Why Muslims should negotiate with BJP
Friday May 03, 2013 10:14:06 PM,
Syed Ubaidur Rahman,
IANS
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Indian Muslims’ antipathy towards
the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is known. The party hasn’t
thought much about Muslims in term of being equal citizens.
Instead it has worked tirelessly to antagonise a community that
comprises more than 15 percent of the Indian population.
It has raised demands for Muslims to abandon their places of
worship, tried to provoke riots and in many cases failed to act
while a state burned and burned. But Muslims too have to share the
blame for antagonising the BJP, by never showing an inclination
towards thinking it as an option.
In recent months, many BJP leaders have said conciliatory words
towards the second largest religious community in India by
promising to give minority status to the Aligarh Muslim University
and higher development funds for the community besides other usual
slogans of development. But so far Muslims haven’t spoken a single
word on BJP or their strategy about the general elections due in
2014 that may take place this year.
Syed Shahabuddin was silenced by the Muslim clergy that loves to
live in the past when he said that Muslims should seek apology
from Narendra Modi for Gujarat 2002 riots and give him some basic
demands to fulfill to show his sincerity. It would have been a
litmus test for BJP’s perceived prime ministerial candidate. But
the so-called Muslim leaders pounced on a defenceless
septuagenarian Shahabuddin and forced him into silence.
The Jamiat Ulama that held some sway on Muslim votes in West
Bengal, Assam and western Uttar Pradesh besides pockets in
Maharashtra seems fragmented in a leadership fight between Mahmood
Madani and Arshad Madani. They used to enjoy some bargaining power
vis-a-vis the Congress but have lost the clout due to infighting.
The less said about others, the better. Muslim leadership is
non-existent in our country, and the Muslim community is looking
rudderless, unable to find a leader who can guide it in such
trying times.
The best course for Muslims would have been to talk to the BJP,
despite its communal past and its role in the Babri Masjid
demolition. Moshe Dayan, one of the brightest generals of Israel,
once said: “If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your
friends. You talk to your enemies”.
Muslims must talk to the BJP. Given the pathetic condition of the
Congress and the sort of breakdown of UPA we are witnessing, the
BJP can come to power at the centre. And the man who Muslim
leaders even refuse to acknowledge can manage to become the prime
minister.
The next general elections are slated to be held next year. But as
Sharad Pawar and other UPA leaders have made it clear, the
elections may be held even earlier. Muslims should devise a
strategy to negotiate with the BJP and talk to it on mutual issues
of interest. Muslims should be diplomatic. Indian Muslims need to
talk and not to become vote bank and hostage to one party’s
hegemony in the country.
Syed Ubaidur Rahman is the author of "Understanding the Muslim
Leadership in India" and editor of NVONews.Com. The views
expressed are personal. He can be reached at syedurahman@gmail.com
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