NATIONAL POLITICS
Ausaf Saied Vasfi on Muslim Representation in the Next Lok Sabha
The plural character of Indian polity hinges today on 80 to 100 Lok Sabha Muslim concentration constituencies, where minority population is predominant to the extent that either a really secular Hindu or a sober Muslim contestant can easily win there.
Through deft play, good Muslim presence in the House of $25 can be assured. But it requires imagination, strategy and astuteness Avoid Vote Split.
The success of the minority candidates chiefly depends upon the failure of the saffron brigade to split Muslim vote. Otherwise the success of communal forces is assured at the hustings, and in New Delhi as well.
Probably there is no dispute among the National Font-Left Front constituents and the Congress-I on the question of Muslim representation in the Lok Sabha. If so, why not a tacit understanding between the National Front-Left Front and the Congress that Muslim vote shall not be allowed to split. Maybe the National Front-Left Front agree to the proposition. This is the minimum to demonstrate earnestness towards Muslims by the Muslims.
(Despite a) genuine grouse (against Congress(1), the Muslims have lost sight of the saffron threat looming over their already battered heads and the national horizon.
The Muslim minority can reconsider its electoral preference provided the Party makes due amends; its President sincerely expresses regret to Muslims for his inexplicable lapses and make a firm commitment to abide by the final verdict of the Supreme Court, which the Muslims, unlike the Parivarists, say, will honor. This is the minimum the Muslim minority expects from the Congress before they commit their electoral preference.
Mr. Rao's current strategy to woo Muslims is both queer and interesting. When the front rank Muslim leadership, despite repeated official coaxing, refused to accommodate his biased, unjust views, he contacted the second and third rank leadership of the minority, represented by a few nondescript Imams, Muezzins, Mujawirs and Mutawallis. Mr. Rao must know these faceless entities, mostly the keepers of Mazars and Dargahs, stand nowhere near the electorate. He is just wasting money on them.
As far as his schemes to win over Muslims are concerned, these suffer from a fatal flaw. They seek to deliberately ignore or sidetrack the "key-issue". Without removing Muslims "basic" grievance, no plan aimed at their upliftment would carry conviction with their bruised psyche
As an explanation of the "key-issue" or "basic grievance" it has to be plainly stated that the willful destruction of Babari Masjid was not a mere dilapidation. of a "ramshackle, moth-eaten structure, of crumbling walls. It was a calculated assault on the Muslim self- esteem, their religion, culture, history and psyche. It was an essay in subjugating them and bludgeoning them into submission. The Congress abetted this crime against minority by indirectly collaborating with the criminals. First, undo this perfidy. Then, think about peripheral, secondary things.
There is no difference of opinion between the traditional Muslim leadership and young leadership of Muslims on any issue, much less on this crucial issue. The ruling party at the Centre is misleading itself and others by alleging that the younger generation of Muslims is "prepared to forget the Ayodhya wound" and is "eager to join the national mainstream". This is self-delusion, self-deception - pure and simple.
The Congress spokesperson want the nation to believe that the post-1950 Muslim generation wants to live with "dignity and self-respect" by not insisting upon the restoration and reconstruction of the Babari Masjid at its original site.
Mr. Jaffer Sharief's exit from the cabinet has, once again, focused attention on Muslim attitude towards the Congress. Now there is renewed talk of accelerating the minority welfare schemes.
The former Railway Minister had only warned against duplicity and hypocrisy. If this is harsh and unpalatable, what can one do? So has, unfortunately or otherwise, now been done by the high-profile Minister of State for External Affairs, Mr. Salman Khurshid, who is (dis)credited with the view that the mood of the minority community is still not favorable towards the Congress despite efforts to woo them back into the party fold. Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad said the other day in Hyderabad that the Congress-I led Central Government shall tender an apology to Muslims if it could help salvage their hurt sentiments.
The Congress faction led by Mr. Rao refuses to read (the writing) on the wall.
In the meantime, Muslims themselves should work out the permutations and combinations. It is their existence as a self-respecting entity of plural Bharat that is at stake. They can make their presence felt in the House of 525 by returning between 80 to 100 Parliamentarians after elections to the 11th Lok Sabha.
(Source: The Radiance Views weekly, 17 December, 1995)
