance.
This led to protests by radical Muslims, especially the Mullahs who said that the decision amounted to interference with the internal affairs of the community. The then Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi using or rather missing his brute majority in Parliament ensured the passage of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act of 1986. This absolved the Muslim husband of any responsibility towards his divorced wife, irrespective of any condition that she was in.
In 1988 the Muslims in India were enraged with the publication of The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie. Incidentally India became the first country to ban the book and the same was done even before the Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran issued a fatwa for beheading Rushdie. The author went on to query Rajiv Gandhi and in an open letter asked, ‘what sort of India do you wish to govern? Is to be an open or repressive society.’
Rushdie was also slated to visit the Jaipur Literary Fest in Rajasthan before the 2014 elections. However the Rajasthan police warned him of hired assassins being on the look out for him. This was another attempt by the Congress to appease the Muslims as the Intelligence Bureau had said back then that there was no such threat perception. Even the hastily organised video conferencing of Rushdie was called.
Kerala and Karnataka have acted alike when it comes to appeasement politics. Siddaramaiah has been accused on numerous counts of appeasing the Muslims. In Kerala it is a well known fact that the likes of the Popular Front of India and Abdul Nasar Madani were given a free hand, which eventually led to the rise of rapid Islamic fundamentalism in Kerala. Kerala also turned a blind eye when scores of Wahhabi preachers from Saudi visited the state over the years. The structure of the Mosques changed to the Saudi style. The Persian Khurda Hafiz became All Hafiz thanks to this change.
In 2010, Professor K T Joseph was attached by the fanatic Popular Front of India members. He lost his hand and the outfit said that this was done to avenge the question paper he had set in which alleged derogatory remarks were made against Prophet Muhammad. The Professor instead of being protected by the Kerala government ended up losing his job instead.
Kerala is also the same state where posters of Osama Bin Laden were put up following his death and no objection was made out by the government. Further, following the hanging of Ajmal Kasab, sermons were held in the Mosques in the state, but again the government did not act.
When the Congress was in power, Ghulam Mohammad Vastanvi, the chancellor of the Darul Uloom Deoband was removed. He was accused of supporting Narendra Modi. The reality was however that he was trying to modernise the Deoband.
The Hindu terror bogey
The cases against the so-called Hindu terrorists as labelled by the Congress are falling like nine pins. In the run up to the 2014 elections, the Congress set up this plan to defame Hindus. The many cases, which were under investigation, be it the Samjautha blast or the Malegaon blast had all pointed towards the Students Islamic Movement of India and Lashkar-e-Tayiba. A US department report too said that the Samjautha Express blast was the handiwork of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba.
However, the Congress had other plans. With the help of then ATS chief, Hemant Karkare cases were piled up on the Hindus.
Post the Mumbai 26/11 attacks, the stooges of the Congress ran a mindless propaganda and said that a part of the strike was orchestrated by the Hindus. The likes of Digvijaya Singh was one of the many who stood in queue to propagate this theory.
Now cut to the Batla House encounter in Delhi. It was a legitimate operation in which the police were chasing members of the Indian Mujahideen. In the encounter some Indian Mujahideen operatives lost their lives. The brave inspector S K Sharma lost his life in this encounter. However, the message from the Congress at that time was that Sonia Gandhi was in tears after learning about the death of the Muslim youth.
What about national security?
Such appeasement is dangerous. Officials who are working for Bharat’s national security tell Organiser that very many times this is demoralising. In Kerala were unable to tackle the PFI when it ought to have been done. Some of us who would take a decision to go ahead and deal with the menace would often be told that we will be pushed over.
Bharat cannot be seen as complicit at a time when there are so many Islamic radicals within and around us who want to attack the country. The country has been targeted by Islamic terrorists for decades now. However in this rush to garner the Muslim votes, parties like the Congress stay mum on the real problem while appeasing the Muslims.
The Congress and its allies which speak so much about the cause of Muslims may want to take a little time out and read through the Rajinder Sachar Commission report. It says that the Muslims have the highest dropout rates at the primary level education. Only one of the 25 students at the graduate level and one out of 5 at the post graduate level in India’s premier colleges is a Muslim. Instead of appeasing them, the Congress and its friends would do well to do something about their educational welfare so that they can come out of the clutches of the radical Mullahs.
