New Delhi: Indian
Muslims have realised their political power as they have gradually
understood the value of tactical voting, Jamia Milia Islama Vice
Chancellor Najeeb Jung said Tuesday. He also praised the
opposition by the Darul Uloom seminary at Deoband to British rule
in India
"The Muslims themselves have realized their political power. In
almost one-third of seats in the lower house of Parliament, Muslim
vote can make the difference between winning and losing. The
Muslims have gradually understood the value of tactical voting,"
he said while delivering a lecture on 'Evolution of Muslims in
India' under Prof Mohd. Mujeeb Memorial Lecture 2012, organized by
the university's Dr. Zakir Husain Institute of Islamic Studies.
He also expressed satisfaction that the Indian government was
making the right noises about the standard of Muslims in the
country and the committees appointed by the government were
suggesting means to address their weak condition.
"The seminary staunchly opposed British rule and was a symbol of
Muslim opposition to the British. It stood tooth and nail with the
Indian nationalists," Jung noted
During the lecture, Jung dealt with issues like who are Indian
Muslims? At what point in the last 1,000 years did India's Muslims
become a minority? Did they perceive themselves as a minority
throughout history in India or did this change come about through
time and circumstances?
"The times of Muslim rule are best reflected by writings of poets
of the time rather than historians themselves," he said.
Drawing upon the poets Amir Khusrau, Mirza Ghalib, Akbar
Allahabadi and Mohammad Iqbal to depict the Muslim thought process
and how there was a shift from Khusrau's times of Nuh Sipahr, when
Muslims enjoyed India, fought for it and died for it during the
repeated Mongol invasions; to the times of Ghalib, when there was
a sense of loss at the end of an age after 1857; to Akbar
Allahabadi, when there was the drifting apart of Hindus and
Muslims after the Khilafat Movement; to the final phase of Muslim
evolution before partition, as represented by Iqbal.
Citing the reasons for partition, Jung said: "The reasons vary
from a feeling of insecurity among Muslims, an inability to
comprehend how they would reconcile to a 'Hindu' India and threats
from the Muslim League were adequate to turn the tide opposing
Parturition."
Jung quoted the famous speech of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad at Jama
Masjid on October 28, 1947, to highlight the fact that though
Muslims had won a homeland, they had got nothing: "When the bitter
political games of the last seven years were at peak, I tried to
wake you at every danger signal. You not only ignored my call but
revived all the past traditions of neglect and denial."
Recalling the difficulties that the Muslims who were left behind
had to face, Jung took the gathering through post-Independence
history - the staunch secular attitude of Jawaharlal Nehru in the
face of the rightist leanings of his colleagues, the rise of Hindu
fundamentalism and the violence following the Babri Masjid
demolition, the Mumbai blasts and the Gujarat carnage.
"The last eight years have by all standards been pretty normal in
terms of Muslim attitude towards India. Despite a spate of jehadi
attacks in various parts of India and attempts to disturb peace,
there has been relative calm," he added/
In his remarks, veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar, who presided,
said that India has managed diversity of faiths so well because of
a sense of accommodation, but that is lessening today and "we are
not tolerating much today".
He reminded the Muslim community that "you are as much an Indian,
as much a part of this country. The constitution gives you all
rights. Ask for your rights. Everyone should join the mainstream
that is India."
An urdu translation of English writings of Najeeb Jung, titled
Fikr-o-Aaghai (Thoughts and Vision), edited and compiled by
Akhtarul Wasey, director of the Dr. Zakir Husain Institute of
Islamic Studies and published by Maktaba Jamia, was also released
by Kuldip Nayar.
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