DARK INDIA

Who was Muhammad Akhlaq? He was a young hard working Muslim living in a village in India. One day the village priest told the Hindus of the village that Muhammad Akhlaq had slaughtered a cow and that its meat was in a freezer in his home. Hardly anything to bother about yet the enraged crazy mob of Hindu zealots attacked Akhlaq’s home dragged him out and bludgeoned him to death. Akhlaq’s wife was bruised and his young son suffered head injuries in the senseless attack and is fighting for his life in the ICU of the hospital. The mad Hindus have been arrested but their supporters have threatened that there will be consequences if they are not released.

Who was Graham Staines? He was an Australian missionary working to better the lot of the people in the province of Orissa, India. He was attacked by a mob of crazed Hindu fundamentalists for his work. He sought refuge in his car with his two terrified young sons. The mad Hindus set fire to the car refusing to let them come out. Graham Staines and his two young sons were roasted alive in the car. It is not known if anyone was punished or even arrested.

Who was Esan Jaffery? He was an Indian Muslim living in Gujarat state of India when the present Prime Minister of India was the Chief Minister there. In 2002 rioting Hindus with the support or complete indifference of the state killed him and more than 2000 other Muslims. Mr Jaffery’s widow is seeking justice through India’s judicial system. She is unlikely to get it.

Beef has been banned in some states in India. A Hindu radical movement called Sam’adhan Sena is spreading across India. They patrol the streets looking for anyone eating beef so that he can be killed. The cow is worshipped by Hindus in India and some even drink cow urine. Yet India is the second largest exporter of beef in the world. Surely the Hindus know what happens to the cows they export. They are certainly not worshipped. Indians also have no qualms over using cow hide to make footwear which is exported around the world. They must know from where the cow hide comes. So is the rage of the crazy radical fundamental Hindus only for venting against Indian Muslims?

The fundamentalist, extremist nationalist Hindu fervor is at its peak under Mr Modis government. His party the BJP is backed by the violent extremist Hindu organization called the RSS (Rajyasevam Sangh). Recently Mr Modi went to an RSS convention and with folded hands asked them for approval of his policies as Prime Minister. Mr Modi as Chief Minister of Gujarat presided over the Muslim pogrom in his state and was widely condemned. He was also denied a travel visa to the US—a ban that was revoked when he became Prime Minister and showed his willingness to brown nose the Americans.

The cheering crowd of Indians who welcomed Mr Modi in Silicon Valley must have fed on juicy beef steaks washed down with a good Californian Red. Chew on all this as you think of Shining India and Make in India—and do not forget Mr Modi’s assertion that the Hindu God with an elephants head was the first ever plastic surgery case in the world thousands of years ago!

The 1857 mutiny against British colonial rule was brutally suppressed by the British. Not only did they commit unspeakable atrocities against the Hindus and Muslims who had joined hands to throw them out of India but in the aftermath they poisoned the Hindu –Muslim relationship through a deliberate policy. Churchill is said to have gloated over the success of this divide and rule policy. The policy endures—at least among the Hindus of India.

Changing the mindset

TACSTRAT ANALYSIS

Attempts are being made to mainstream the preposterous claim that the communal problem in India was imagined. Surely, there is no smoke without fire. To believe that an entire country was founded on a farce is consensual idiocy to say the very least. Perhaps, those who aim to find faults with the thought process of Pakistan’s ideological fathers should widen the scope of criticism to Lala Lajpat Rai and Savarkar. The invocation of Hindutva and the creation of an exclusive definition of Indian citizenship were attributed to the latter while the former was a strong proponent of partitioning Punjab, Bengal and Assam based on religion. The post-colonial reality was that if the British left India and Indians to grapple with issues emerging out of the communal challenges faced, the majority (Hindus) would prevail over the Muslims and push them into a corner. Given the uncompromising and stubborn attitude of the Congress when it came to addressing the Hindu-Muslim problem, such a situation could have easily arisen where the Muslim elite would struggle to find its place in the power structure to in any way represent their community effectively in a united India. Pinning the entire blame on one community—a minority that warranted the use of a ‘microscope’ for the division of the subcontinent is a bit of exaggeration. It was the inability of India’s two popular political forces to inspire trust and forge a consensus on working for the betterment of their people.

Even today the problem is the same and the hostility in the relationship between the two neighbors despite sharing a common history is understandable. The responsibility for the lack of bilateral cooperation on various issues of mutual interest cannot solely be shouldered by the Pakistani side. Fingers cannot solely be pointed towards Pakistan’s ideological roots and the ‘moth eaten’ country’s struggle with stability. Pakistan is a reality. In real life, it isn’t about the cards you’re dealt, it’s about how you play the hand. Or let’s go closer to home. In Nehru’s words, “the hand you’re dealt is determinism, the way you play it is free will”. A sensible way to make use of free will in this case is to try to cooperate with the neighbor-next-door for regional integration and cooperation to safeguard the security objectives of both countries which are intertwined.

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