‘Muslims won’t leave Gujarat but won’t live as second-class citizens’

The BJP victory in a Gujarat is a sad day for not just Muslims but for the whole country. The party rode to power on the strength of Muslim ...

The BJP victory in a Gujarat is a sad day for not just Muslims but for the whole country. The party rode to power on the strength of Muslim blood and tears.

It is shocking that most Gujarati Hindus have agreed with the Modi-Togadia line of hatred for Muslims. The entire BJP campaign was based on rejecting Muslims as terrorists and Pakistanis.

Five million Gujarati Muslims have practically been marginalised. Ours is a poor community with a high rate of illiteracy. But adversity will make us stronger in the days to

come. Muslims are not going to leave Gujarat. Nor will we live as second class-citizens on the charity of the Sangh Parivar.

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Just as Hindus remember Somnath and Mohammed of Ghazni, Muslims will always remember Gujarat and Modi. We will never forget this pogrom and we will never allow another pogrom.

Muslims will have to change their very way of life to adjust to the emerging crisis. No words are too strong to condemn the fatwa issued on the eve of the elections. Ulema have no business to dabble in politics. They must go back to their mosques and only preach the Koran and the Shariat.

Socio-economic transformation is a must if the community is to avoid becoming the new untouchables of India. Each and every Muslim boy and girl must get the best and highest education possible. Our future lies as a business community. The ideal example is that of the Jews in America.

We must know that this means women have to be treated with maximum respect and dignity. Triple talaq must be treated as un-Islamic. The whole foundation of Muslim society should rest on our women, who must model themselves on the lines of Hazrat Khadija and Hazrat Fatima.

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While Muslims will always treat BJP as poison, we must be equally wary of all political parties that are aligned with it. For, by their silence, they made it possible for the Gujarat experiment to take place.

Our current worry is a communal polarisation being deliberately provoked in other states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The only remedy lies in eternal vigilance.

The Congress’s stance on secularism is quite weak. They appear embarrassed to mention the name of Gandhi and Nehru. Soft Hindutva is not the answer to hard Hindutva, but I must mention that Sonia Gandhi has her heart in the right place on the secular issue. A greater assertiveness by her will help the country.

I strongly disfavour the Mulayam Singh Yadav brand of secularism. It has become identified with the five-star culture of Amar Singh. This is making a mockery of a very grave national issue.

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Islam teaches that Allah is Rab-ul-Aalmin, he is the creator of everyone and everything.

In that sense, all Hindus are our brothers and we must never hate them. Muslims will always be indebted to the memory of Mahatma Gandhi, who sacrificed his life so that we could live in India as equal citizens with respect and dignity.

We appeal to all people of goodwill and conscience in India and abroad to recognise that the Sangh Parivar is no different from the Taliban of Afghanistan. Please stand with us in this fight between Good and Evil.

Professor J.K. Bandukwala teaches Nuclear Physics at M.S. University. During the Gujarat riots, he was saved from a mob by his Hindu neighbours. But the next day, a bigger mob torched his house and car. Bandukwala then fled to Mumbai, spent time abroad and returned to Vadodara after a few months.