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

Wed Oct 15 14:20:34 IST 2008

Dear Prabhakar

Unless I remember incorrectly, you are a poet, are you not? Where is your sensitivity? 

Samina certainly has not "blamed Hindus for everything" nor does, what she has written, suggest that "her hate for Hindus is so intense". Where is your honesty? 

Try and understand this:

- There are some who are very conscious of their Hindu identity. They have many concerns about the attacks that take place on that identity from the State or elements from outside the Hindu fold.

- From amongst those who are very conscious of their Hindu identity, there are Hindus who are higly concerned about many acts that are taking place in the name of Hindus from within the Hindu fold.

- There are also some WHO ARE NOT OBSESSED with their Hindu identity but get identified as Hindus and therefore also have concerns about acts against Hindus from the State, or from outside the Hindu fold, or from within the Hindu fold.

SIMILARLY, there are such identical paradigms amongst the Muslims and Christians etc. 

Someone who truly loves India would be a fool to ignore that or dismiss it. Taking the example of Muslims:

- There are some Muslims who are very conscious of their Islamic identity. They have many concerns about the attacks that take place on that identity from the State or elements from outside the fold of Muslims.

- From amongst those who are very conscious of their Islamic identity, there are Muslims  who are higly concerned about many acts that are taking place in the name of Islam from within the Muslim fold.

- There are also some Muslims WHO ARE NOT OBSESSED with their Islamic identity but get identified as Muslims and therefore also have concerns about acts against Muslims from the State, or from outside the fold of Muslims, or from within the Muslim fold. 

Now read Samina's article again and you might have a more sensitive appreciation of what she is trying to convey. That does not mean that you have to agree with everything she has written.

I am reproducing below, the (only) critical part of Samina's writing that was edited out by India Today:

"""""" 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. """"" 

Incidentally, asking someone to keep or remove a 'surname' is none of your business.

Kshmendra

--- On Tue, 10/14/08, Prabhakar Singh <prabhakardelhi at yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Prabhakar Singh <prabhakardelhi at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Being Muslim in "India Today"
To: "Lalit Ambardar" <lalitambardar at hotmail.com>, "Samina Mishra" <saminasarai at gmail.com>, reader-list at sarai.net
Date: Tuesday, October 14, 2008, 6:43 PM

I agree with you Lalit !
One should not try to belittle Hindus in India where their population is more
than 80%.A majority population should not be treated so shabbily like this by
the minorities.Samina should think about it before blaming Hindus for
everything.If her hate for Hindus is so intense she should correct her name
first and remove Mishra from it.It appears that this forum is dedicated for
creating Hindu-Muslim divide and hatred in the society.We should have some
restraint while writing because we are responsible to the society and the nation
as a whole.Try to integrate not divide.
Regards,
Prabhakar

----- Original Message ----
From: Lalit Ambardar <lalitambardar at hotmail.com>
To: Samina Mishra <saminasarai at gmail.com>; reader-list at sarai.net
Sent: Monday, 13 October, 2008 11:54:34 PM
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Being Muslim in "India Today"

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
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> 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".>
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