From: "Ghulam Muhammed" <>
Date: Mon May 28, 2007 9:49 am
ABOUT BJP- MUSLIM RELATIONSHIP ...
http://www.indianexpress.com/sunday/story/31986.html
Monday, May 28, 2007
A LETTER TO THE EDITOR: ABOUT BJP- MUSLIM RELATIONSHIP
This refers to your article: 'How to transform BJP-Muslim relationship' published in The Indian Express (May 27, 2007).
One would think, Mr. [Sudheendra] Kulkarni, the opportunist who had jumped on to the BJP bandwagon from his Marxist perch, is on a wild goose chase, if he thinks that BJP and Indian Muslim can ever be on the same page. The fault lines are too deep.
The more relevant question could be how a working Hindu-Muslim reconciliation can be promoted in the wake of a Mayawati victory and a parallel dissemination of the BJP's dreams to win a victory on its own. The more RSS/BJP hold on to their 'Hindu Rashtra' obsession, the less they can ever carry the day on their own. And many are convinced that those who harbour such a minority dream of ruling a democratic Indian state on the basis of an exclusive ideology have not fully grasped the very essence of the ethos of India that thrives on diversities and pluralities. RSS and BJP with a long history of their combined struggle to fashion India into their own private image of Brahmin supremacy on religious lines, are too deeply identified with their exclusivitism to be ever trusted by Muslims on a mass scale.
Even though Indian National Congress did carry Hindu Brahmin leaders who nurtured a secret dream of carving an India, without their Muslim compatriots, to avoid in any way sharing power with them at any level of governance, they were clever enough to hide their secret aspirations, no doubt, waiting for better and more suitable time to stage a come out. Even their tame acceptation of the partitioning of India, however camouflaged as forced on them by the British, was in essence a major first step to achieve monopoly power, with the virtual exclusion of Indian Muslims. Muslim had dominance in armed services, police and intelligence agencies. Congress Brahmins could have never have succeeded in imposing their monopoly agenda, without throwing out their rivals.
It is only when they lost their cool and let RSS railroad an insecure Congress Prime Minister, P. V. Narasimha Rao, surrounded by short-sighted opportunists, like S. B. Chavan, Arjun Singh, Sharad Pawar among others, to demolish the Babri Masjid through a combination of professional demolition experts and a horde of rabble rousers, posing as Kar Sevaks, that the traditional Muslim vote bank finally realized the basic perfidy of Congress politics. Congress now even after 15 years, has not been able to win back Muslim vote bank. It was all very open, when Muslims of Uttar Pradesh, ignored Rahul Gandhi's mocking remarks over Babri and divided their votes between the two prominent lower caste leadership formations --- Mayawati and Mulayam.
Without any leadership, without any public endorsements, without any support wave, Muslims only articulated their abject hatred of the two main Brahminical parties, who had dominated the political space during the last 60 years and who were the main architect of their monumental dispersion. Muslims in India appear to have found alternative partners and they will gravitate away from both, the BJP and even the Congress. In such situation, Sudheendra Kulkarni's sincere efforts to find a solution to the apparent disenchantment between Muslims and BJP, borders on sheer wishful thinking if not outright self-delusion.
Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai
Date: Mon May 28, 2007 9:49 am
ABOUT BJP- MUSLIM RELATIONSHIP ...
http://www.indianexpress.com/sunday/story/31986.html
Monday, May 28, 2007
A LETTER TO THE EDITOR: ABOUT BJP- MUSLIM RELATIONSHIP
This refers to your article: 'How to transform BJP-Muslim relationship' published in The Indian Express (May 27, 2007).
One would think, Mr. [Sudheendra] Kulkarni, the opportunist who had jumped on to the BJP bandwagon from his Marxist perch, is on a wild goose chase, if he thinks that BJP and Indian Muslim can ever be on the same page. The fault lines are too deep.
The more relevant question could be how a working Hindu-Muslim reconciliation can be promoted in the wake of a Mayawati victory and a parallel dissemination of the BJP's dreams to win a victory on its own. The more RSS/BJP hold on to their 'Hindu Rashtra' obsession, the less they can ever carry the day on their own. And many are convinced that those who harbour such a minority dream of ruling a democratic Indian state on the basis of an exclusive ideology have not fully grasped the very essence of the ethos of India that thrives on diversities and pluralities. RSS and BJP with a long history of their combined struggle to fashion India into their own private image of Brahmin supremacy on religious lines, are too deeply identified with their exclusivitism to be ever trusted by Muslims on a mass scale.
Even though Indian National Congress did carry Hindu Brahmin leaders who nurtured a secret dream of carving an India, without their Muslim compatriots, to avoid in any way sharing power with them at any level of governance, they were clever enough to hide their secret aspirations, no doubt, waiting for better and more suitable time to stage a come out. Even their tame acceptation of the partitioning of India, however camouflaged as forced on them by the British, was in essence a major first step to achieve monopoly power, with the virtual exclusion of Indian Muslims. Muslim had dominance in armed services, police and intelligence agencies. Congress Brahmins could have never have succeeded in imposing their monopoly agenda, without throwing out their rivals.
It is only when they lost their cool and let RSS railroad an insecure Congress Prime Minister, P. V. Narasimha Rao, surrounded by short-sighted opportunists, like S. B. Chavan, Arjun Singh, Sharad Pawar among others, to demolish the Babri Masjid through a combination of professional demolition experts and a horde of rabble rousers, posing as Kar Sevaks, that the traditional Muslim vote bank finally realized the basic perfidy of Congress politics. Congress now even after 15 years, has not been able to win back Muslim vote bank. It was all very open, when Muslims of Uttar Pradesh, ignored Rahul Gandhi's mocking remarks over Babri and divided their votes between the two prominent lower caste leadership formations --- Mayawati and Mulayam.
Without any leadership, without any public endorsements, without any support wave, Muslims only articulated their abject hatred of the two main Brahminical parties, who had dominated the political space during the last 60 years and who were the main architect of their monumental dispersion. Muslims in India appear to have found alternative partners and they will gravitate away from both, the BJP and even the Congress. In such situation, Sudheendra Kulkarni's sincere efforts to find a solution to the apparent disenchantment between Muslims and BJP, borders on sheer wishful thinking if not outright self-delusion.
Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai
