The Indian Muslims are passing through a difficult time right now. In the wake of serial bomb blasts in the local trains of Mumbai the police acted in a manner which suggested as the entire Muslim community was guilty. The deadly bombs went off and killed innocent people over a month ago. And the Bombay police is still roping in the dark. Some people have been arrested and the police is claiming that they were the ones who masterminded the latest terror attack in Mumbai. From the briefings the police have been giving after every arrest, anybody can guess that they themselves are not sure of what they are saying. The fact is that they have found no clue about who is behind, and who carried out, the latest outrage.
The way the police targeted the Muslim community has been protested against by the Muslim leaders, the Samajwadi Party and the Left Front. In a recent address to the Chief Ministers Conference the P.M. also warned against the dangers of blaming and targetting the whole community for the crimes of a few. This is the least one expected from him. However, the best thing would have been to ask the Chief Ministers to punish the guilty officers and police personnel and ensure that such a policy would not be pursued in future which the PM himself has called ‘dangerous’.
The PM seemed to suggest that the targetting of Muslim community and specially the police atrocities against the innocent Muslims would drive many more to terrorism. His analysis of the whole incident is lopsided and therefore his conclusion, too, is erroneous. He has pondered over one aspect of the incident only. That the police’s blanket targetting will have dangerous consequences for the country. The PM, in fact, should also have touched on why the police behaved in such a manner which, he thinks, is dangerous. The fact is that the police, officers included, seem to have been influenced by the false propaganda that only a Muslim can be terrorist or only he has reasons to indulge in terrorism. This is the reason that whenever such untoward incidents take place, the police immediately rushes to Muslim homes and localities looking for the culprits. In the wake of recent Mumbai blasts the Muslims are baffled, and indeed many have openly spoken, why the needle of suspicion always points towards the Muslims?
This is no ordinary question; it is serious and merits serious attention. The whole world knows what the Sangh Parivar thinks about the Muslim community. In their view the Muslim is either anti-national or not patriotic enough and, therefore, he is the natural suspect in all terror attacks. But such blatantly biased and poisonous views should not be allowed to influence the rank and file of the police. Unfortunately the state is failing in this regard, atleast in some parts of the country. It does not require the ken of a prophet to forecast what will happen to the country if the minds of police officers and personnel get poisoned by the Sangh Parivar’s fallacious and dangerous anti-Muslim propaganda.
The Constitution of India has envisioned an India in which all citizens, Hindus, Muslims and others will be provided with opportunities of equal progress and development. However, today every one agrees that the Muslims have fallen behind. It is now just of academic interest if Muslims have become backward because of their own omissions and commissions or due to overwhelming discrimination against them. The fact is that they are backward and marginalised today.
Alongwith marginality there is another fact which must be taken note of. A good number of Muslims, in India and elsewhere have developed, or have been compelled to form, the opinion that they are being targeted, even persecuted by one or another hostile group. It is really dangerous if such a thinking develops in marginalised groups, as it has no other potential except breeding Naxalism and terrorism.
It can be imagined, the problem is not just terrorism per se but also the reasons or factors which breed it. The state has, therefore, not only to tackle terrorism but also it has to root out its causes. If marginality and a sense of being persecuted have either joined hands or have the potential to drive many a Muslim youth to extremism, the solution, then, lies in eradicating these very two reasons. Even if just steps are taken to improve the Muslim conditions, the foreign-sponsored terrorism will begin to cease enlisting local support, if it is true as alleged by the police.
The good thing is that both the Muslim leadership as well as the intelligentsia, however weak they may be, are alive to the great danger facing their community from within and without. They are also making their humble contribution to solve their problems from within and with their own limited resources. But the all-pervasive malaise of marginality can be removed only by the state and therefore it must act, here and now.
[December, 2006]
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