Pune techie murder and Modi's Muslim perception deficit

No one in his right mind should lay the blame for the murder of a Muslim techie in Pune at Narendra Modi’s door or that of the BJP, and nor is anyone actually doing so. But this situation can reverse quite soon. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said that though Modi had been speaking about inclusiveness his “message has not reached everyone”. This may sound like a fair statement to make, but it indirectly puts the onus on Modi in case a free-lance thug goes about bashing someone. Can Modi’s message ever reach someone he is not associated with and does not - and cannot - control? What is the point in bringing Modi into the argument? Sooner or later, the “secular” elite will find such incidents - which certainly are not going to disappear overnight - convenient enough to link it to Modi’s arrival on the scene. They are already saying Modi’s arrival has emboldened right-wing thugs. Last night on a TV channel (Headlines Today), one Muslim gentleman linked the incident to the Sangh parivar’s front organisations even though an RSS votary denied such links. [caption id=“attachment_1557865” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Modi needs to do more than mere tokenism: AFP[/caption] It may be unfair, but the world is unfair.  Perceptions get created, and once they get created, they are almost impossible to dispel easily. Communal killings may have happened in Assam and Uttar Pradesh in 2012 and 2013, but 2002 is the one that dominates TV talk even now. Tarun Gogoi and Akhilesh Yadav are not being called “maut ka saudagar” despite their manifest lapses. When it comes to riots, communal killings and such-like tragedies, only the BJP gets stuck with them. One reason: Modi and BJP suffer from a Muslim perception deficit. All the good they may do often gets washed away in the widely-accepted perception that the BJP is communal and anti-Muslim. Can this perception bias be overcome? Ever? The answer is a shaky yes, but it takes time and effort - lots of it - and it cannot just be about tokenism. Modi’s own case is instructive. After being widely tarred with 2002, he emerged as a development messiah for at least 85 percent of the Indian electorate that does not see itself as a minority. With growth faltering, inflation rising and jobs disappearing under UPA, Modi used this change in public mood to reinvent himself and overcome the existing perception bias against himself and his party. But the only holdouts are Muslims. As for the “secular” elite whom Modi ignored and then defeated in the recent elections, they are nursing wounds and trying to see how the anti-Muslim perceptions swirling around Modi till recently can be reinvented and rejuvenated so that they can make a comeback. They will try their hardest to link all communal incidents anywhere – including the Pune techie’s murder – to Modi. Is there a way out of this perception bias, especially when Modi is against tokenism and mere symbolic gestures? Modi has repeatedly said that he works for all Indians, which makes small-time tokenism less believable anyway. Modi’s decision to invite all Saarc leaders for his swearing-in made an impact on secular opinion in India. It proved that his anti-Pakistan diatribes on the campaign trail did not come in the way of pragmatic relationship-building with neighbours once he has come into government. Perception biases can be overcome, but Modi has to do it his own way. I would suggest three initiatives that can become starting points for this shift. None of these are about tokenism, even though they carry a strong message. #1: Add Muslim parties to the NDA Politically, it would make sense for Modi to invite both the PDP (with three seats in the Kashmir valley) and the AUDF in Assam (three seats) to join his coalition. They may not, but the mere invite will send a powerful signal – even if they agree to give only occasional outside support – that Modi is open to doing business with Muslims. The AUDF already seems ready for this and has offered issue-based support to the NDA . Atal Behari Vajpayee had the National Conference in his ministry; there is no reason why the PDP of Mehbooba Mufti can’t play the same role in Modi’s government. An alliance would also help the BJP play a support role in Kashmir after the next assembly elections, now that it has become the largest party in Kashmir by a quirk of fate. #2: Focus on development in some areas with a heavy Muslim concentration. Modi is keen on skill development. Why not announce that the first state-level skill development centre would be set up in Azamgarh, reportedly home to some of India’s terrorists, but a place bustling with Muslim youth without a hope of landing a decent job. A skill centre in a place associated with Muslims but not limited to Muslims, will not be seen as an empty gesture. It will, in fact, emphasise Modi’s point that he will work for all, including India’s Muslims. A few such gestures will add flesh to his belief that working for all should not mean just tokenism. This does not stop him from setting up skill centres everywhere else, but this initiative will send a powerful message of inclusion to Muslim youth. #3: Abolish the Haj subsidy – and empower Muslims to finance it themselves. The Supreme Court has already said that the subsidy should be abolished over 10 years. But a BJP government merely abolishing it would be seen as anti-Muslim. However, there is a good way to both abolish it and not be seen as anti-Muslim. The current Haj committee is anyway driven by favouritism and political connections. If Modi abolishes the subsidy and simultaneously announces a one-time Rs 1,000 crore corpus for a private-public Haj Fund run by above-board Muslims, the annual earnings on the corpus would generate Rs 100 crore – enough to fund many Haj trips. Muslims can add their own contributions from Zakat and other collections. They can run the committee transparently, free from government interference. Many such initiatives can be thought of. But clearly, Modi can and should work on his Muslim perception deficit without resorting to the usual tokenism. The time is ripe for this approach. If your name is Narendra Modi, you come with a Muslim perception deficit. But there is no reason to wallow in it.