Poser to Sonia: How is seeking Muslim consolidation secular?

There is surely something rotten about Indian secularism if Sonia Gandhi has to appeal to Muslims to vote en bloc this time.

According to a report in Hindustan Times today (2 April), Sonia met a Muslim delegation led by the hereditary Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, to assure them that the Congress was on their side.

But while this assurance is par for the course and made by almost every party, the rest of her appeal is questionable. She appears to be feeding minority fears and indirectly stoking communalism.

Among other things, she said she entered politics to save “secularism”. If the benefits given to minorities by the Centre hadn’t reached them, it was because the states were not doing enough to take her schemes forward. The most objectionable part of her statement was an appeal to the Muslim delegation to ensure that the Muslim vote was not split in the forthcoming general elections.

There are three things wrong with this appeal.

First, by speaking to Muslims as a group to preserve secularism, she is implying that they are somehow obliged to do so. Is secularism the job largely of Muslims this time?

Second, considering that most of the people who came to her were led by a cleric not known for his progressive views, this would be nothing but a clear appeal to vote-banks.

Third, by asking Muslims to vote en bloc she is effectively suggesting that Muslims are, by definition, secular. This is surely not true, and certainly can’t be true about the clerics who came to meet her.

All the opinion poll evidence so far suggests that there is a fair degree of polarisation of the Muslim vote already against the BJP and Narendra Modi. So even without Sonia’s exhortation the polarisation is near complete.

What Sonia has done is to seek a polarisation in her favour — and not the other parties laying claim to the secular label. She told the delegation that “one of the main reasons I entered politics was to safeguard and promote secularism.”

Her son and heir apparent did not cover himself with glory when he failed to go beyond soft words to condemn his party nominee from Saharanpur, who wanted to chop Modi to bits.

Sonia’s own statement shows that her party is desperate to avoid defeat by seeking votes in the name of secularism - for which the minorities have to vote en bloc. Maybe it is time to ask whether communalism is the observe side of Sonia’s secularism.

Consider this poser: if an appeal to Muslims to consolidate their vote is secular, would a similar appeal to Hindus be communal?