An uncertain future
Now is the time when we need to see intercommunal CBMs, rather than a picking at old scars and wounds.
Past conflicts need to be put to rest, not exhumed, a truth the Mr Modi would be wise to contemplate. PHOTO: AFP
Relations between Muslims and Hindus in India since Partition have been scarred by acts of violence, large and small. Often Muslims have been at the receiving end and targets of discrimination in every area of their lives from employment to property purchasing, with recent refusals to sell property to Muslim buyers being the most recent example. This particular act of discrimination was publicised after noted Indian actor Shabana Azmi spoke about it in 2012. There is a growing intolerance towards minorities in India and the outcome of the elections that are now drawing to a close indicates that the country is going to swing to the political right and hyper nationalism, with the likely election of Narendra Modi by what many predict will be a landslide.
Long-dead musicians in the form of respected Shehnai player Ustad Bismillah Khan have now been dragged into the fray. In life, he and his family were determinedly apolitical — but the family playing at a Congress party rally for Rahul Gandhi has been portrayed otherwise, much to their chagrin. No matter the clarification that their performance in no way should be taken as an endorsement, the allegation that it was will become another brick in the wall that divides Muslim and Hindu in India. With there shortly to be a re-swinging of the home-policy compass in India under Narendra Modi, the sense of unease is palpable — and not just in Muslim communities. Mr Modi has been conspicuously silent on a number of crucial incidents, most notably the 2002 Gujarat riots and his association with the Ayodhya campaign in the 1980s. Now is the time when we need to see confidence-building measures that are intercommunal, rather than a picking at old scars and wounds. Past conflicts need to be put to rest, not exhumed, a truth the Mr Modi would be wise to contemplate.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 16th, 2014.
Long-dead musicians in the form of respected Shehnai player Ustad Bismillah Khan have now been dragged into the fray. In life, he and his family were determinedly apolitical — but the family playing at a Congress party rally for Rahul Gandhi has been portrayed otherwise, much to their chagrin. No matter the clarification that their performance in no way should be taken as an endorsement, the allegation that it was will become another brick in the wall that divides Muslim and Hindu in India. With there shortly to be a re-swinging of the home-policy compass in India under Narendra Modi, the sense of unease is palpable — and not just in Muslim communities. Mr Modi has been conspicuously silent on a number of crucial incidents, most notably the 2002 Gujarat riots and his association with the Ayodhya campaign in the 1980s. Now is the time when we need to see confidence-building measures that are intercommunal, rather than a picking at old scars and wounds. Past conflicts need to be put to rest, not exhumed, a truth the Mr Modi would be wise to contemplate.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 16th, 2014.