Syed Sadatullah Husaini, President (Ameer) Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, is a renowned Islamic scholar, prolific writer and eminent orator. Earlier he was National President of Students Islamic Organisation and Vice President of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind. In a talk with Radiance Viewsweekly, the Jamaat chief delves deep into the prevailing situation in the country vis-à-vis the Idea of India envisaged by the founding fathers of the nation. He says the recent moves have harmed the Idea of India but believes that the conscience of this country is alive enough to make our country a better place to live in and thrive for all its citizens.
How do you take the prevailing situation so far as the Idea of India is concerned?
In my opinion, the idea of India, as envisaged during the Freedom Movement and as articulated in the Constitution of India, has suffered seriously in the last few years. After independence, India as a nation was founded on the universal human values accepted by every civilized nation of the world. Our Constitution guarantees basic human rights, freedom to follow any religion, freedom of conscience, and respect for all religions. These are very basic and fundamental values, without which no country can be called civilized.
After independence, these values received a special place in our Constitution and India as a modern state is founded on these values. It was this agreement that has so far facilitated the peaceful living of different cultures and religions in a multicultural country like India. But unfortunately, in the past few years, the direction in which our country is moving and in which our leaders are taking the nation is against this foundational idea of India. Hence, I feel that in these years they have harmed this idea of India and by extension, they have damaged these basic values on which the modern state of India was established.
The Poet of the East Allama Iqbal sang ‘Sare Jahan se achcha Hindustan Hamara’. Do you think Hamara Hindustan holds this distinction in the comity of nations?
Yes. It does not mean that our country has become so bad that we should become despondent. The direction in which our leaders are taking our country is very dangerous and it will surely damage this distinction, which you mentioned. The misadventures of our rulers notwithstanding, more painful are the moral bankruptcy and impotence of the opposition, which has, by and large miserably failed in discharging its constitutional duty as a responsible opposition. But still, there are many positive aspects of our country.
The way our youth have come forward and fulfilled the vacuum of opposition, is definitely a very powerful ray of hope. The ongoing movement against CAA has proven beyond doubt that people and the citizens of India do not like discrimination and communal divide. When efforts were made to discriminate among the citizens of this country based on religion and efforts were made to make a law by dividing people along religious lines then the citizens of our country stood up and protested.
People of all religions were part of these protests. There is great unrest regarding this in all the cities of India. Of late, we are seeing even the media is changing. So we can say that the conscience of this country is still alive and that it will oppose and resist such discriminatory laws. Thus we hope that we can make our country a better place to live in and thrive for all its citizens. We need not be despondent. We should resist and support those who are opposing these discriminatory laws and want to restore the basic values of our nation.
Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore envisioned India where people post-Independence would be able to hold their ‘head high’. Then why do you think most often we have to sink our heads in shame?
As I said that the main reason is the politics that has been practised in this country. Some people think that their politics will flourish only if they create an atmosphere of hate, divide and polarise the people. Hence, such policies are being adopted and the minds of people are being polluted with the poison of hate through organised efforts. These incidents are the result of those concerted efforts which put us to shame.
But, as I said, the country’s conscience is still alive and this trend can be reversed. And people who value peace and brotherhood must come forward with valour and courage and free themselves from fear and timidity to resist the communal and fascist forces. While you are correct that rulers and their policies are making our heads sink in shame, the way the people particularly our youth have come forward is something that we can definitely be proud of.
What should be the role of Indian citizens, youth and women in particular, in restoring the Idea of India envisioned by the founding fathers of Independent India?
Two things are required. The first immediate requirement is to protest against the wrong initiatives of the communal forces, both from those within the government and outside it. This is our first responsibility. And Alhamdulillah, we are happy to note that our younger generation, the students and youth have taken a lead in this regard. When the young people of a nation wake up, it is a sign of a great change, of a renaissance and a revolution. It is very heartening that the young generation of this country is acting against this polarisation and fascism and has become the symbol of resistance. So the first thing that is required is to oppose and resist this communalism and nobody whether in government or outside it should be allowed to divide and polarise society. This is the immediate task.
The second task is long term and continuous, which is to cleanse our society from the poison of polarisation, communal hatred and fascism. This poison is not only being spread at the political front but has also penetrated in the society. It is now well entrenched at the social level. And that is why a long and sustained effort is needed to clean this poison and create an environment of harmony, dialogue and proximity between different sects and believers of different religions. We must understand each other by interacting directly and by engaging in a dialogue with each other. Islam should be explained by Muslims and not media or some other third party entities that are hostile to Islam and Muslims.
In fact, Muslims themselves should directly introduce Islam and its teachings and explain the stand of Muslims on various issues. So, developing this environment of dialogue and discussion and direct inter-community interaction, to eradicate misunderstanding and hatred is the long-term agenda and need for which the younger generation should become active. This environment of dialogue and engagement is most critically required for the youths as the divisive communal forces are specifically targeting youth. That is why youngsters who believe in peace, brotherhood and fraternity should come forward and accept this challenge. They should campaign for changing the hearts and minds of society.
Almost all Constitutional Institutions as well as the Constitution of India are under threat. What should be the Course of Action for the citizens of India to protect them?
The first requirement is that all the citizens of our country should remain united. They should rise above sectarian, ideological and political differences and develop themselves for organised efforts to protect the Constitution and the constitutional and universal human values unitedly. Before these protests, the biggest tragedy of this country was that the peace-loving and pro-democracy forces were disorganised, silent and not active to change the situation. But Alhamdulillah now this situation is changing. But I think that these efforts need to be more sustained and effective. So, this is the first need that we should be united, organised and active.
The second most important thing is that we must strengthen the institutions to protect our democratic and constitutional values. I have earlier pointed out that this is to be done at the political and social level. First is to resist the wrong policies of the government and second to contact people and try to influence and explain to them that these policies of division and polarisation are not good for the country. We will not be able to keep our country united that respects diversity and multi-culturalism. This should be brought before the people of this country in detail.
The third task is to harness and make the democratic institutions effective and functional which exist to protect our Constitution and ensure that the writ of truth and justice prevails. The role of the judiciary is very important. We should utilise the judicial facilities and instruments by filing petitions, challenging wrong steps taken by the authorities and convince the judiciary to take suitable action and deliver timely justice. Similarly, social media, unlike the steadily declining mainstream media, is in the hands of our youngsters along with alternative media must be used in a full-fledged manner. There are still some instruments and institutions, which can be used to improve society if the pro-peace people and pro-democracy citizens come forward and unite.
We are at the threshold of 2020. Where do you like to see India a decade later, say in 2030?
An atmosphere of peace and security should prevail in the country. Justice is a prerequisite for peace. One cannot imagine peace without justice. Both depend on each other. So, we must try our level best that in the next ten years, every citizen of this country and all sections of society should get justice. This includes social justice which is equal rights, equal opportunities. This includes political justice, economic justice. So justice is the biggest requirement which can keep the nation united and keep it on the path of progress and development. So naturally, we would desire that in the coming decade, there should be efforts in this direction and politics should move in a way such that all sections of society get a feeling that they are getting complete justice.
What is also required for complete justice is that a helping hand should be raised towards the backward and the oppressed classes. Unfortunately in the last few years, this has also received a big setback. SCs, STs, minorities and especially Muslims have not received that helping hand as much as required. It is very clear through various reports that Muslims are the most backward community. They lag others economically and have faced all kinds of injustice. They have faced the brunt of communal disharmony, police and state excesses. Their political representation is extremely poor compared to their population and it has fallen very sharply in the last six years. There are many governments in the state and even the central government, where the representation of Muslims is almost zero.
Similarly, many reports have appeared that the economic status of Dalits, backwards and Muslims is deteriorating steadily. The economic policies adopted by the government in the recent past have resulted in growing inequality. The rich have become richer and the poor have become poorer. This ratio is increasing every year. The amount of wealth held by “the 1% richest Indians” is increasing abnormally and shockingly. So, for peace to prevail, affirmative actions must be taken to eradicate these inequalities and injustices and to elevate the classes which are victims of this injustice. We should reach a situation where everyone becomes equal and there is no discrimination based on class, religion and sect in our country.
Similarly, it is also necessary that our democratic institutions remain strong, stable and the government should be accountable, Parliament should become a forum for meaningful discussion and debate and all the state institutions should responsibly discharge their duty. The biggest loss because of this situation is that there has been a significant slowdown in the country’s growth and development. Before 5 – 6 years we would say that India is poised to become a developed nation very soon. That narrative has changed abruptly. So, I think this situation needs to reverse.
By 2030 we should not be just a bigger nation in terms of our population but also be a much bigger economy. We should be developed in every aspect, not just based on GDP in which you include a few big capitalists and call yourself developed. Rather a truly developed country will be foremost on the Human Development Index, where there is universal literacy, where all the citizens of the country have basic facilities of medical treatment, where everyone’s basic need is fulfilled and everyone has a sense of justice and equity. And there are affirmative actions that ensure that all social groups are uplifted. We should be developed based on HDI and other social development indices. We must make sustained efforts in this direction.
We need to develop morally. Still a corruption-free society is a far dream. In next 10 years we must become free from the menace of exploitation of women and sex crimes. India is a religious country but unfortunately in our near past, religion has been only misused for narrow political interests and for dividing and polarising. We must ensure that religions play a role in bringing much needed moral revolution in India. Instead of religion becoming a permanent line of division, a healthy relationship of dialogue and sincere culture of search of truth should develop among the different religious communities.
At this critical juncture, what is your Message loud and clear to the Government and to the citizens of India?
Our message to the government is that it should consider itself the government of all Indians. It should not see itself as the government of a particular section or majority community but the representative government of the entire 130 crore Indians. It should think about the benefit and wellbeing of all our countrymen. It should rise above narrow political interests and look at the larger interest of the whole country. Governments come and go but if the basic structure of the country gets affected, the population gets polarised, an environment of hatred becomes common or a particular section lags in terms of development and justice then this will lead to a severe loss for the country in the long term. No patriotic government would cherish such a situation. Those in power must keep their political interests aside and give priority to the welfare of its 130 crore people. I have explained this in detail earlier.
The immediate issues right now are CAA and NRC. There is uneasiness and fear in a huge part of country’s population with regard to these measures. Putting the country’s citizens in unease and fear for a few thousand people belonging to a foreign nation is not a reasonable thing. Victims of tyranny should definitely be welcome but why to discriminate the victims on the basis of religion? If the government wants to change its approach, its first step should be to take back these unjust laws and assure the citizens of our country that the government wants to take everyone along. Ego should be kept aside and not be allowed to create a hurdle in the resolution of this problem. We all are the citizens of this country and the government is responsible for this country. Hence, they should not put the nation at stake for their short-term political gains.
My message to citizens of this country is that in a democratic country – people are the real stakeholders, masters and are responsible for the issues in the country. It is the responsibility of citizens to keep governments on the right path. If people decide that they will not become victims of the exploitation carried out by the government then no power of the world can think about bringing negative change in the country. If the citizens of the country become united and declare that they want to live in harmony and brotherhood and state that they do not like division and hatred, they will not support the politics of division and polarisation, if the majority of this country agrees on this then no government can harm this country. That is why I think that this movement should become a people’s movement and we should not just limit ourselves to resist temporary issues rather we should create such a movement for greater change. It is being said correctly that it is the second freedom movement, which will liberate us from injustice, barbarity and the criminalisation, commercialisation and communalisation of politics. This movement must continue and all citizens should participate in it.