Should Muslims opt out of polls?

An important ingredient in the thinking under discussion is an assessment that the current tension, the conflictual mode in which Indian society finds itself, is primarily an intra-Hindu conflict in which the Muslim is only used as the convenient ‘other’.

Simply put, this assessment sees the immediate predicament of Muslims as a consequence of the Mandal-Mandir tussle. The Mandal commission was designed to empower the lower castes but its political uses have led to a tectonic shift at the base of the Hindu caste pyramid.

While Mandal sought to coopt the minorities to enlarge its political spaces, Mandir forces targeted the Muslims for greater Hindu consolidation.

The Muslim, bereft of leadership, walked into the casteist trap without realising the long term consequences. Mayawati, Mulayam Singh and Laloo Yadav emerged with minority support but, in this season of parties and bashes, the Muslim doesn’t occupy even a corner stool at any of the high tables.

Meanwhile the Hindutva lot got down to serious social engineering, promoting lower caste leaders—Narendra Modi, Vinay Katiyar, Uma Bharati—to pre-empt future Laloos, or Mayawatis. Who knows the infection may be catching up with the Congress too:Sushil Kumar Shinde, a Dalit, is being installed in Maharashtra.

There is another way of viewing the Muslim despair manifesting itself in a suggestion to opt out of elections. V.P. Singh’s lasting contribution to Indian politics, it turns out, may be something he never intended.

In the ultimate analysis he brought about a lasting proximity at the national level between the decisive, upper caste leadership of the Congress and the BJP.

In this framework Sonia Gandhi sits on the top of a hollow frame — unless she shows her aces fairly quickly. The upper caste Congressman, or even a vast majority of moderate Hindus are horrified at the pogrom in Gujarat but their stomach also turns at the sight of Mayawati or Laloo.

Does it not again look like an intra-Hindu debate? Where should the minorities stand in this? If it is true that what comes across as political instability is primarily an expression of social upheaval, at what point must the Muslim connect and with whom? It reflects sadly on the Congress party that even in his hour of despair, the Muslim is unwilling to see it as a secure anchor.

In the crisscross of regions, caste, even classes, there is another divide the Muslim finds disconcerting. The communal Hindu, for several reasons, has learnt to hate the Muslim. But even the moderate, reasonable Hindu has learnt to hate Pakistan.

The logic of subcontinental history places both these categories in uncomfortable proximity with each other.

In slow degrees, another kind of consolidation is taking place which cannot displease either the BJP leadership or even those Congressman who prefer this consolidation to being toppled by the Mayawatis of this world. So, a sustained hard line on Pakistan does not cause much discomfort to the political class across the board.

That it darkens the shade of saffron in the air causes acute discomfort to the Muslim, who has not yet recovered from the horrors of Gujarat. This is a flimsy sketch of the backdrop against which the somewhat shortsighted suggestion to opt out came up.

The first problem with such a suggestion: how do you persuade 150 million Indian Muslims? Not only is it an impossible idea, it also betrays insensitivity to another Indian reality. The strength of Indian Islam is that it has been reared in the crucible of an enduring civilisation which Hindutva extremism must not be confused with. Muslims have for centuries lived in harmony with their cultural and social environment.

Any effort to have a uniform Muslim response across the nation is self defeating because, first, it will disturb communities in political harmony in the regions and, second, it will invite a backlash even in enclaves where Hindutva is weak.

Until ’64, the undisputed leader of Indian Muslims was Nehru. In the future too they will have to be led by a towering, liberal Hindu. Both groups can join hands behind convincing figures from among Muslims too. If there aren’t any around, we’ll have to invent them. Exclusivist politics will destroy us as a nation.

Write to saeednaqvi@expressindia.com