Muslims and Modi: Time to make a new beginning

[ravishingravi]

When I interviewed Gujrat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in 2012, I had no inkling that this will turn into such a huge controversy. As a journalist this was a great opportunity to put Mr Modi in the dock and question him on his role in the 2002 riots. Like most of the journalists and Secular liberals I held Mr Modi responsible for the killings that followed the Godhra train burning. Just a week earlier on a TV discussion I was calling him a Fascist and an unrepentant killer. In fact it was a great surprise for me that he had agreed to grant an interview to me. The way Mr Modi replied to all my questions and allegations calmly was a bit surprising for me. He was logical, factual and rational in reply to most of my queries. I won’t go into the details of the interview as my intention is not to analyse it but to move beyond it. After this interview I started questioning my own inferences about the Gujrat Riots and Mr Modi. I realized that they were mostly based on a biased and predetermined image of an RSS Parcharak. As a liberal we looked on all of them as communal, bigoted, narrow minded, anti-minority Devils. That’s what we had been conditioned to believe for last many decades. No proof was required to declare them guilty of any crime. I started asking myself ‘Was it the only riot where justice had been denied to the minorities? Was this riot different from Mumbai, Bhagalpur or Meerut riot?’ Argument was that in Gujrat the government and administration allowed the rioters to perpetuate all sorts of atrocities on the Muslims. Comparing this to 1987 Meerut Hashimpura killings, which I had covered extensively, I realized that those were cold blooded murders of 70 young boys , who were picked from their houses and shot dead without any provocation by the PAC on Gang canal near Hapur. Not a single police officer or constable was indicted or punished. In Mumbai 1993 riots killings were done by police officers in Bhindi Bazar at Minara Masjid, according to the Justice Krishna Commission report, but no one was ever punished for it. I realized that since 1947 in thousands of communal flare-ups under Congress regimes there never was any accountability or justice for the victims. Recent Muzaffarnagar riots proved to be the last straw on ‘Secular’ camel’s back. I realized that we were using double standards for judging the 2002 riots in Gujrat and riots in other parts of the country under so called Secular regimes. In Gujrat the justice system and investigative agencies had done their best to put Modi in the dock and helped in bringing dozens of police officers and political activists including ministers to book, which they had failed to do in all the riots including the 1984 Anti-Sikh riots. However they had failed to build a credible case against the Gujrat Chief Minister. He had virtually been given a clean chit by all the courts including the Supreme Court of India. I have been asking this question from myself for quite some time, how long are Indian Muslims going to be the slaves of this ‘Electoral Secularism’, the sole purpose of which is to create fear in the minds of the minorities, push them into a social, cultural, political and economic ghetto to get their votes for the so called ‘Secular Parties’. Elections are all about options but for Muslims these options are closed in the name of saving them from communal devils. Those who have pushed them into worst possible deprivation and backwardness, claim to be their only saviours and therefore only claimants of their votes. Any Muslim who dares to question these premises is dubbed as an agent of the communalists who has sold his conscience to the Fascist Satan. Everyone is browbeaten into the corner of ‘Electoral Secularism.’ Muslim voter is perceived to be a herd which votes ‘tactically’ without using his or her brain, for a party which can defeat ‘BJP’ and provide protection to them in return for their votes. Lalu, Mulayam,Mamta, Devgoda, Nitish, Sonia all have played this game, shamelessly. When it suits them ‘BJP’ is secular and when it suits their political interests it is communal. Many among Muslims have been raising these uncomfortable questions but either because of fear or because of political expediency there are very few who make their views public. I think the time has come when there should be an honest debate on the premises on which we declare a party or a leader saviour or a threat to the minorities, a friend or an enemy? Time when Muslims stop supporting or opposing any party or leader blindly, unquestioningly. Time when Muslims look at BJP or Narendra Modi with an open mind and see if it is time to move beyond 2002 riots as the nation and specially Muslims have moved beyond Babri Masjid, Mumbai, Bhagalpur, Meerut Muzaffarnagar riots, time to make a new beginning. It is also the moment for BJP leadership specially Mr Modi to understand that governance is not only about forming a government and becoming the P.M; it is also about carrying different groups and communities that make a nation, with you. India is not a banana republic which may be ruled by a tin pot dictator, India is emerging as the leading nation of the world which requires a statesman at the helm who carries not only the country, but the moral authority to protect its interests globally. Time when BJP under the leadership of Mr. Modi, and Indian Muslims take the courage to dislodge the baggage of the past, accept the realities of the present and make a new begging for the future. (The writer is senior journalist and political commentator.) http://m.niticentral.com/2014/03/22/muslims-and-modi-time-to-make-a-new-beginning-202447.html Worth posting it as new thread, given that we are starting new thread for every negative view.

[JaiRamesh2]

Muslims prosper in Gujarat and Kerala; UP, Bihar the worst http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-muslims-prosper-in-gujarat-and-kerala-up-bihar-the-worst-1971244 Kerala and Gujarat have emerged as the top two states in India where poverty among Muslims in both rural and urban areas declined drastically in the last seven years, according to the National Sample Survey (NSS) statistics. The condition of Muslims in Maharashtra also improved in this period, but Uttar Pradesh and Bihar remained at the bottom of the list with the dubious distinction of having the most number of Muslims below poverty line. In its front-page report headlined 'No country for Muslims', dna on Thursday quoted an interim report by the Amitabh Kundu-led committee which highlighted that the socio-economic condition of Muslims had not improved despite the implementation of welfare schemes since the acceptance of the Justice Sachar report in 2006. The Union government in August 2013 formed a 10-member committee to evaluate the socio-economic condition of the Muslim community since the implementation of the Sachar committee's recommendation. The recent findings are part of a research paper by Dr Kundu, who analysed the state-wise NSS statistics. In rural Gujarat for instance, the number of Muslims below poverty line (BPL) fell from 31% (about one-third of their population) in 2004-05 to a measly 7% in 2011-12. Comparison of the same period reveals that those in the BPL population in urban areas also declined from 42% to 14.6%. Meanwhile, the maximum per capita expenditure (MPCE – an indicator of economic well-being) of Muslims in rural Gujarat went up from Rs 209 to Rs 291. In urban areas of the state, it shot up from Rs 259 to Rs 328 in the last seven years, according to the research paper. In Kerala, the decline was from 26.5% to 8% in rural areas and from 23.7% to 3.5% in urban areas. Muslims in 'God's own country' had one of the highest per capita expenditure across India in 2011-12 – Rs 365 in rural areas and Rs 420 in urban, an increase from Rs 303 and Rs 320 respectively in 2004-05. The percentage of Muslims in the BPL category in Maharashtra fell from 47.9% in 2004-05 to 28.6% in 2011-12 in urban areas. The decline in rural areas was from 40% to 28.6% in the same period. Dr Kundu confirmed to dna that his research paper will be included in the committee's final report which will be submitted to the Centre by June. "I am neither a BJP supporter nor a Narendra Modi fan, but as far as the welfare of the Muslim community is concerned, the facts say that Gujarat did much better in the past seven years compared to other states," Dr Kundu, who recently retired from JNU, told dna. Abhay Pethe, professor of economy at the University of Mumbai, was guarded in his response. "We have observed the trend in the NSS data. Since the elections are round the corner, I would prefer not to comment on this," he said. Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Bihar still have a large percentage of the Muslim population below poverty line, the statistics reveal. In 2004-05, almost half of the Muslim population in UP was below poverty line. It came down to one-third in the last seven years. The change in the average MPCE of the community in UP in this period was little. It was the same in West Bengal and Bihar. Goa and Nagaland are on top of the list when it comes to poverty eradication of Muslims. Seven years ago, more than one-third of their Muslim population was below poverty line; it was nil in 2011-12 in rural and urban areas. The rural areas of Pondicherry, Sikkim, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Himachal Pradesh also reported zero BPL population of Muslims. However, in urban areas, 10-20% of Muslims are still below poverty line. In MPCE, Andaman & Nicobar Islands tops the country in both urban (Rs 612) and rural (Rs 596) categories.

[Sachin=GOD]

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