Musalmaan in Crosshairs

Things has come to such a pass that the majority perceives the Muslim as some devil at work

HUMRA QURAISHI

Steady doses of communal poisoning have been getting unleashed finding their way into psyches ever since LK Advani undertook that rath yatra that culminated in the destruction of the Babri Masjid . More dents on psyches and forms , and more doses of communal propaganda unleashed before and after the Gujarat pogrom of 2002.Onslaught has been on at two levels - actual rioting and killings , and then those communal slants and biases in governance , in policing . I see a hopelessly gloomy picture .Sharp divisions brought along rather systematically .It just about suits the fascist and right wing forces at work.

Yes , there are fears and suspicion of the so called 'other'.The majority sees the Musalmaan as some devil at work. For, together with that earlier concocted image of him or her producing like rabbits or tearing off 'gosht’ with alarming frenzy , there are more concoctions along the newly done - up image of the Musalmaan of this country - of his terrorising people and throwing bombs. Of late, I have been hearing people say this and more in so many ways -these musalmaans can kill ,can throw about bombs …these bloody terrorists …all Muslims …only Muslims , only Muslim names ! " .

Till about two years back I had heard similar snide comments in Ahmedabad but now even here , in this capital. But, then , it’s not really surprising because that's how those manning us are going about doing their shoddy job. .For one , even before the 'caught ' someone ( if not killed in some fake 'encounter ' ) is found to be a terrorist there's not just a hood or an Arab head - scarf thrown around his face but he is even paraded as a dreaded terrorist .All this done rather too subtly or even so very directly ! .No ,there are no footnotes attached .Maybe the caught /arrested someone is totally innocent, yet stands framed.

Even before an investigation gets started or even before charges thrown at him he is declared a terrorist. By a police force that today prides itself in getting a "tip off" from the Gujarat police with a track record not really fitting in the democratic fabric. Ask anyone with a secular outlook and he'd know the communal twists the police is so very capable of coming up with … And with that that bunch of Muslim names - Atif , Arif , Rahman , Amin , Sajid echo and re-echo all around …yes ,all around , floating on the television screens and lie splashed on the front pages .

Not to overlook the comments churned by some of those former ministers and bureaucrats ,who find time to sit through those television programmes and come up with nothing better than go about more than hinting that its people from the "other community " who are responsible for these terrorist attacks .Nothing short of rather blatant communal slants and more. In fact , in the last few weeks I have heard former Union Home Secretary K .Padmanabhaiah come up with these nauseating one liners - " all from the other community" and I have also heard former Home Minister ID Swami utter "only Muslim names coming up " . If day and night this sort of propaganda goes on , it’s bound to creep in , its bound to seep into our psyche .The Musalmaan will not only be viewed with hatred and suspicion ,but after each blast the accusing finger will automatically get moving towards some him. Needless to add that then it will lead little probing as ground work along a particular pattern has been well laid out …And with that the Musalmaan will either sit like a second class citizen as he does in states like Gujarat or quite obviously, elements of deep fear and insecurity are bound to creep in .

Surely and rather steadily this trend has been on , being going on right from the early 90s .And now its reached much beyond ….So much so ,that it’s about time the Human Resource Development Ministry or the Minorities Ministry ought to interfere and put a stop to this sort of blatant labeling . Didn't many politicians cry hoarse in the Arushi Talwar murder case , along the strain that its unethical and grossly unfair to throw about accusations before the caught person is convicted.But here , in these recent cases the situation gets compounded and complex because of the communal twists getting churned every other day .Situation is grave .It’s serious because the very secular fabric lies twisted and turned about , in some hopeless manner. And the offshoots would be dangerous to contain .

Apologies for once again dragging in the tragic Arushi Talwar murder case but just ponder on the offshoots the case could have gone through and subjected to if the Talwars were separated, divorced or were Bangladeshis, Nepalese or Afghans here .But why drag yourself all that way? What if they were Kashmiris from the Valley or from the Northeast? New dimensions could have been worked upon! And quite simply gulped down so very readily by all of us , because of the popular perceptions in vogue , because the communal twists and slanted notions are bound to have an effect on the naïve us …

The very mindset is getting so very systematically tuned to think along the pattern that bomb blasts can only be done by men from a particular minority community .And with that in the foreground or background it’s rather convenient to ' catch ' hold of people on this basis or kill them in those called encounters .And whilst you catch hold of these , the actual culprits could be sitting atop high chairs or be planning the next round on how to go about bringing divisions and more along the strain …making further inwards , further destroying the very fabric of this land.

And those of you who want to experiment on how it feels to be in a that or this category go about in a burqa and if you are a man then don a sherwani and put on a beard .Grow one. Or borrow one from any of the rightwing men who are said to be using camouflaging tactic! Just last fortnight I heard two very prominent citizens of this country recount some of those startling facts in this manner .

At a meet at New Delhi's Constitution Club , Pune-based Justice BG Kolse Patil remarked that security agencies overlook the role played by Sangh outfits .He brought to light that " beards , skull caps and other disguise motifs have been unearthed in RSS workers ' homes ! For what! Or those karkhanas getting unearthed …karkhanas for making of bombs ! " In fact , at this same meet ,a former DGP Gujarat RB Sreekumar , told a packed audience that during the 2002 pogrom , Sangh outfits in Gujarat would chant slogans ' yeh andar kee baat hai , police hamare saath hai !' " Imagine , it’s the same Gujarat police which is busy directing the police in other states. And last week, activists Ram Puniyani and Shabnam Hashmi have drawn up this list where Sangh outfits were found to be making bombs and more.

I quote Ram and Shabnam: " …While the current investigation is totally focused on SIMI, many alleged culprits have been put behind the bars, despite which now some unknown entity Indian Mujahideen seems to have been projected as being responsible for the current ones. At the same time another stark truth is being deliberately sidelined and undermined. And that relates to the blasts carried out by Bajrang Dal and Hindu Jagran Samiti. We fail to understand as to why the investigation authorities are turning a blind eye to some of the well established facts…"

The list has the names of places where Sangh outfits were caught making bombs - Nanded, Vashi, Panvel and Ratnagiri in Maharashtra , Tamil Nadu's Tenkasi , Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur, …the list is long but , then , it seems rather baffling why these terrorists are not paraded as terrorists! Along with those terrorists who are terrorising the entire Christian population! Why these double standards ! Why this unjust and unfair system of governance?

This does not account for the double standards at work, at the very level of governance. At the very basics of governance ! There are so many unanswered 'Whys'. Why doesn't the percentage of Muslims and Christians in the police force and in the IB and CID match their population ratio? Why is the percentage of the jailed Muslims more than their percentage in the population? Why do we pass verdicts from our air-conditioned dens? Why do we brand and generalise along religious lines? Why aren't all those in the rightwing outfits terrorising the Christians , branded as terrorists and paraded right here? Why can't they be booked for treason and terrorism? Why is today's establishment unaffected by this steady degeneration our society is going through? Where's our investigative journalism? Where's our sensitivity? Where's our non-partisan attitude? Where's our basic sense to realise where we are headed? Is there disaster awaiting us?