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[ COMMUNAL MATTERS - INDIA ] Home Grown Terror “India has its home-grown Naxalite violence and communal riots, but home-grown terrorism is something that is still being grappled with. Terrorism has always been perceived to be a foreign import. Something the enemy did, not our own people. But all the accused in the recent series of blasts that shook India, from Hyderabad to Ahmedabad to Delhi, are Indians. And now even those said to be involved in the 2006 Malegoan blasts are Indian. One cannot help but ask: Why?” [ By NITA JATAR KULKARNI ] If one talks about people of the minority community who are being caught for terrorist activities, what keeps coming up is the feeling of alienation that the community feels. “There are people who don’t want to employ Muslims, lease to Muslims, sell to Muslims… what does this all mean? It means that we don’t want to associate with Muslims. This has become worse after the bomb blasts. It’s very demeaning,” says Zeenat Shaukat Ali, professor of Islamic Studies in a Mumbai College. This feeling of being distrusted is disturbing, and some feel that it has been a factor in breeding terrorism. Mohammed Naseem Siddiqui, Chairman of the Maharashtra State Minorities Rights Commission believes that for every action there is a reaction. “If even educated boys have come in touch with terrorism, it could be because they feel they want justice. What about Godhra, what about Babri Masjid? And what about the hostility towards Muslims… statements like go to Pakistan or go to Kabristan.” What is worse in his eyes is that hardly any of the guilty of the Godhra riots and the Babri Masjid demolition have been punished; but after bomb blasts hundreds of Muslims are routinely rounded up, most of them innocent. He doesn’t think that comparing terrorism with the communal riots and with the Babri Masjid demolition is incorrect. “Why can’t you compare these things? It is a question of faith, of hurting Muslim sentiments.” He agrees though that Zeenat Shaukat Ali, professor of Islamic Studies in a Mumbai College, at a cricket match which she had organised for communal harmony. Moulavis and Hindu priests played together. not everyone is driven to rage and violence, but the vulnerable are. BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) politicians do not accept that Muslims are being discriminated against in India. They feel that poverty and lack of education is one of the reasons. “It is not a case of discrimination but a case of introspection,” says Prakash Javadekar, Rajya Sabha MP, referring to the Sachar Committee findings which have shown that the Muslim community lags behind in education (National literacy rate is 64 percent but Muslims literacy rate is 59 percent) as compared to other groups in the country. “Tell me of any case where a Muslim has been denied admission into an educational institution?” But Javadekar adds “Terrorism is not linked to any religion.” Sandeep Khardekar, Vice-President of the BJP’s Pune Unit says, “I do not believe that there is discrimination, at least not in the middle and educated classes. In fact even the BJP is not anti-Muslim. We are just antianti-national elements.” However the feelings of being discriminated against persist, and help 60 THE INTERNATIONAL INDIAN
[ COMMUNAL MATTERS - INDIA ] terrorists brainwash young people by rubbing salt in the wounds. Says Asghar Ali engineer, the Director of Centre for Study of Society and Secularism. “Injustices against Muslims give a handle to terrorists; it is one of the causes.” He also believes that education creates more prejudices. “Uneducated people are far more secular that the educated. Our education system creates more bigotry.” The portrayal of history is one of the reasons cited… a history that is full of the evil deeds of Muslim Kings. Zeenat Shaukat Ali points out that the history books are biased. “Muslims are portrayed as violent and aggressive. Positive things should be highlighted,” she says and there are positive things. She quotes noted historian Romilla Thapar, who has gone on record to say that there is a tendency to highlight the bad deeds of Muslim rulers and play down their good deeds. Even the contribution of Muslims during the Independence movement is not adequately projected rues Engineer. And so the divide deepens, and somewhere sometimes the seeds of violence are planted. Perhaps in school, perhaps at home and perhaps in adulthood, as there is only a superficial interaction between people of different communities. “Ghettoism adds to the feeling of alienation, leads to a lack of understanding of the other,” says Julio Ribeiro, former Commissioner of Police (Mumbai) and former Director General of Police (Punjab). Engineer defends the ghettoism. “It is ideal to live in cosmopolitan areas but community people feel insecure.” Such feelings of insecurity increase after communal riots. No one actually believes that there is a direct link between feelings of discrimination and terrorism. “Not everyone turns to violence, only a minority. There are so many fundamentalist Hindus Zeenat Shaukat Ali at the event but only one of them killed Gandhi. So many women are gang-raped but there is only one Phoolan Devi. But it is still action having a reaction,” says Siddiqui. Considering that all the accused in the Malegoan blasts have turned out to be those from the Hindu community seems to strengthen such a hypothesis. These blasts were allegedly carried out to “avenge” the terrorist attacks in various parts of the country over the past several years. Action and reaction? Has India been good to Muslims? Counter to the argument that Muslims are being discriminated against in India, is the belief of the Hindus who argue that Muslims in India have it good because India’s constitution is a secular one. Siddiqui acknowledges this. “India’s constitution gives equality to all, I would say this is the best country for Muslims in this sense, in fact Muslims here have more freedom that even in Muslim countries.” The Indian Constitution allows Indian Muslims to have their Personal Civil Laws. And this is the point that the major opposition party, the BJP, keeps raising and objecting to. But while Muslim leaders acknowledge that the constitution is a good one, they believe that the reality on the ground is different. Siddiqui points out that the government has failed to protect the minorities and Engineer says, “Any claims of appeasement of Muslims is nonsense. If appeasement was happening Muslims would be more represented everywhere, but they are not getting recruited even if they are educated. Everywhere they are below 3-4 percent, even in the military.” In fact this lack of representation of Muslims in the police forces and in the army is hurtful to Zeenat Shaukat Ali. “As an Indian how would I feel?” Trends from the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) in 1990-2000 and 2004-05 do show that Muslims do face discrimination when it comes to getting jobs… and it is educated Muslims who face the most discrimination. This reiterates Engineer’s point that it is educated people who are prejudiced against Muslims. The difference in the unemployment rate between the two communities is significantly less amongst the less educated. For example 9 percent of Hindus in the rural areas who had studied till school level were unemployed as compared to 14 percent Muslims, a difference of 5 percentage points. In urban areas there was no difference at all, with both communities facing an unemployment rate of 7 percent. However, when it came to educated Muslims the scenario was different. 15 percent of Muslim graduates in rural areas are unemployed as compared to only 7 percent of Hindu graduates. And 10 percent of Muslim graduates in urban areas were unemployed as compared to 5 percent of Hindu graduates. The gap in unemployment rates reduces at post graduate level, but it does exist. six percent THE INTERNATIONAL INDIAN 61
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