DR. S. AUSAF SAIED VASFI underlines what the Muslims of India expect from the new government of Dr. Manmohan Singh.
What are the expectations of Indian Muslims from the new political dispensation? As they happen to be the principal minority of plural Bharat, the question is relevant. It is all the more pertinent because Muslims harbour valid grievances and have been trying to get their proper space in the multi-cultural set-up.
By the time these lines appear in print the new Congress-led secular (non-Left) dispensation would have come into existence. Before focusing our attention on the question, it seems advisable to take stock of the situation. This stock-taking is all the more necessary to understand the why and what of the NDA, nay the BJP, decimation, and the UPA, nay the Congress, success in the elections. Therein lies the key to the 2009 electoral verdict and alleviation of Muslim grievances.
SEEDS OF SUCCESS
In one word, had the Congress leadership not acted with restraint, sagacity and wisdom – to be brief – after the ill-conceived naked attack of Pakistan on Mumbai in November 2008, the electoral results would not have been what we see today. Despite sustained pressure and provocation, the Manmohan Singh administration admirably refused to give in to “baser instincts”. New Delhi through ace diplomacy, at the world capitals, forced Islamabad to stand in the dock. The United States, understandably, showed extraordinary interest in fixing the “rogue” and “failed” State. The latest American effort to keep the Pakistani nuclear assets in its protective custody happens to be a corollary of Indian apprehensions to that effect.
POMPOUS ACTION
Had the BJP been in power in New Delhi, they would have pompously launched a full-fledged counter offensive against Pakistan. And the world would not have taken that serious notice of the attack as it would have been just a retaliatory step – and won the 2009 elections with a thumping majority. The Congress had mildly sown the seeds of its success in this election just after the Pakistan misadventure, six months ago.
ABSOLUTE MAJORITY
Nobody, including the Congress leaders, was expecting Congress victory of this magnitude. The Congress president, it is alleged, was not hoping more than 150 seats. Her Political Adviser, Mr. Ahmad Patel expected 170-180. No forward person hoped even 200. But the results showed the Congress, along with other constituents of the UPA, has near absolute majority and need not depend upon the allies, ever-anxious for the Shylockian pound of flesh. Its main rival, the BJP has to remain content with just 116. To quote Mr. Manmohan Singh, “The people of India have spoken and spoken with clarity.”
DIMENSIONS OF CLARITY
There are several dimensions of this clarity. The first dimension is: Hinduism has rejected Hindutva. All the Saffron outfits, be it the RSS or the BJP, Shiv Sena or VHP, their multi-layered leadership stoutly stood for Hindutva, although the vague but surely intolerant and aggressive doctrine meant various things to various people, including a judge of the Supreme Court. All those who voted not only to the Congress but also to other non-Saffron parties appear to have decisively given a short shrift to the ideology that stands for divisiveness of the plural polity. They, it looks, have discovered the wedge that it drives between man and man and the community and community.
The voter has given the impression that he stands for egalitarian India and not for a narrow-minded Bharat. Those who enacted genocide; those who justified carnages, those who protected rapists and plunderers have all been flattened. No person or party, responsible for mayhem deserves to be entrusted with the task of leadership. Their popular rejection retells their unpopular story.
SAFFRON IQ
It will not be inappropriate here to have a word about the IQ of the Saffron. They thought it would be a good idea to float the name of Mr. Narendra Modi for the post of the Prime Minister. Later on they said that he would be leader of the ruling party in 2011. While building and rebuilding a thesis in favour of the Nero, his admirers simply forgot that the Supreme Court is relentlessly pursuing him. Does the Saffron think that the electorate would choose or have chosen him even amidst this hot pursuit of judiciary? What goes without saying is the BJP lost wherever Modi went. He was not allowed in Bihar and the BJP showing there is not that bad.
The electorate has also shown its importance even with the likes of Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav who, for petty electoral reasons, shook hands with the architects of anarchy like Mr. Kalyan Singh. Now all these elements are in search of patrons.
The electoral verdict for 2009 underscores the importance of decay in public life. Mr. L.K. Advani personally paid for the “invectives” he frequently used for Mr. Manmohan Singh. Not only the Prime Minister felt hurt, those too felt hurt who do not happen to be his admirers. The Opposition leader, the so-called “Loh Purush” or “Iron Man” would call him a “Nikamma”. Is it permissible parliamentary language? This language is an affront to decency.
VERDICT FOR DEVELOPMENT
The verdict underlines the importance of development, as we see in the case of Mr. Nitish Kumar in Bihar and Ms Shiela Dixit in Delhi.
Ms Mayawati, the BSP supremo too has a lesson to learn from the verdict. Narcissism is bad in itself. No use (mis)-using public spaces for the grandiose statues. Then reading conspiracies is out of season and loudly aspiring for Prime Ministerial gaddi is neither healthy politics nor a decent habit. On the contrary, do whatever is possible for those standing on the margins of our society and win their hearts.
THE LEFT DECIMATED
So happens to be the case with our Left, consisting of the self-pleased and self-centred and arrogant. Mr. Prakash Karat now deserves to be shown the door. Battered Kerala and West Bengal are not what they were before the poll. Tripura is the only consolation for the Left.
Before coming to the crass talks, let us remind the suave, soft-spoken Prime Minister that the fresh verdict is not for “continuity” but for “freshness” and imaginative initiatives.
INTELLIGENCE REFORM
Besides economic reforms, the police reforms and judicial reforms are long overdue. Now has to be added reforms in our Intelligence apparatus so that the careers of educated young boys of the minorities are not destroyed just because of the whims of some less-than-responsible or just biased officers. How many budding Muslim careers and households were rocked by these cynics must be there in the files of Union Home Ministry. At the moment we are not speaking about the so-called encounter deaths of Muslim youth. We are bemoaning the careers lost to some investigating agencies. In ultimate analysis, this callousness erodes the confidence in the rule of law.
LAW TO MANDATE PENAL ACTION
Serious thought has also to be given to enact a law that mandates punitive action following the judicial probes by the sitting or retired judges of High Courts or the Supreme Court. Otherwise why the wastage of enormous money on long probes? Is it not a fact that the high-ranking officers found involved in the Mumbai riots are roaming scot-free? So happens to be the case with the probes into the Gujarat riots. It is a serious case and Dr. Manmohan Singh should take it seriously.
IMPLEMENT SACHAR REPORT
At least now a sincere effort should be made to implement the recommendations of the Justice Rajinder Sachar Committee Report. We had been led to believe that in the previous term the Saffron pressure had not allowed the Dr. Manmohan Singh government to implement the recommendations. Now what is the excuse?
The Doctor should remember that by giving him freedom, the electorate has denied him any excuse also.