Hindutva hate campaign: Finally, a voice from NDA fraternity raises red flag

New Delhi: This, so far, is the strongest criticism of the activities of the Hindutva groups from a senior member of an NDA ally. While all other allies have preferred to turn a blind eye to the sustained hate campaign against the Muslim community on the ground, Abdul Khaliq, general secretary of the Ram Vilas Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party has chosen to speak out. He, however, makes it clear that it is his personal view and it has nothing do with the party’s position. [caption id=“attachment_1733831” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Recent activities of the Hindutva groups have escalated communal tension. Reuters[/caption] “Like never before, the Muslim is viewed not just as ‘the other’ but as the root cause of the nation’s problems. The most pernicious myths are being given the widest publicity — about forced conversion of Hindu girls as a ‘love jihad’ conspiracy to distort the population ratio, about every conversion to Islam creating one more enemy for Hindus, about 90 percent of all rapes being committed by Muslims, about Muslims provoking riots, about there being no place for non-Muslims in areas where there are more than 35 percent Muslims. The miasma of distrust, of hate, of prejudice hangs like a black cloud over the community,” he wrote in The Indian Express on Saturday.  Terming Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that Indian Muslims would live and die for the country as “heartening to the secular devotees”,  the civil-servant-turned-politician went on to write that “the PM has thought it necessary to underline the patriotism of Muslims is in itself deeply disturbing. Implicit in the statement is the frightening reality of how the Muslim is viewed in today’s India”. What provoked the LJP general secretary to write such a strong-worded article and why did he suddenly take a U-turn from his party’s stand that PM Modi believes in “inclusiveness”? “I have written the article as a member of the Muslim community, not on behalf of a political party. These are my personal views. These have nothing to do with my party or its political affiliation,” Khaliq makes clear to Firstpost. However, his views could be seen as a positive development at a time when most NDA leaders, including those belonging to the community, have decided to go mute despite acts of brazen provocation. Asked why the Muslim leadership is by and large silent on “hate speeches”, the issue of “love jihad” and banning Muslims from taking part in Garba dances in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, he said: “Ask them (Muslim intellectuals) why they prefer to keep mum. As far as I am concerned, I have covered all the issues.” He accepted that there is no strong voice in the Muslim community that can force the government to take action against those spearheading this “hate campaign”. When asked what drove him to speak out against the stand of his party, he said, “Being an Indian Muslim cannot endanger my claim to equal citizenship. Polarisation has become deep rooted in the society. The public discourse today is not about the economic and educational backwardness of the beleaguered Muslim community but about the huge affliction they are in the nation’s social fabric. This is despite the fact that Muslims are near the bottom of the socio-economic ladder and at par with the Dalits in almost every human development index. “It is axiomatic that the communalism of one group feeds on the communalism of the other, but only majority communalism can alter the nature of the Indian polity,” he said. “Today, Praveen Togadia is passé. What was the narrative of the shakhas and the fulminations of right wing fundamentalists are now mainstream discourse. The most inflammatory and divisive rhetoric has become commonplace. Leading a long list of hate mongers, Member of Parliament, Sakshi Maharaj, uses the public platform to allege that the madrasas across the country are imparting the ‘education of terror’ and ‘love jihad…Maneka Gandhi, minister and inveterate animal lover, has no qualms in making the outrageously mendacious statement that profits from trade of slaughtered animals go into financing terrorism,” he said in his article. Asked why he did not quit the LJP when it joined hands with BJP before the general elections 2014, he said, “I was shattered when my party decided to fight the polls in alliance with the BJP. At the same time, I was extremely disappointed that I failed to strike a deal with the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Party (RJD). But I could not part ways with LJP because of my old friendship with Ram Vilas Paswan.” Khaliq had unsuccessfully held negotiations with Congress and the RJD for over three months over seat sharing in Bihar before the Lok Sabha elections.