Society getting communalized

No doubt, the Bharatiya Janata Party is less rhetorical than before in its references to Muslims. There can be two reasons for this: One, the party has its eyes fixed on the scenario after the parliamentary elections in early 2014. It would need the support of secular parties to have a majority in the Lok Sabha. Any adverse remark against Muslims may cost the party and endanger its chances of constituting a viable coalition.

Two, the BJP feels that it can afford to give the impression of being liberal at a time when soft Hindutva has gripped even the Leftist parties. The Congress is seen steadily losing its secular credentials in the past few years despite the fact that Muslims, by and large, voted in its favour.

But the biggest dilemma facing the Muslim community today is who among all parties is liberal. The radicalization of the community is not the answer, as it is happening. This would be used as evidence to stigmatize the community. Muslim terrorism has no chance against Hindu terrorism simply because of the numbers.

I realize that some Muslims out of desperation have taken to violence. But this is the path Hindu militant organizations like the Bajrang Dal, Ram Sena and Vishwa Hindu Parishad want the community to take.

The guilt of these organisations has been proved from the bomb blasts at Malegaon, Ajmer and Hyderabad. Initially, the suspicion was on Muslims�as is the police practice�and the Muslim youth were picked up. At Hyderabad, they were beaten by the police. But a detailed investigation revealed a Hindu hand. In fact, the random arrests of Muslim youth are the biggest worry of the community.

A delegation, including Hindus, has met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to seek remedy. His promise to take action has lessened the number of Muslim youths detained, but the community is far from satisfied. Many Muslim young men are still rotting in jail, awaiting their cases to be posted for hearing. Worst is the loss of their years which could have been utilized in pursuing higher studies or doing some useful work.

Had there been accountability, such chauvinist deeds by the police would not have taken place. Young men have been released when law courts found that there is no evidence against them. A Who made the mistake? Who is responsible for illegal arrests? He should be punished if the impression that the Muslim youth was picked up without any rhyme or reason is to be removed.

I am more worried about the increasing distance between Hindus and Muslims. True, they have no social contact with one another. But the give-and-take attitude is languishing. A The only redeeming factor is that there has been no major riot after the Gujarat carnage. This does not mean that the country has managed to curb communalism. Assam is a recent example.

I was recently in Kerala. I found even the Leftists contaminated. This is one State where Christians are spreading their arms as Hindus and Muslims are doing at the expense of amity. Strange, the best of economic ideology fails when the feeling of religious superiority takes over. In our backyard, Uttar Pradesh, small communal riots have taken place in hundreds. The media has not given them any publicity. In fact, it does not talk about communal riots unless they are really big ones.

On the one hand is the example of Delhi where students of all castes and religions came together to protest against the gang rape of a 23-year-old girl and showed that when it was the question of resisting tyranny, all were together. On the other, a procession through a "wrong" route brings out swords from sheaths.

I really believed, like the Congress leaders Abul Kalam Azad and Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, that communalism was the creation of the British and it would go after they had quit. But I have been proved wrong.

The same type of madness which I saw before Partition is just below the surface even now. The political parties bring that frenzy to the fore if and when they find it advantageous to them in elections or some other occasions. Even after 65 years of independence, secularism has not taken roots. What it boils down to is that the spirit of accommodation is drying up. One way to give secularism a chance is to punish those who in any way harm it. The destroyers of the Babri masjid are yet to be punished. In the same way, Modi has not been touched for the killing of 3000 Muslims. Instead, he is elevated in the party.

I have this uncomfortable feeling that communalism is getting legitimacy. More and more people are turning fanatics. Even the police or the other security forces have not escaped contamination. Little do they realise that democracy has no meaning if pluralism is not there. Hatred and bias have to be eliminated from the body-politics if democracy has to survive.

Many Muslim young men are still rotting in jail, awaiting their cases to be posted for hearing. Worst is the loss of their years which could have been utilized in pursuing higher studies or doing some useful work