[Reader-list] MUSLIMS WANTS TO MOVE AHEAD

[A.K. Malik]

Dear Mr Rakesh,
                            My cross-comments:
1.  Development in any State is the physical attribute like roads, bridges,  
electricity, housing and never includes security aspects which comes  under Law 
and Order attributes. You can have your definition and are  free to include not 
only 2002 era but even Satyug era. A word either has  a meaning as defined or 
as  colloquially understood. So you can't  justify your view in the garb of an 
inclusive definition which doesn't  exist.You are surely entitled to have a 
different perception than what  others have.
2. I have not talked about Modi but your Modiphobia has  forced you to defame 
Modi as a CM and as a persecutor of  miniorities.Please note Development is not 
Modi and  vice-versa.You are surely entitleted to have your views on Modi. You  
are free to do Modi bashing whether right or wrong and nobody can do  much about 
it. Please don't deny the facts of physical and financial  development in 
Gujarat just because Modi is the CM.
3. Just tell me  why Maulana had to retract his views on development and you 
still stick  to yours? I think it is not because Maulana was right or wrong and 
you  are right but something different.Perhaps you are very well aware but  
would not come out with.

 Regards,(A.K.MALIK)
 





________________________________
From: Rakesh Iyer <rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com>
To: A.K. Malik <akmalik45 at yahoo.com>
Cc: Bipin Trivedi <aliens at dataone.in>; Sarai List <reader-list at sarai.net>
Sent: Sun, January 30, 2011 12:27:04 PM
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] MUSLIMS WANTS TO MOVE AHEAD


Dear Malik jee

I want to make three arguments about what you want to say:

1) When anybody talks about development of Gujarat, I do bring 2002 in 
perspective because that in a way is also related to development. When the BJP 
or Modi tries to make it seem that security is a question related to but 
separate from development, I disagree. Security is very much a part of 
development (integral part), since for me security enhances freedoms. But 
security from the fear of Muslims going to kill Hindus or vice versa is also 
important. And on that front, I don't believe Gujarat has changed much from when 
he took over or at least since 2002. 

On the other hand, I am not a fan of big dams which will displace people. His 
support of the Sardar Sarovar dam project is something I can't accept. So also 
his idea of these huge summits where land is literally being given to 
industrialists for a petty amount and then people are asked to leave, as the 
Nirma project brought forward. 

There are sectors where Gujarat seems to be the shining light. Agriculture is 
one such thing. But is it shining? And will its fallouts be good? I don't know. 
That I accept. 

And for Modi being a great CM, I would say give him Bihar or any other state 
like Maharashtra also. Let us see what he does there. 

2) It's not Modiphobia. It's Hindutva-phobia. On that I very much agree. It's a 
phobia of the kind of world being created where minorities have to live on the 
goodwill of the majority, probably to the detriment of their own rights and 
liberties which they should enjoy as human beings. It's a phobia of the ideology 
which supposedly puts Hindus on a higher pedestal than others, even though all 
of us are human beings. It's a phobia of making some seem patriotic and others 
seem as enemies, when they may not be so. 

It's a complete caricature of the belief in Hinduism, and instead tries to make 
it seem like a Western religious model of Christianity or the barbaric model of 
Islam which it wants to imitate, having one God and one religious book and 
subscribing to just one view and all that. 

That is something I am completely against. And I would rather have that phobia. 
It's something Modi represents as an ideology, though how much he believes in it 
is for him alone to decide. 

Of course, that does not in any way mean support of the Congress. That party is 
equally to blame for the rise of the BJP. And that is what happens when people 
tend to pander to extremism rather than sticking to centrist views. What the RSS 
could not ever do, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi successfully did: make BJP the 
major opposition party of Congress. Congratulations to them on that! 

3) Maulana has his view and so do others. To criticize either of them for having 
just views like that which are not like yours, without any basis, is wrong. 
Maulana has his view and his justification and so do those criticizing him. 

I think it's just more important to be on the side of facts though. I don't 
think Maulana or his detractors have facts put out won whether Muslims have also 
come ahead under his regime or not. Of course, what happened in 2002 should be a 
shame for Modi also, in my view (though whether he feels it or not, I don't know 
again). And it can't be about just one Gandhinagar or one Kalol or one 
Chamanpura. 

It has to be about entirety of Muslims since 2002. That has to be the issue. I 
hope the Census 2011 figures give some indication. 

Rakesh