Seema Alavi, Asst. Professor, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi

The ... BJP rule in Uttar Pradesh may have witnessed no major communal riots, but the Muslims in the State feel terrorised. The Government's scant regard for the judiciary and the "rule of law" and its increasing reliance on a saffronised administrative machinery has created a situation of despair and helplessness in the community. If six years ago the demolition of the Babari Masjid shocked Muslims beyond belief, today the claim of their Chief Minister, Ram Prakash Gupta, that he will assist in the "peaceful" construction of the Ram temple at the Masjid site in Ayodhya has numbed them. They see their State slipping beyond the ambit of law, and into the lap of an administration which has no qualms in flaunting its brigade of saffron bureaucrats and police officers. These are the willing boys out to execute the orders of a Chief Minister who is convinced that his domain includes the judiciary as well.

The report card of the state reflects these trends very well. Muslim officers in the police and administration have been cooling their heels in obscure postings. Officers with proven anti-Muslim bias have been posted in Muslim dominated districts some of which also house Islamic seminaries. Not surprisingly, they have raised an unsubstantiated hysteria about ISI activities originating from mosques and madrasas in their jurisdiction. The ISI card has given them a free licence to intimidate and harass innocent and law abiding Muslims who frequent madrasas for both religious and secular education. The marginalisation of Muslim officers and harassment of ordinary citizens is matched by the unofficial ban on recruitment of Muslims in the police and Intelligence ...organisations.

The imbalanced composition of these outfits means not only loss of employment opportunities for the Muslims but also a denial of power and status that is linked to these forces.

A demoralised and marginalised community naturally withdraws into a ghetto mentality. As it seeks succour in its community institutions, the madrasa and the mosque, it finds that it is getting further stigmatised and targeted. For in the BJP's political dispensation, these . hitherto innocuous institutions are the new villains: dens of ISI and hubs of anti-national activity. It is another matter that so far despite the mobilisation of the entire State machinery to ferret out ISI from madrasas we are still waiting for any concrete evidence of these institutions' involvement in anti-national deeds.

The Uttar Pradesh Regulation of Pubhic Religious Buildings and Places Bill 2000, passed by the U.P. Legislative Assembly marks a culmination of this concerted vilification and harassment campaign against the Muslims ...

The intentionality inherent in the Bill is based on a certain stereotype of Muslims as being terrorists and ISI agents. The Bill quite clearly targets them while disseminating an image that projects them as "anti-national". It gives immense powers to the district magistrate to tame the "anti-national": the DM will have the power to demolish any mosque charging it with harbouring or training foreign terrorists. Also without the permission of the DM no addition or renovation of mosques and madrasas will be possible ... One can imagine the reign of terror that will be unleashed once this Bill becomes law.

In the given political context, the long term implications of the Bill are even more alarming. The Bill has the potential of including in its purview domestic residential spheres of the Muslims as well ...

The Muslims in U.P. are a frightened lot. Their anxiety is not made any easier by the attitude of the opposition parties in the state. No major protest in the state has been launched by the opposition ...

The Muslims of Uttar Pradesh feel politically dumped and isolated. They have been flocking in large numbers to their religious leadership to seek help ... But by and large the Muslims look towards the larger secular liberal opinion in the country for support. As they await help, it is important to remind ourselves that their systematic cultural gagging is symptomatic of the more dangerous assaults on the secular democratic fabric of Indian society. At stake is civil society. (Source: The Hindu, 27 February, 2000)