The dominant sections of the Indian political class have always believed that diverse cultural groups deserve not only Constitutional and legal protection for their specific cultural, linguistic and religious needs and that they also require a concrete policy and programmatic interventions to take care of their perceived feelings of "psychological vulnerabilities". In spite of the various efforts made by the Government of India and political parties during the last fifty years, the question of the Muslim minority in democratic India continues to be complex, critical and in many ways unresolved.
Every communal riot has contributed to the creation of a siege mentality and a feeling of "social outsider" among the Muslims and M. J. Akbar's moving account in his book on "Riot after Riot" (1988) makes us to conclude that the problem of physical insecurity really haunts them ... Every assertion of the forces of Hindutva and retreat of secular political formations have strengthened the feelings of insecurity among the Muslims.
The upshort of this is that the Muslim question in India occupies a special position and the political discourse of the 1990s around the temple-mosque controversy has brought into focus the problematic of "social insiders and outsiders" and of political Hinduism and the 'others'. Political responses to such complicated political and social questions need to be based on a proper understanding of the real felt needs of the Muslim community.
It is essential to demystify the concept of the Muslim community because, like all other religious and cultural communities, the Indian Muslims are internally highly differentiated and socially stratified ... The Indian Muslims like all other communities have distinct region-based differences and also problems ... The Muslims of India are an artificial political construct like the so-called Hindus of India. ...
The regional diversities prevalent among the attitudes and beliefs of various communities facilitate or aggravate the problems of Indian Muslims. Social and cultural distancing among various communities which lies at the root of social stereotypes has also regional variations ... Muslims living in a village, or a small town or a big city or a metropolitan capital, have very different kind of inter-community relationships than a homogenized view about the Muslims which is reflected by the political class and policy makers.
The emphasis on regional variations of the Muslim question has been made to suggest that some special policy responses for the Muslim community in the south of India will not have the emotive resistance as it will have in the north. Hence any all-India Muslim policy of the Government of India has to be based on great caution because different regions have different social milieu and instead of resolving a minority question, an all-India uniform policy may complicate the problem.
It is essential to grapple with some basic demands of the Indian Muslim leadership for analysis and policy making ... The demand for the induction of Muslims in police and para-military organisations for providing a feeling of physical security to the Muslims should be completely rejected. The implication of the Muslim quota in the services of the Government will completely communalise the Indian State apparatus as militant supporters of caste reservations have completely casteised the public services.
Quota-based reservations will not help the majority of Muslims who need special public promotional policies for their uplift ... Communal biases play a role in the performance of public duties by a section of public services. The remedial action for effectively curbing the disease of communalism lies in the creation of a powerful quasi-judicial body and also public citizens' committees on the pattern of the Race Relations Committee in the UK ... Communal bias in the services should be investigated case by case and functionaries with such bias should be severely punished, but the evil of communalism in the Government cannot be eradicated by according a communal representation to the Muslim minority.
While the demand for reservations in public services has been always voiced by the upwardly mobile Muslim or caste elite, the Indian State should respond to the real needs of the struggling Muslim artisans, unskilled workers, small shopkeepers and traders. Muslims deserve positive support by the public institutions in the form of new skills for work, loans ... for launching trade or small industrial enterprises. Since Muslims are a highly differentiated community, the effective approach to their specific problems will also have to be highly decentralised. The Panchayati Raj institutions, the urban local governments, the State Governments under the effective leadership of the Central Government should involve themselves to promote specific programmes for the uplift of the vulnerable and socially dependent Muslim poor and lower middle classes.
The secular political class ... should campaign for widening the base of education for Muslims. Muslims, like Hindus, have to be gradually brought out from the influences of mullahs, imams and mosque ... supported educational institutions. Secular educational institutions provide a proper ethos for inter-cultural integration than the minority-based educational institutions. Hindu- Muslim social stereotypical attitudes area road block in the way of a healthy development of inter-community relationship and this distance can be shortened by secular educational institutions and not by the so-called madrasas or waqf - supported programmes.
The Indian State has to rescue the Muslims from the madrasa and also provide in a positive manner opportunities to the various deprived sections ... for their real development. Political tokenism like reservations in public services or some restructuring of institutions for governance will not provide either physical security or a developmental future to the Muslims. A democratic system in every multicultural society is challenged by different minority groups with demands for ... space and rights in public life ... Every thinker on democracy is grappling with the problems of political accommodation of unequal social groups in political systems.
... If ... secular forces have to challenge the religion based political formations, specific programmes for the uplift of various categories of Muslims should be evolved by the Central and the State Governments. Politically populist responses to win over Muslim votes will prove counter-productive and in the present political milieu highly dangerous.
(Source: The Hindustan Times, 4 December, 1997)
Shahabuddin's Letter to The Hindustan Times, 6 December, 1997
Apropos Mr. C.P. Bhambhri's article "The Muslim Question" (4 December, 1997), permit me to state that to begin with Dr. C.P. Bhambhri not only concedes the legitimacy of constitutional and legal protection for the culture, language and religion of the minorities but also favours state intervention in terms of concrete policies and programmes in their support. He also concedes the need for institutionalised state machinery to deal with the problems and grievances. More importantly, he concedes that communal bias pays a role in the performance of public duties by a section of the public services. Yet when it comes to remedial measures he rejects not only reservation in public employment but even the limited but longstanding proposal, agreed to in principle by successive governments for higher representation of the Muslims (and other targetted group) in the police and para-military forces. His only argument is that a Muslim quota will "communalise state apparatus". But has it in Kerala or Karnataka? And why shouldn't the coercive apparatus of the State be composite in character so as to command the confidence of all sections of the people, even if there is no special or proportionately high representation of the target groups. His argument does not hold water. One cannot fight 'bias' in a court of law.
Prof. Bhambhri argues in favour of special policies and programmes to promote the uplift of the minorities. Will special facilities for educational and economic development to the minorities also not attract the charge of communalisation? In any case, such special programmes tend to receive very low priority in funding. When it comes to programmes for artisans, workers, shopkeepers and traders, why should the Muslims be singled out? Why can't much programmes be applied universally, according to verifiable economic criteria, irrespective of religion, caste, language or culture? But in the case of non-universal (because of paucity of resources) welfare or development programmes, the State has to ensure that eligible persons at the operational level or any social group are not totally left out or marginalised, depending upon the whims and passions of the distribution or selection authority. Only a quota system, proportionate to social demography in such programmes will help to curb bias and injustice?
Prof. Bhambhri should not treat reservation in employment, education or welfare, on the basis of religion-cum-backwardness different from the reservation based a caste-cum-backwardness. Articles 14 and 15 apply equally to caste or religion-based. Neither should be equate reservation to religion-based politics discrimination,
Prof. Bhambhri has argued in favour of secular education. No one can disagree but if a religious community wants its children also to have a modicum of religious instruction, in order to maintain its religious identity, why should be object?
Prof. Bhambhri has also attacked the concept of minority-educational institutions. The religious minorities would join him, if he were to ensure their proportionate representation in all educational institutions of the country, state or private. In any case, a minority educational institution need not be a cultural or religious ghetto. it must have a fair proportion of students not belonging to the establishing community, perhaps a minimum of 25% to a maximum of 49%, if the community does not throw up enough candidates to match minimum admission requirements.
The entire gamut of State welfare and development intervention needs to be decentralised, not only for Muslims but for every one, so that not only the priorities, targets and allocations are keyed to the ground reality but also all social group benefit equally or equitably, subject to uniform and verifiable criterion.
