.The country (has) watched phlegmatically the steep decline of its second largest community. The moral is writ large: in politics sentiments and sympathy do not count; it is unabashed self-interest that prevails. A group that is weak invites victimisation. It is this belated realisation that impelled a group of enlightened Muslims to get together and seek the empowerment of their community.

The group first did its homework. A concept paper was prepared that brought out in pathetic detail the straits to which Indian Muslims had been reduced. The paper has been dealt with elsewhere in this issue. It was discussed at a workshop held in Hamdard University, New Delhi on May 8, 1999. This was followed by a very well-attended Convention held the following day at a more spacious venue ... The Resolutions passed at the Convention (and) the plan of action focus on educational, social and economic uplift and political and administrative empowerment.

Benefiting by past experience where the decisions taken at conferences and conventions dried up in the sands of apathy and amnesia, the ... Convention has taken two concrete decisions:

1.The plan of action will usher in a movement

2. It is proposed to constitute a steering committee to follow up the resolutions and to set up a secretariat and bring into existence a network in the states.

... The well-deliberated stance ... on most issues can generate mild optimism. The resolutions have two addressees: (1) government; and (2) the community itself. In either case these require in full measure the backing of Muslim public opinion. As to how the nascent movement proposes to achieve this is unclear ...

let us now examine whether the Convention and the Movement conceived by it will fire the imagination of the people, whether these will elicit popular support. Not, unless the intellectuals come out of their ivory towers and their distant aloofness. Let them make mass contact as the first plank of their movement. A studied effort ought to be made to inspire confidence. Let the unpleasant fact be faced that Muslims by and large are not excessively Impressed with the role that their intellectuals have played.

This is because of the distance that the latter have maintained. They have seldom responded to their distress calls. Unless a closer and more intimate relationship is established between the leaders and the led the movement will not make a dent.

The rational approach adopted by the Convention is certainly the right approach. It is also good that an attempt has been made to cover the entire canvas. For the programme to be broadened into a mass movement a couple of emotive issues have to be picked up and played up. These two could well be (1) Security; and (2) Representation. The latter would comprehend reservation or affirmative action with regard to admission to professional colleges, and institutions of higher learning, legislatures, and jobs ..

The widening gulf between religious and mainstream education has received fleeting attention. The problem is complex and delicate. It will have to be examined in depth and handled with care. The modern subjects proposed to be introduced in the madarsas have to be chosen with meticulous care ... Even more important than introduction of a few modern subjects is change in the method of teaching. In both these contexts the ground work done over the last two decades by the Aligarh, Muslim University and the Hamdard Education Society must necessarily be taken into account ... The religious universities have not changed their resistant stance (because of) the fear that introduction of modern subjects may trigger a shift away from religious instruction in institutions meant primarily for imparting it.

Another area that merits much more attention ... is ... distance education ... The large number of dropouts, girls, artisans and petty shop-keepers' children ... should take to distance education in a big way ..

It is for the well-informed people among Muslims to spread awareness about this convenient and relatively inexpensive and easily accessible mode of learning ..

Many Muslim homes are semi-literate or uneducated. Consequently our homes do not provide to our children the atmosphere of awareness and academic support ...generally available to children from other communities. It follows that society should provide what our homes are unable to do. An essential plank of the educational plan of Indian Muslims, therefore, will be the opening of remedial and enrichment classes in every town with a sizeable Muslim population.

The steering committee proposed to be set up will be well-advised to establish contact with the non-governmental organisations working in the realm of education ...

The greatest difficulty is likely to be experienced by the Movement in the political domain, partly because of the internal dissensions for which the community has become infamous, partly because of the opposition of political parties to whom a politically united Muslim community is anathema. It will require great persuasive effort on the part of the Movement to convince our countrymen on the need for (a) reservation; (b) a proper delineation of constituencies. We have also to carry conviction with the other backward classes who are unnecessarily feeling threatened.

So far the educational movement among Muslims has to a considerable extent been restricted to the relatively better off people in the towns. The rural areas and the urban slums constitute the large twilight zone which workers in the field of education and social reform have failed to penetrate. The Empowerment Movement should address itself to the vast neglected expanse. For this purpose, however, a cadre of paid workers would be needed ...

There are two mutually unconnected areas which are crying for being upgraded: (1) Muslim managed schools and colleges and the teachers manning them; (2) the relevant skills of our artisans.

The sooner we are rid of the deprivation in relation to information the better. Modest and inexpensive cells for information regarding educational and employment avenues can be set up in mohallas as an adjunct, wherever possible, to reading rooms.

This noble endeavour to succeed, unremitting effort and wholehearted attention would be required. Those who have launched this programme should cut off their retreat and shed the elitist attitude and the casual approach. It lifeblood that is in demand.

Although it has not been possible for Muslim leadership to arrest the overall decline of the community, yet if we look at two landmark years separated by two decades, viz. 1972 and 1992 we come across unmistakable signs of a broad-based awakening and a keen desire to forge ahead. It is these signs and this burning desire that should enable the Movement to commence on a sanguine note and to surmount the fits of despair ... in the course of its hazardous journey.

(Source: The Nation and the World, 1 June, 1999)