The year 1999 was a year of political instability and uncertainty. P.M.Vajpayee lost the vote of confidence by one vote in April, 1999 and yet another General Election was held in October, 1999, in which BJP-led NDA secured a working majority, thus giving relative political stability to the country for the time being.
Thus 1999 became the first complete year of BJP rule in the country. The tactical measure to place controversial issues, including the Babari Masjid Question and the Uniform Civil Code, on the back-burner and out of the National Agenda for Governance helped several professedly secular parties to join the NDA and yet project a secular face to the electorate. The Kargil effect and the Vajpayee effect and the Dharma of Coalition had their impact on the voting pattern though BJP vote remained more or less at the same level.
The NDA, under the leadership of Atal Behari Vajpayee, consolidated its hold on the machinery of governance and had its way through the Parliament with a lifeless and leaderless, disorganised and divided, opposition and succeeded in harmonising occasional notes of discordance between the BJP and its major 'secular' allies - the DMK, the TDP, the Samata, the JD(U) and the TC.
But there was continuous tension in the relation between the Sangh Parivar and the NDA Government. No doubt they managed in mutual interest, to keep the façade of all's well but the growing pressure by the hardcore of the RSS and its front organisations like the VHP and the Bajrang Dal became evident for accelerating the pace of saffronisation of administration, for imposing the Sangh-approved cultural norms on the people of the country, for taking a hardline against the ISI (read Muslims), the foreign missionaries (read Christians) and Pakistan. Often, in the final analysis the Vajpayee government was unable to withstand the pressure. Government's submission to the dictates of the RSS served to open the eyes of many academicians, journalists and opinion-makers who had set store by the 'liberalism' of Vajpayee and by the inevitable softening of the BJP in power. But when and how the widening cleavages within the ruling coalition will open into fission cannot be anticipated.
Vajpayee had made his point but there remained a growing suspicion that he was playing at two levels. He was identifying himself with the RSS goals in the long term and asking for freedom of action in the short-term and at the same time giving the Sangh Parivar the freedom of penetration and saffronisation, in the field of education, culture, information and public administration. Thus, there was a trade-off between Vajpayee as the Prime Minister and the Sangh Parivar as the driving force. Vajpayee also correctly counted on that the 'secular' conscience of the NDA partners would be gradually lulled into silence by the greed of power and pelf and that they would not rock the boat of the coalition. Thus one set of 'secular parties today stand discredited in the eyes of the secular forces.
What about the other set? Having exaggerated its infleunce and rejected the possibility of coalition. The Congress failed to take off under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and had its worst innings since Independence in 1999. The Left knew its limitations but engaged in internal debate on the degree of proximity and cooperation with the Congress, Samajwadi Party or RJD. BSP continued to plough its lonely furrow-confirming the suspicion that it may not be averse for an eventual deal with the BJP.
All this meant that Muslim India’s disenchantment with the secular parties continued to grow and consequently the desire, first evidenced in 1998, to assert its political weight without committing itself, across the board, to any particular secular party, even at the State level. Thus for the first time in 1999, the Muslim Agenda was formulated, a joint undertaking of All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat, All India Milli Council, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Jamiat-ul-Ulama-e-Hind and All India Muslim Personal Law Board - the five most representative Muslim organisations of national eminence. But it still remained too far from developing a nationwide consultative machinery, from recommending a slate of candidates for the Muslim electorate, at least in Muslim majority and Muslim-concentration constituencies. Thus the Muslim vote was divided and, to that extent, became ineffective. The essential point that emerged was that some Muslim organisations have an inbuilt or traditional linkage or prospective dealings with one political party or another and it is not possible for them to go beyond the negative objective, of defeating the BJP and its allies, to the positive objective of maximising Muslim representation in the legislatures. To weld the classes, the sections, the denominations, the political tendencies, the regional particularities into one functioning whole is no easy task, given the historic handicap and individual interests. But there is a ray of hope. All over the country there is a growing demand for a Muslim political party - for a central point for coordination, monitoring, data collection, identification of Muslim aspirations and above all negotiations with other political parties on terms of equality. In the final analysis, Muslim India realised in 1999 the urgent need for a Muslim political platform or a Muslim-driven political party.
With emphasis on Empowerment through Participation, Muslims demand for proportionate reservation in legislature, public employment, development allocations, welfare benefits and credit flow has begun to crystallise and take an all-India character. This is the real gain of 1999. Move to Review Constitution.
Muslim India saw a threat to minority rights and its religious and cultural identity in the plan of the Vajpayee Government to set up a Commission to Review the Constitution and warned that it would not accept any dilution or erosion of its Constitutional rights. It saw in it a long-term plan to prepare the ground for transforming the Secular State into a Hindu State.
Government Institutions
The National Commission for Minorities with the eminent jurist Dr. Tahir Mahmood as the Chairman completed its term in November, 1999 with an excellent record of performance. However, it was largely an exercise in futility as few of its recommendations were accepted by the Government and none of its reports were presented to or discussed by the Parliament. No successor was appointed immediately.
The Linguistic Minorities Commission, the National Minorities Finance and Development Corporation and PM's 15-Point Programme for Minorities Welfare, the Central Wakf Council and the Maulana Azad Foundation were largely inactive throughout the year -- some to the point of oblivion.
No Major Communal Flare-up
In many ways an extension of 1998, the year 1999 was another year without any major communal flare-up but under an increasingly saffronised administration, in an atmosphere of fear and insecurity the community endured harassment and humiliation and even rank injustice or illegality. The Sangh Parivar has developed the fine art of applying psychological pressure and making. Whole communities withdraw into mental and physical ghettos and vacating public space. The danger lies in rural and even small urban communities succumbing to illegality and becoming used to it as the normal pattern of life.
Babari Masjid - No Progress
Perhaps to satisfy its donors and keep its appeal, the VHP maintained the tempo of preparation for the construction of the proposed Mandir on the site of the Babari Masjid, on the one hand and, on the other, repeatedly asserted that law or no law, the Mandir will be constructed soon, "as suddenly by the Karsevaks as they had demolished the Masjid". However, the Sangh Parivar, one feels, will have to wait for a BJP Government both in Delhi and UP when it can launch the operation with impunity.
The title suit has made little progress during the year, while the CBI case continues to be frozen by the defiance of the accused, including Home Minister Advani and HRD Minister Joshi. The Liberhan Commission has also been functioning by fits and starts but unfortunately the AIMPLB which had undertaken to represent the Muslim case before the Commission has not fulfilled this onerous task with due sense of responsibility.
But there is a ray of light, while the Muslims have not forgotten the demolition, some Hindu leaders are beginning to look for a feasible compromise. The BMMCC has reiterated that if the site of the Babari Masjid is restored to the Muslims, the Ram Mandir may be constructed on an adjacent site, wholly or partly on disputed land.
Kashmir: Surge of Militancy
The political disenchantment of the Kashmiri masses expressed itself in virtual boycott of the general election in the Valley and a walk-over for Farooq Abdullah's National Conference, which joined the NDA and the Vajpayee Government! Hurriyat leaders remained incarcerated for most of the year and there were no negotiations at any level. In the eyes of the Kashmiri people, Farooq Abdullah became not more than a puppet on the string with the State being under virtual martial law. Following the Kargil war, there was an upsurge of insurgency with audacious attacks on military installations. There was also evidence of increasing foreign presence among the militants. The Kashmir situation thus remained bogged down in a no-win situation, with no sign of any breakthrough.
Threat to Personal Law, Masjids and Madarsas
There was no direct attempt to tamper with the Muslim Personal Law but the State and the National Commission of Women continued to prepare the public mind for a common civil code.
The Supreme Court failed to give an authoritative interpretation of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 out of the divergent judgements of various High Court. Masjids and Qabristans in Punjab, Haryana and H.P. continued to remain under adverse possession and throughout the country there were attempts to seize Qabristans and shrines. Political parties made sympathetic noises but the Muslim case has yet to penetrate the curtain of indifference and antipathy, arising out of the memories of the Muslim rule and partition, which are kept alive by an officially sanctioned scare about Madarasas and Masjids serving as 'dens of ISI activities'
Aligarh Muslim University
The Aligarh Muslim University passed through a difficult year with frequent violence on the campus and continuing friction between the administration and a section of the staff and the students. The University had to be closed down. The authoritarian Vice-Chancellor ran the University under 'emergency powers' bypassing the Court, the Executive and the Academic Councils and played to the political gallery. In a real sense, the University has lost touch with the community. It is no longer a Muslim University but just a Central University.
Conversion
True to its vision of India as a Hindu country, the Sangh Parivar kept up their pressures to obstruct conversion from Hinduism to any other religion and to facilitate the reverse flow which they termed as 'Home coming'. Specially in tribal areas, they tried to incite the tribals against Christian missionaries resulting in the Staines killing in Orissa and the depredations against the Christians in Gujarat and other parts of the country. The Muslim Indians and other secular forces expressed solidarity with the Christians. This sudden assertion was directed by Nagpur against the possible emergence of Sonia Gandhi as the P.M. and the Pope's coming visit to India.
Infiltration
Bengali-speaking people throughout the country, specially Muslims residing even in West Bengal and Delhi, continued to suffer discrimination and harassment. Hundred of thousands were excluded from the electoral rolls on suspicion of being Bangladeshi infiltrators specially in Assam and West Bengal, apart from thousands in Delhi, Bihar and Maharashtra. Over the years the 'foreigners issue' has secured the BJP a veritable base in the NE, particularly in Assam.
Muslim Organisations
The All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat, the All India Milli Council, the Jamaat-i-Islami Hind, the Jamiat- Ulama-e-Hind and the All India Muslim Personal Law Board continued to work at the national level. But lack of coordination and mutual distrust reduced their usefulness and effectiveness for the community.
An irreparable loss was the passing away of Maulana Syed Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi, who, in many ways was accepted as a point of reference.
Movement for Empowerment of Muslim Indians was established to secure the support of the Muslim elite to the cause of the political, educational, social and economic empowerment of the community. At its Convention in New Delhi in May, 1999 was adopted the Delhi Declaration. However, by the end of 1999, except in Tamilnadu and AP, it had failed to strike roots or undertake a campaign to implement its Declaration.
Some extremist organisations also tried to expand their activities and particularly the Students. Islamic Movement of India and the Milli Parliament but though they remained marginalised, they served to provide grist for anti-Muslim propaganda.
Muslim World
1999 saw little interaction between the Muslim Indians, as a community and the Muslim world. Some States continued to support their old faithful but they lacked vision and grasp of the Indian situation and made little impact. Some institutions like the IDB continued to offer support for educational activities, which falls for short of what is needed - a crash programme for funding higher education for Muslim Indians in India.
Muslim India was deeply perturbed by the invasion of Chechenya by Russia in violation of the terms of the 1994 Treaty. It admired the valour of the Chechens and called for international intervention. However, the Indian Government, to its dismay, supported the Russian action as a defence of its territorial integrity.
Ironically, Muslim Inida interpreted the secession of East Timor from Indonesia, under UN auspices, as part of a Western plan to dismember Indonesia while it hailed the dawn of peace in Kosovo and the return of the Kosovans to their land and their virtual separation from Serbia under the UN flag.
Muslim India took note of liberalisation of the Iranian regime and the turbulence in Pakistan. There was also growing sympathy for the Iraqi people.
Indo-Pakistan Relations which had taken an upward swing with P.M. Vajpayee's visit to Lahore and the promise generated by the Lahore process fell to an all-time low with the Kargil war. For most of the year there was stalemate though the direct bus service between Delhi and Lahore continued to ply.
Overview
On the whole, the year 1999 was a year of transition. Political under-representation, economic deprivation, pressure for religious and cultural redefinition, social humiliation, administrative saffronisation and secular setback all joined to create a new, unprecedented challenge for the Muslim Indians. With their religious and cultural identity as the real target, with the secular order itself under threat, with the Hindutva forces gaining new allies among the erstwhile secular parties, the Muslim Indians realised the need, as they had never done before since 1947 - of a secular political platform of their own.
Muslim Indians cannot win their legitimate rights without an organised nationwide campaign, synchronised with the wider battle for Social Justice which continues to rage in the political arena, without forming an alliance with all the deprived social groups in the country.
But Muslim unity, which alone would give weight and credence to such a political formation remains a distant drama and, at the turn of the century. The political energy of the Muslim Indians remained scattered, divided on ideological, denominational, political, regional and even caste considerations. They have to realise that their destiny is undivisible and at the same time inseparable from that of their motherland and specially from that of other deprived groups all seeking JUSTICE, EQUALITY AND DIGNITY.
New Delhi,
1s April, 2000
