By TwoCircles.net staff reporter
New Delhi : Indian Muslims’ response to Tehelka expose has been overwhelming – from hailing it and congratulating the channel and its investigating journalist to demanding Modi’s expulsion forthwith and imposition of President Rule in the State. But in view of the strength of the community in the plural society of India as well as its growing number of ‘leaders’, institutions and organisations, one simply wishes a much greater response to it – like the one the community registered on the Shah Bano case judgement of the Supreme Court in 1986 – would have been in the fitness of things.
Instead of staging organised peaceful demonstrations countrywide to exert pressure on the government to get their genuine demands fulfilled – which they did only at some places, the Muslim leaders largely remained content with issuing statements for the purpose. Even the organisations with large following the country over like Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind and Jamaat-e-Islami Hind chose to remain conspicuous by their chamber action.
However, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) called upon the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the National Minorities Commission (NMC) for action against Narendra Modi and others who have been alleged on the tapes to have aided and abetted in carrying out the Gujarat carnage 2002. In his petitions along with copies of the Tehelka IUML president G.M. Banatwala urged the NHRC and NMC to recommend strongly the removal of the chief minister and imposition of President Rule in Gujarat.
Banatwala’s petitions stressed that "there can be no justice nor any availability of even the basic human rights in Gujarat under Modi rule."
Some cities and towns both in South and North India however witnessed demonstrations organised by Muslims, while in some other cities and towns Muslims joined the demonstrations organised by political parties like Communist Party of India (M) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
In a rally organised by RJD at Jantar Mantar here Tuesday (November 6) Muslims participated in large numbers. Speaker after speaker, including RJD Delhi Pradesh president Mahendra Yadav, who led the procession, Muhammad Ali and Ateeq Khan demanded from the government to arrest Modi immediately and deliver justice to the victims.
Earlier, on Sunday, October 28, a large number of Muslims under the banner of Muslim Yuva Aatank Virodhi Samiti staged a demonstration at Jantar Mantar. The protesters led by the Samiti’s chairman Muhammad Shakeel Saifi demanded that Modi be hanged to death and legal action taken BJP, VHP and Bajrang Dal. They also burnt Modi’s effigy and demanded ban on these communal party and fascist organisations.
On next Sunday, November 4, Muslims joined RJD dharnas at the Income Tax roundabout and Kargil Chowk in Patna to demand resignation from Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on moral grounds on Anant Singh issue and death sentence for Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
Marching from Sabzi Bagh to Kargil Chowk, the protesters, led by RJD district president Devmuni Singh Yadav and Khurshid Alam Siddiqui, said since Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has been caught with his hands in the cookie jar as proved by the recent Tehelka tapes, he should be tried and sent to the death chamber for inciting riots in Gujarat that resulted in the loss of thousands of Muslim lives in that state.
Vowing to intensify their stir, the RJD leaders said the party would go to each village in Bihar and expose the true nature of the NDA government which was against the minorities as indicated by its failure to condemn the Modi government.
Several cities in Uttar Pradesh witnessed anti-Modi protests on different days. On October 27 Muslims in Rampur, under the banner of Akhil Bharatiya Chatra Mahasangh, took to the streets. The procession led by Syed Mumtaz Mian Phool was carrying an effigy of Narendra Modi. Passing through Bazar Nasrullah Khan, the protesters reached Chauraha Hathikhana where they set Modi’s effigy on fire.
Addressing the procession, Mumtaz Mian said Tehelka sting operation has provided solid proofs of Modi’s anti-Muslim mind. "All the criminals who have confessed their crimes and revealed three-day free hand granted by Modi should be hanged to death, and the parties that love to fomenting communal tension in the country should be banned," he said.
Other places in Uttar Pradesh which witnessed anti-Modi protests include Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur and Kairana.
In Hyderabad different socio-political groups organised sit-ins and staged protest marches, which witnessed active participation of Muslims, on October 27 and 28 to demand immediate action Narendra Modi.
The very next day of the expose on the television screen fell on Friday, October 26, which the community exploited to the hilt to register their voice. In almost all big mosques where the most burning issue confronting the community is taken up for the Friday sermon, the Ulema and Khateeb came rather heavily down upon the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre for not prosecuting Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi and his henchmen whose role in the Gujarat genocide is now a proven truth. They urged the government not only to sack Modi and his government and clamp President Rule but to book them and postpone the Assembly elections in the State scheduled the next month.
Hailing the Tehelka expose as a commendable move, Imam Shahi Masjid Fatehpuri Delhi Dr Mufti Muhammad Mukarram Ahmad said the way Tehelka made the criminals responsible for the genocide of Muslims confess their crimes on spy camera has brought the truth of the genocide to limelight. "It has once again revealed to the world the fascist face of Sangh Parivar, BJP and Narendra Modi."
Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind general secretary and Member Parliament Maulana Mahmood Madani said it was no revelation at all. "It has been my firm belief that the Modi administration made the genocide of Muslims happen in an organised manner."
Deputy Speaker of Delhi Assembly Shuaib Iqbal said there is now no shred of doubt that the Gujarat genocide had the sanction of Narendra Modi. He called upon the UPA government at the Centre to sack the Gujarat government and arrest Modi. "Now the real test is of the Congress-led government. If it does not act against Modi in spite of having so many and so solid proofs, it will fall into the cauldron of doubts and suspicions," he said and asked the Election Commission to impose a ban on Modi and his party from contesting elections.
Chairman Delhi Wakf Board Chaudhury Matin Ahmad hoped the ‘Operation Kalank’ of Tehelka provided sufficient proofs for the judiciary to pronounce judgements and book the culprits.
Delhi Pradesh Janata Dal (S) Haji Ikram Hassan said the Tehelka episode has brought into light how the Modi government had filed a false affidavit in the Supreme Court whereby they denied any case splitting open the womb of a pregnant woman and killing the foetus; now the confession of the real culprit is on record.
Talking to the Urdu daily Hindustan Express (October 28), Maulana Anzar Shah Kashmiri said the revelations made by the Tehelka‘s peration Kalank are lesser than what really happened during the Gujarat genocide. He added the government at the Centre ought to have taken action against Modi soon after the genocide but the Congress has not taken and will not take any action against him; the Congressmen will simply shed crocodile tears.
The Maulana also advised the Muslims not to take to streets and to teach the political parties with anti-Muslim stance in the next general elections.
Tanzeem Ulama-i-Hind general secretary Maulana Ahmad Khizar Masoodi Kashmiri said the crime of Modi is worse than that of Hitler.
Endorsing the view of Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, Maulana Masoodi said a case should be filed Modi for his crime against humanity and stringent most punishment be handed down to him.
Urdu dailies carried editorials and articles on the various aspects of Tehelka sting operation for several days. In
his article "Tehelka Operation: Some Important Questions" (Rashtriya Sahara, October 29), Sayeed Hameed has raised many pertinent questions like: who will reap the political benefits of the sting operation? Narendra Modi? BJP? BJP rebels? Congress and other opposition parties in Gujarat? Will Modi and his henchmen be handcuffed before the Assembly election as a result of the em>Tehelka expose? Can Modi be sacked and President Rule imposed? Will Modi and killer cohorts be banned from contesting elections?
"If ‘NO’ is the answer to these questions, the Tehelka operation will not serve any purpose," he said.
In his article carried by the Sahara October 31), Shakeel Shamshi criticised the Congress for playing soft Hindutva card. He writes: "Thanks God, the truth of Gujarat is before the world today. But the Congress-ld government at the Centre is not to take any action because it does not care for right or wrong; rather it cares that if it takes any action against Modi, the party would lose the votes of those who believe in soft Hindutva. It is to please this very section of the (Gujarati) society that Congress president Sonia Gandhi during her visit to Gujarat cancelled at the last moment her meeting with Mrs Zakia Jafri, wife of Late Ihsan Jafri.
Similarly, Mrs Gandhi could not spare any time to visit the camps where Muslims are suffering. So it is futile to expect from the Congress to take any action on the sting operation."