[Reader-list] Being Muslim in "India Today"

[Lalit Ambardar]

One wonders why does your ( it is not directed at any individual,please- it is all those who flaunt their so called self acquired secular credentials only selectively) clock stop at the demolition of that disputed dilapidated structure in Ayodhya ?Come December 6, you have every body writing obituaries to the demolished structure.This dispute has a history.
 
If only you had cared to know & speak about how kalashnikov wielding Kashmiri pan Islamists roamed freely in the streets of Kashmir & selectively targetted hapless Hindu Pandits in 1989-90 forcing them to flee leaving their homes & hearths behind. World continues to remain silent as the Hindu Pandits continue to live as refugees in their own country. The secular activism also went dumb when brazen intolerance was displayed in Srinagar streets recently against allotment of a mere 100 acres of land for the development of temporary facilities along the arduous Amarnath pilgrimage route at those uninhabitable heights.
Similarly  no concern is shown for those credulous wailing mothers,orphans,widows whose  dear ones continue to fall prey to  pan islamic indoctrination & the  mindless bloody violent movement that seeks secession of Muslim majority Kashmir valley from  secular india. Terror commanders who self admittedly brought in weapons from across the borders & founded 'gun' culture in the valley have been allowed to wear the of politicians' masks,  courtesy the self acclaimed secularists. It was India Today that hosted one such pan Islamist terror commander as a panelist along with who & who of Indian elite in their convention held in March this year- according him international celebrity status. There wasn't any uproar. Only poor Kashmiri Hindu Pandit refugees protested outside the venue-they were lathicharged & hauled up by the police and of course it did not become a news( the protest & the police action that followed).
 
To suggest that Muslim- ness of thousands of believers can be preserved only in madrassas sounds a bit absurd. Let the community come out of the ghettos, be part of the main stream & you will see the integration. And it is happening, in spite of the attempts to keep the community in the self pitying mode perpetually.Look at the support the community has extended to the police in Maharashtra in apprehending the suspects.It is important to understand that there is a problem of extreme pan Islamism inspired indoctrination & it needs to be addressed. By continuing to remain in denying mode we are only increasing the vulnerability. That young Bangluru born aero space engineer did not blow himself up in faraway Glasgow to avenge some perceived injustice back home.
 
And by the way where else than in India the Hindu traditions are expected to be preserved - not in Arabia or Europe certainly.
There is definitely no ban on Eid celebrations in schools. Where ever there are mixed neighborhoods you will find bonhomie.
Even x-mass & new year are celebrated in schools....& there should be no reason to intentially avoid celebrating Eid.. there are no qualms about the valentine even.
 
Muslims are equal shareholders of India as Hindus & others are & it will be blasphemous to differentiate contributions in the nation building process.Let us stop being parochial & selective.
Regards all
LA
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> Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:59:15 +0530> From: saminasarai at gmail.com> To: reader-list at sarai.net> Subject: [Reader-list] Being Muslim in "India Today"> > This is a piece I wrote for India Today but the version that has appeared in> the magazine is an edit that I did not agree to. It's not clear to me how> that happened since I edited the longer article down to this final version> and sent it in to them. But the magazine is out and I am both angry and> saddened at their careless editing of ideas that are particularly under> siege at this point of time.> > So, here is my edit and I would be glad if it was circulated widely on the> net - more widely than the magazine!> > Samina Mishra> > > Not far from L18, in the posh part of Jamia Nagar, is a house on a> tree-lined avenue that will always be home to me. But my life, with all its> easy privileges, could not be more different from Atif and Sajid's, the two> young men shot as alleged terrorists at L18. I contain multitudes, Whitman> so eloquently said. But we live in a time when even multitudes are forced to> lay claim to a singular label. And so by writing this, perhaps, I will> forever be labelled the voice of the liberal secular Muslim. A voice that is> accused of not speaking up. Ironically, it is this very tyranny of labels> that grants me this space in a mainstream national magazine.> > As someone with a Muslim first name and a Hindu surname, I suppose I have> always swung between labels - a poster girl for communal harmony or a> confused, rootless individual, depending on who was doing the labelling. I> went to a public school and have never worn a burkha. I might escape being> thrown in the big cauldron with "Islamic Terrorists" but I will certainly be> added to the one for "misguided intellectuals". While there is no mistaking> that it is zealous nationalists who seek to light the fire under the first> cauldron, the other is a bone of contention between those who seek to define> for me how to be Indian and those who seek to define for me how to be> Muslim. My condemnation of the demolition of the Babri Masjid, Imrana's rape> or the media circus around Gudiya will always be seen in the context of my> privileged background, my gender, my religious identity. Perhaps, it can be> no other way.> > In this rhetoric of binaries of "us and them", it is difficult to find the> space to create a new paradigm of discussion. And so, in conversations that> throw up Islamic terrorists, rigid religious beliefs, Pakistan and madrasas,> the response is inevitably another set of questions - why is the Bajrang Dal> not labelled a terrorist outfit, why is the growing public display of Hindu> festivals like Navratras and Karva Chauth not considered rigid religious> beliefs, why should Muslims in India be answerable for what goes on in> Pakistan, what spaces other than madrasas are available for thousands of> believing Muslims who choose to get educated and still retain their> Muslim-ness. As a Muslim in India today, not only are you fighting to shrug> off the label of fundamentalist- if not terrorist - but you are also> succumbing to a paradigm of dialogue which has been set for homogenous> communities with clear markers of identities.> > But how does one fight that when shared cultural spaces, other than those> created by the market, shrink? How does one speak of the diversity of being> Indian when Diwali is celebrated in schools and Eid just in Muslim homes?> How does one avoid a singular label for experiences that are diverse and yet> have a common thread running through them - the experience of a tailor in> Ahmedabad whose Hindu patrons have stopped giving work to, the butcher in> Batla House who couldn't get a bank loan, the software professional who will> now have to watch every single byte that leaves his computer.> > Being Muslim in India today means many things to many people. But how easy> it is to forget that one fundamental reality. How easy it is to say, as> someone said to me after the Delhi blasts - "These are all educated Muslims.> Don't they know that their bombs can also kill their own?" As if everyone> with a Muslim name is a terrorist's very "own".> _________________________________________> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.> Critiques & Collaborations> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with subscribe in the subject header.> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list > List archive: <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/>
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