Pseudo-Secularism

Hindu dharma is implicitly at odds with monotheistic intolerance. What is happening in India is a new historical awakening... Indian intellectuals, who want to be secure in their liberal beliefs, may not understand what is going on. But every other Indian knows precisely what is happening: deep down he knows that a larger response is emerging even if at times this response appears in his eyes to be threatening.

Monday, March 27, 2006

Yet another partition?

Rai Singh

Going down memory lane, I recall Muslim League youth in Lahore shouting their heads off with the slogan, "Lad ke liya Pakistan, hans ke lenge Hindustan" (We fought for Pakistan, but India we will conquer with a smile). This slogan was popular during 1946-48 not only in Lahore but in various cities and towns of India as well.

The Muslim Leaque was the political organisation behind the mobilisation and Mohammad Ali Jinnah was its leader. Of course, Chaudhary Rehmat Ali was the Cambridge scholar who coined the word 'Pakistan', but it was Jinnah who gave it a tangible shape. No doubt the contributions made by Sir Sikander Hayat Khan, Shaukat Hayat Khan, Sadullah and Suhrawardy and many other Muslims cannot be denied either in the building of Pakistan. This was what the Muslims of India had then contributed, but at present it is the non-Muslims - especially the Hindus and Sikhs - who are contributing towards yet another partition of India, although the Minister for Minority Affairs is none other than the old Congressman Abdul Rehman Antulay.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has begun the process by appointing Justice Rajinder Sachar as the head of the Committee on the Social, Economic and Educational status of Muslims of India. One presumes, Mr Singh is equally aware of the deplorable conditions of other communitites too, but I cannot understand why he, or at whose instance he has earmarked the Muslim community alone for special consideration. On the face of it, this is an obvious communal approach that is against all canons of fair play and justice. What is the motive behind it? The obvious conclusion is that India is being prepared for another partition, much worse than the one in 1947.

The committee, headed by retired Justice Sachar, is in the eye of a raging storm over its attempt to gather information about the number and ranks of Muslims in the defence forces by writing directly to the service chiefs.

As Mr Kanchan Gupta's article, "Muslim quota 'a must' in all jobs, schools (February 26) shows Muslims have also petitioned the Sachar Committee to recommend that "affirmative action should be taken for binding the representation of Muslims in the police force at par with their population in every State". In other words, they have demanded proportionate representation in the police through the quota route.

The committee has also listed the demand that "there should be minority cells in the UPSC, AICT, CBSE, IITs, etc". Elsewhere, it says, "Reservation (for Muslims) in jobs and educational institutions is a must... Clear instruction should be given by the Governments to the Public Service Commissions and all others. Rules of Procedure should not preempt the policy of reservation given to Muslims."

The note lists several demands for proportionate representation of Muslims in politics through either reservation or nominations: "Muslims should be nominated, like Anglo-Indians, to Parliament, Assemblies and municipal bodies, wherever their representation falls short of their population percentage. Autonomous councils should have Muslim nominees."

The demand for proportionate representation reminds one of the pre-Partition claim put forward by Agha Khan and Jinnah. It also reminds the great danger to the polity of India inherent in the new plan for another Partition of the country. Should India continue to suffer one tragedy after another even after conceding to the formation of Pakistan?

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