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Every time I despair of the land of
the myriad hues and contradictions that is India, every time its
many heroes give me fresh hope. And every time I stick out my neck
to share the insecurities and concerns of my tribe and other
dispossessed, I receive loads of fan mail most of which cannot be
reproduced in these columns. Clearly, the Net is full of all sorts
of fish. The comforting anonymity of cyberspace removes all
inhibitions revealing our true colours.
But there are also those out there who never cease to amaze you
with their generosity of spirit and ability to feel others’ pain.
One such blessed soul is my friend Shashank Sharma, who heads a
multinational IT giant. (I hope he will forgive this impudence to
name him).
I have often found myself overwhelmed by his humanity and
unqualified support in the face of my rants. More than a feedback,
his mails are often the healing touch and empathy that
emotionally-scarred souls crave and need. A kind word here and an
understanding nod there may not cost much but they go a long way
in healing wounds and winning hearts and minds.
Shashank isn’t an isolated exception. There are many like him out
there. Some of the fiercest voices raised in defence of Muslims
happen to be those of Hindus or non-Muslims. From Teesta Setalvad,
Mukul Sinha, Harsh Mander, Rahul Sharma, RB Sreekumar, Sanjiv
Bhatt and Ashish Khetan--all of them associated with the fight for
justice in Gujarat--to Justices Hospet Suresh and Rajinder Sachar,
Arundhati Roy, Amaresh Mishra, Prof Haragopal, Dr Manisha Sethi,
Tarun Tejpal, Jyoti Punwani, Ram Punyani and many others, the list
is endless.
If there’s still hope for our world and India notwithstanding its
million mutinies and extreme incongruities, it’s because of these
kindred spirits. All of us stick up and bat for ourselves. It
takes real courage and selflessness to stand up and speak up for
others. It’s all the more audacious to do so when the wind is
blowing in the opposite direction. Swimming against the tide is
never easy.
Press Council Chairman Justice Markandey Katju stood up this week
to once again speak for a voiceless minority, turning on the media
for its perpetual witch hunt of Muslims. Addressing a symposium in
Hyderabad moderated by The Hindu’s Editor Siddharth Varadarajan,
Katju tore into media for demonising the Muslims and deepening a
sense of injustice and alienation in the community: “Whenever a
bomb goes off, TV channels start blaming Indian Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Mohammed
or some Muslim name based on an email or SMS. An email or SMS can
be sent by any mischievous person. The certain message you are
sending is that all Muslims are terrorists and they have nothing
to do except to throw bombs.”
Katju sees injustice, discrimination and poverty as the main
causes of terrorism: “There’s discrimination against minorities in
India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. This would give rise to injustice
and, therefore, to terrorism.”
Not surprisingly, Katju’s plain-speaking has elicited nothing but
derision and rolling up of editorial eyes. But the former Supreme
Court judge, known for his brilliant speeches and inconvenient
candour in and outside the court, has earned himself immense
gratitude and silent prayers of millions, especially those
condemned to waste their lives for years and decades in detention
or under a cloud of suspicion.
Thousands of Muslims are estimated to be languishing in prisons
across the country implicated in manufactured cases or as terror
suspects. Even when some of them are fortunate enough to be freed,
their lives and careers are wrecked beyond hope, as Deccan Herald
reporter Siddiqui and DRDO scientist Mirza are beginning to
realise. The stigma stays with you forever.
This week, Rizwan Baig, a witness in the 2012 Pune blasts case,
put an end to the continuing police persecution by ending his
life. Another case from Pune is that of Dr Anwar Ali. Once a
distinguished professor at the National Defence Academy, he now
sells books by the wayside following his release on bail after
eight years of incarceration in the 2003 Mumbai blasts case.
The strange case of Mohammed Amir, picked up from Delhi when he
was 18 and shunted for 14 years across various jail before being
released last year without an explanation, has made it to several
international publications. These are cases that have come to
light thanks to some conscientious journalists and rights
activists. Everyone isn’t as lucky.
Although many governments have changed in Delhi in the past two
decades, little has changed for the Muslims. “Innocent youths are
subjected to illegal arrests, fake encounters, fabrication of
evidence and media trial in the same manner as was the routine
under draconian laws like TADA and the POTA,” says Dr Manzoor Alam
of the Milli Council which recently hosted a national convention
on the issue in Delhi.
Manisha Sethi, chairperson of Jamia Teachers Solidarity
Association, says the costs of malicious prosecution and long
incarceration, let alone the financial, social and psychological
costs, are simply staggering.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde
have talked of fast-track courts to deal with the piling numbers
of Muslim detainees after the issue was raised in parliament by
some lawmakers.
It’s a welcome proposal although its timing is interesting. But
how about doing something to check the illegal detention and
victimisation of innocents in the first place? How do you deal
with the mindset that puts a whole community in the dock? Former
inspector general of police S R Darapuri, who runs NGO Rihai Manch
against illegal detentions, sees the increasing communalisation of
the police force as the root cause of the problem.
“They routinely arrest Muslim youths, often without any
preliminary investigation. Even courts are biased as is often
reflected in the routine rejection of bail applications of Muslim
detainees," he told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle this week.
Rights activist Subhash Gatade agrees: “The rot runs deep. A large
part of the judiciary, media as well as polity, suffers from this
bias.”
Journalism veteran and peacenik Kuldip Nayar is worried about the
growing communalism and increasing distance between Hindus and
Muslims. “They have no social contact with one another,” writes
Nayar in his latest column. “The madness which I saw before
Partition is just below the surface now. The spirit of
accommodation is drying up.”
Calling for punishing those threatening the secular foundations of
the country, he says: “The destructors of the Babri Masjid are yet
to be punished. Modi hasn’t been touched for the killing of 3000
Muslims. Instead, he is elevated in the party. I have this
uncomfortable feeling communalism is getting legitimacy. More and
more people are turning fanatic. Even the police and security
forces have not escaped contamination. Little do they realise that
democracy has no meaning without pluralism. Hatred and bias have
to be eliminated from the body-politic, if democracy has to
survive.”
Is anyone paying attention to these solitary voices of sanity? Or
will they once again prove the voices in the wilderness?
Aijaz Zaka Syed is a commentator on the Middle East and South
Asian affairs. Email: aijaz.syed@hotmail.com
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