Written by Kaleem Kawaja =95 July 06, 2008
http://indianmuslims.in/the-angry-hindus-and-the-muslims/
Day in and day out the =93angry Hindus=94 charge the power structure in
India with the allegation that the Muslim community is being appeased
and the government is eager to go out of its way to please Muslims.
Since currently it is not possible to blame Muslims for oppressing
Hindus, the attack is launched against the government for minoritism.
The anger of these Hindus is directed at both the perceived appeaser
and perceived appeased. The disregard for truth is extraordinary
indeed.
That an Indian Muslim should be left free to live his life in
accordance with his religious beliefs and customs, strikes these
=93angry Hindus=94 as an act of appeasement, a concession. But the
=93angry
Hindu=94 is not angry at similar protection given to ethnic Hindu groups
by letting many Hindus not accept the provisions of the Hindu Code.
They erroneously blame the Muslims for having more than one wife while
the government data base shows that due to large scale polygamy among
tribal Hindus, as a whole, more Hindus are being found practicing
polygamy than Muslims. They attack the government for the Shah Bano
legislation but completely ignore the 1976 amendment of the Special
Marriage Act that allows Hindu men special privileges of inheritance
under the Hindu United Family Act, that are not allowed under the
secular Indian Succession Act. A gender bias may exist in the Muslim
Personal Law, but so do the separate Personal laws of the Hindus,
Sikhs, Christians, and Buddhists contain biases favoring men over
women.
They are angry at Muslims because Article 30 of the Indian
Constitution allows rights to minorities to establish their own
schools; but they overlook the fact that the Arya Samaj, Ramakrishna
Mission and the institutions of Marwari Hindus are benefitting
similarly from the same Article 30. The =93angry Hindu=94 is angry at the
Indian government for the ban on Salman Rushdie=92s book =93Satanic
Verses=94, but ignores the fact that Dr Ambedkar=92s book, =93Riddles of
Rama and Krishna=94, Aubrey Menon=92s book =93 Rama Retold=94, and
Sytanley
Wol****t=92s book, =93Nine Hours to Rama=92 have also been similarly
proscribed by the Indian government.
The =93angry Hindu=92 is angry at Muslims because a sizeable number of
Hindus had to move away from Kashmir due to the large scale violence
there; but he ignores the fact that similarly a large number of
Muslims had to leave for good many villages in some districts in
Gujarat, Bihar and Assam. They had to leave for good areas in cities
in Gujarat (Surat, Ahmedabad, Naroda-Patia, Baroda, the Panchmahal
district), Bihar (Bhagalpur, Jamshedpur), Maharashtra (Bhivandi,
Malegaon), Assam (Berapat, Nellie). These are the villages and cities
where they had lived for generations, but had to migrate from due to
horrendous and non-stop anti-Muslim violence there. In many cities
across India even well educated Muslims were forced to leave their
houses in mixed population areas and move to Muslim majority
localities just to survive.
Despite many promises the government failed to help them go back to
their homes.
The =93angry Hindu=94 is angry that Article 370 of the Indian Constitution
limits rights of owner****p of property in Kashmir to Kashmiris - most
of whom are Muslims. But he ignores the fact that similiarly Article
371A provides similar protection to residents of mostly Hindu
population in the states of Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram.
The =93angry Hindu=94 is angry because the Indian state does not formally
embrace the concept of Hindu Rashtra, even though for all practical
purposes it practices most elements of that policy. All government,
private and other public events in India begin with prayers from Hindu
religious scriptures. All national institutions and awards are named
after names from Hindu mythology and religious scriptures. The media
and other cultural organs constantly borrow from the Hindu religious
mythology into their public programs without batting an eyelash.
He is angry whenever any Muslim, no matter how loyal, meritorious or
diluted-Muslim is elevated to a position of dignity in India. The
=93angry Hindu=94 does not want to even give a hearing to the Muslim
community on their most genuine and well do***ented grievances, eg the
Sachar Commission re****t that details the across the board severe
impoverishment and backwardness of the Muslim community.
If the =93angry Hindu=94 ever does an objective study of the ground
realities he will realize that he has nothing to be angry about. In
fact he has every reason to be happy to find that in practice the
Indian state has moved very far from the secular state that was
promulgated at Independence in 1947. He should be happy at the near
monopoly that he has in the socio-economic life of India, in
employment in the burgeoning private and multinational cor****ations,
the government undertakings, the political parties, the better higher
education institutions and the society at large. It is time for the
=93angry Hindu=94 to realize that he is being misled and used by the
op****tunistic right wing politicians. He should cool his misplaced
anger at the Indian Muslims and find ways to reduce the heightened
tensions in the nation that is hurting India=92s well-being at a
critical time.
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