New Delhi: A 16-member Muslim delegation led by Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind president Mahmood Asa’d Madani met the Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday, April 5, and expressed its concern about rising Islamophobia and hate crimes in India.
Coming on the heels of recent communal clashes on Ram Navami in several parts of the country, the meeting assumes significance as Shah is learned to have assured the delegation of “strict action” against those who indulge in communal violence.
This is the first such instance when Shah, as the home minister, has been unequivocal about the state’s role in containing the frequent incidents of low-intensity communal riots during the Prime Minister Narendra Modi regime.
The Muslim delegation quoted Shah as saying: “We are also concerned about the religious tension and bloodshed this time around on the occasion of Ram Navami festival. In the states where we do not have our party governments, we have tried to control it through the governor or chief minister, and where we have our governments, whatever incidents have happened, strict action will be taken.”
In a similar vein, Shah was also reported to have asked the Muslim delegation to report various incidents of mob lynching of Muslim citizens to the home ministry and assured them that cases of murder will be registered against all such crimes immediately – if they have not been done as of yet.
Cow protectors to be ‘restrained’, ‘BJP targeted by media’
According to the delegation, the home minister also said that vigilante cow protection groups that have mushroomed all over the country and which frequently indulge in hate crimes “need to be restrained”, when pointed at the recent lynching incidents in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka.
Often, the BJP ranks, including its members of parliament like Parvesh Verma, Giriraj Singh and many others, have fuelled anti-Muslim rhetoric on different political platforms. Shah, too, has been accused of making provocative remarks against Muslims and contributing substantially to the communal frenzy as a BJP leader.
Also read: ‘They Were Taught a Lesson in 2002’: Amit Shah Says at Campaign Rally in Gujarat
However, the saffron party’s top leadership has appeared to soften its stance in the run-up to the 2024 parliamentary polls and has conducted several programmes as a part of its outreach towards Pashmanda (backward) Muslims. Yet, its efforts have not been taken seriously as the BJP rank and file, and the party’s associates in the Sangh Parivar have continued with their shrill campaign against Muslims that has led to multiple incidents of violence against minorities.
Such doublespeak is reflected in Shah’s own responses to the Muslim delegation in which he appears to see the growing communal animosity in the country as only a “law and order” problem, and not as a political corollary of the majoritarian impulses of the Narendra Modi regime. According to the delegation, Shah said that “abrogation of Article 370 should not be viewed through the lenses of Hindus and Muslims” but assured them that he would take “stern action” if he came across “any excesses by the security forces or officials in Kashmir”.
The delegation said that responding to the Muslim vilification campaign run by a section of the media, Shah said that even the BJP and the Union government have been “targeted” by the media.
On Islamic madrasas being maligned by law enforcers and media, Shah apparently told the Muslim delegation that he had “no objection to the Quran and Hadith being taught in the madrasas” but allegedly added that “children should also be imparted modern education in madrasas.”
Karnataka quota scrap
Shah was also reported to have said that the new reservation system in Karnataka which scrapped the 4% quota for backward Muslims was being misinterpreted, as they will continue to get reservations under the EWS quota. Shah sidestepped the fact that a dedicated 4% quota for backward Muslims was scrapped by the BJP state government to grant additional reservation to dominant and prominently-represented Lingayats and Vokkaligas. Backward Muslims who will now seek quota under the EWS category will have to essentially compete against people belonging to the Hindu ‘upper’ castes like Brahmins, Kshatriyas and others.
Shah, however, said that the old reservation system was problematic as “previous governments had made all Muslims backward”, while claiming that the Modi government’s policies have not been created for all, and not with “Hindus and Muslims” or any other groups in mind.
Yet, the delegation said that “the biggest issue is that Muslims are being deliberately targeted by organisations and individuals who are purportedly affiliated with the ruling party, not the government’s plans.”
Also Read: Ram Navami Violence: OIC Expresses ‘Deep Concern’, India Calls Statement ‘Communal Mindset’
“The government should accept its constitutional duty and act in this respect since incidents of Islamophobia and hate crimes have damaged the reputation of the nation,” it said, while submitting a draft of all its demands to the home minister. The delegation demanded prompt government action in matters of hate crimes, mob lynching, scrapping of Muslim reservation in Karnataka, rising communal violence and Islamophobia, vilification of the Muslim community by a section of the media, encroachments in Waqf properties, forced evictions of poor Muslims in Assam, and human rights abuses in Kashmir.
The only point of convergence between the delegation and the home minister was on their mutual opposition to same-sex marriages. The delegation told Shah that it praised the Union government’s stance against same-sex marriage in Supreme Court and that even the Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind had filed a petition in the top court against what it felt were “unnatural” unions.
The delegation comprised mostly Muslim clerics and representatives of Islamic organisations: Maulana Mahmood Asa’d Madani of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind; Maulana Asghar Ali Imam Mahdi Salafi of Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith Hind; Maulana Shabbir Nadvi of Naseh Education Trust, Bangalore; Kamal Farooqui Member from All India Muslim Personnel Board; Akhtar Al Wasa of Khusrow Foundation, Delhi; PA Inamdar of MCE Society Pune; Dr Zaheer Kazi of Anjuman Islam, Mumbai; Maulana Muhammad Salman Bajnoori from Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind; Maulana Nadeem Siddiqui of Jamiat Ulema Maharashtra; Mufti Iftikhar Ahmed Qasmi from Jamiat Ulema, Karnataka; Mufti Shamsuddin Bajli of Jamiat Ulama Karnataka; Maulana Ali Hasan Mazaheri and Maulana Yahya Karimi Jamiat Ulama Haryana-Punjab-Himachal Pradesh; Maulana Muhammad Ibrahim of Jamiat Ulama Kerala; Haji Hasan Ahmed of Jamiat Ulama Tamil Nadu; Maulana Niaz Ahmad Farooqui of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind and others.
Mahmood Madani. Photo: By arrangement
Civil society efforts bear few fruits
Interestingly, while Shah was forthcoming in meeting with the Muslim clerics, he has been reticent in meeting different civil society and other prominent civil liberties organisations which have voiced similar concerns in the past. He has even attacked them in the past for allegedly acting against the nation’s interests, both in the parliament and outside.
Yet, the home minister’s assurances to the Muslim clergy have come at a time when BJP spokespersons and activists, and other affiliates of the Sangh Parivar, have only amped up its Islamophobic rhetoric on television and elsewhere. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s radio silence over the last nine years on rising hate crimes has been interpreted by many observers as one aspect of the state’s complicity in perpetuating Islamophobia in India.
A similar effort to engage with the Sangh Parivar was initiated by some Muslim professionals like former Lt Governor of Delhi Najeeb Jung, former Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi, ex-Rajya Sabha member Shahid Siddiqui, Lt General (retired) Z.U. Shah and Saeed Shervani. The group met Mohan Bhagwat, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief twice within the last year to voice similar concerns. Bhagwat, too, had assured the group that the RSS harboured no animosity towards the Muslim community, and that he would try to restrict the Hindu extremist tendencies in India.
However, as recently as March last week, the same group shot off yet another letter to Bhagwat expressing its anguish over rising hate speech by the Hindu right in India.
“There is virtually no let-up in the consistent barrage of hate speeches, calls for genocide and acts of violence against Muslims. The recent extended anti-Muslim marches in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh were full of hate and included calls for the boycott of Muslim businesses. In fact, the hate marches in Maharashtra (duly reported in the national press) extended over months. Most of this is in police presence, without any action, and even if there is action, it’s perfunctory and people are let off with ease. This is causing anguish and immense consternation among Muslims,” the letter read.
“After our meeting with you last August, we had met a large number of influential leaders (religious and otherwise) among Muslims. With one voice they supported our initiative and we had carried this message to Bhai Krishna Gopal and others (RSS leaders). Today, there is a sense of dismay and a question on the usefulness of our efforts,’’ it added.
It remains to be seen whether home minister Shah’s assurances to the Muslim clergy be any different or not.
