A BJP - Muslim entente cordiale?

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/a-bjpmuslim-entente-cordiale/article5767480.ece

Formation of BJP was on the side line split in Janata party which was the first party to rule India other than congress. BJP has its roots in the Bhartiya Jana Sangh founded in 1951 by Shyama Prasad Mukherjee. Formation of BJS was for countering the secularist congress policies. He split from congress after the 1950 Delhi Pact between Nehru and Pakistani counterpart LiaqatAli khan. This pact was for the minority community to create atmosphere of communal peace and resolve issues between the two countries and equal citizenship for minorities. Dr. Mukherjee was of the view that solely Pakistan was responsible for millions of Hindu refugees from East Pakistan.

After consulting Gowalkar of RSS he founded BJS. It was considered as political arm of RSS and of Hindu Nationalism. It was vehemently against the appeasement of Muslims. BJS’s core issues were Uniform civil code concerning both the communities, banning of cow slaughter and ending of special status to state of Jammu and Kashmir. However he died in the jails of Kashmir.

BJP was formed in 1980, led by Vajpayee on the ideology of hard line Hindutva and Hindu fundamentalism. In 1984 L K Adwani became president of party and BJP became political voice of Ram Janam Bhoomi movement which led to demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992. Later in 2002, Godhra incident caused death of thousands and displacement of lacs, mostly Muslims. These riots brought the beginning of ghettoization of Muslim community, Increase in ghetto living has also shown a strengthening of social stereotyping due to lack of cross-cultural interaction, and reduction in economic and educational opportunities at large.

Right from the beginning BJP and its parent party BJS were against Muslim community. The Muslims were often scrutinized and suspected of being either Pakistani supporters or Pakistanis themselves. Such treatment led to a deep rooted terror in the members of the community, who were still unsure of their fate. Right from the beginning, they were alienated from joining main stream society. Most of the people in this community lived together confined in small places. Be it education, jobs, govt offices, police everywhere the atmosphere is anti-Muslim. After every terrorist attack, many people are taken into custody for interrogation just based on their religion. Muslims have been loyal to secular parties merely out of their fear of Hindu nationalists.

For the generations to come, this inequality between the communities will flourish as political parties are using them in their favour to get votes and majority in the parliament. In 2004 NDA govt lost due to the so called secular parties coming together against the communal party. In all this politics, the ultimate loser turned out to be the ‘common Muslim ‘ whose social, political and economic  development is of foremost concern and had been put literally at stake for electoral gains. Take any criteria and Muslim population comes at bottom of almost everyone. Sachar committee report that came out in 2006 shows:

·         Illiteracy of community is much below the national average. 25%of children in the age group of 6-14 have never attended schools

·         The access to Muslim parents to govt school is limited

·         Participation of Muslims in non oraganised working sector is large e.g. bidi workers tailors and other mechanics.

·         Availability of bank loans to community is far less.

·         The presence of Muslims has been found to be only 3% in the IAS, 1.8% in the IFS and 4% in the IPS.

·         Muslim community has a representation of only 4.5% in Indian Railways while 98.7% of them are positioned at lower levels. Representation of Muslims is very low in the Universities and in Banks. Their share in police constables is only 6%, in health 4.4%, in transport 6.5%.

Through this report one can easily understand the condition of Muslims in our society. There is long gulf between the two communities and it needs to be taken care of for effective inclusive development of the nation.