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This story is from March 9, 2006
Wrong Agenda
Will the Indian Muslim please stand up and be counted?
Will the Indian Muslim please stand up and be counted? At stake is your commitment to secularism and loyalty to the nation.
Recent large-scale demonstrations by Muslim groups against the Danish cartoons, Bush's India visit and India's stand on Iran at the IAEA has led to the perception that the community is carrying the protest too far, even holding the government to ransom.
Questions are being asked whether the Indian Muslim's loyalty is to India or to Iran. No one is denying the community the right to dissent, so vital in a democracy. But this right has to be exercised with responsibility.
The sense of outrage and the need to protest is perfectly justified but the form of protest must be reasonable. Muslims are not the only group opposing the UPA government's pro-US tilt, but if they allow such protest to take on a communal colour, it could backfire and result in a polarisation that could hurt social cohesion and national unity.
But the community cannot allow itself to be led by such political opportunists. The need of the hour is to denounce such leadership. Foreign policy issues are best left to professional diplomats and the country's Parliament.
Linking foreign policy to identity politics is dangerous. Issues like non-proliferation and Iran's nuclear future are too serious to be decided on religious considerations.
The current political mobilisation in the name of Muslim anger is not going to do the community any good. There are enough issues that Muslims ought to feel exercised about and make common cause with the rest of the nation ��� illiteracy, economic backwardness, unemployment, health, sanitation, bijli, sadak, paani.
The country's largest minority lags behind the national average on most human development indicators. Their representation in government jobs is dismal.
These are issues the community needs to take up with the government rather than sending the Danish ambassador packing. Regrettably, there aren't enough voices of protest on real issues.
All one hears are cries for the protection of AMU's minority character and the primacy of the Muslim Personal Law. This self-ghettoisation is harmful.
The community desperately needs a responsible and far-sighted leadership capable of channelising its energies in the right direction.
Recent large-scale demonstrations by Muslim groups against the Danish cartoons, Bush's India visit and India's stand on Iran at the IAEA has led to the perception that the community is carrying the protest too far, even holding the government to ransom.
Questions are being asked whether the Indian Muslim's loyalty is to India or to Iran. No one is denying the community the right to dissent, so vital in a democracy. But this right has to be exercised with responsibility.
The sense of outrage and the need to protest is perfectly justified but the form of protest must be reasonable. Muslims are not the only group opposing the UPA government's pro-US tilt, but if they allow such protest to take on a communal colour, it could backfire and result in a polarisation that could hurt social cohesion and national unity.
Political parties who want to make capital out of it will of course do nothing to rein in mischief-makers like Yaqoob Qureshi, who placed a bounty on the Danish cartoonist's head.
But the community cannot allow itself to be led by such political opportunists. The need of the hour is to denounce such leadership. Foreign policy issues are best left to professional diplomats and the country's Parliament.
Linking foreign policy to identity politics is dangerous. Issues like non-proliferation and Iran's nuclear future are too serious to be decided on religious considerations.
The current political mobilisation in the name of Muslim anger is not going to do the community any good. There are enough issues that Muslims ought to feel exercised about and make common cause with the rest of the nation ��� illiteracy, economic backwardness, unemployment, health, sanitation, bijli, sadak, paani.
The country's largest minority lags behind the national average on most human development indicators. Their representation in government jobs is dismal.
These are issues the community needs to take up with the government rather than sending the Danish ambassador packing. Regrettably, there aren't enough voices of protest on real issues.
All one hears are cries for the protection of AMU's minority character and the primacy of the Muslim Personal Law. This self-ghettoisation is harmful.
The community desperately needs a responsible and far-sighted leadership capable of channelising its energies in the right direction.
End of Article
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