By, Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: “We don’t want to criticize anybody but the fact of the matter is that, the entire Muslim leadership has always ignored Dalit Muslims. Be it Jamiat Ulema Hind, Milli Council or any other organization, their attitude towards Dalit Muslims can only be described as indifferent,” complained a group of Dalit Muslim leaders.
Hafeez Ahmad Hawari, president All India Jamiatul Hawwarin, Captain Hameed and Mohammad Saleem, belong to Hawwarin community. Hawwarin is an Arabic word for washer man, which is Muslim counterpart of what is generally called as “Dhobi” in India.
L to R, Hafeez Ahmad Hawari, Mohammad Saleem and Captain Hameed in the rally demandig Schedule Caste status to Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christ
They were talking to TwoCircles.net, from the sidelines of a protest rally, organized to demand Schedule Caste status for Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims, at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on July 21, 2010.
“We would have got SC status much back, had the Muslim leadership taken our cause seriously and sincerely, but the tragic and unfortunate fact is that, they have never taken us seriously. They have been and they are still involved in their own petty ego fights,” they rued.
Ali Anwar and Dr. Ejaz Ali exploited Dalit Muslims
“Please don’t talk about people like Ali Anwar and Dr. Ejaz Ali. They haven’t done any thing for Dalit Muslims. They have just exploited us to go up the ladder of power,” they said.
You might not have heard their names, but in the struggle for the betterment of backward Dalit Muslims, they are as old as people like Ali Anwar and Dr. Ejaz Ali. They claim of being at the forefront of the Dalit Muslims’ struggle to get equality in the society which is very much caste conscious.
It is important to mention here that Mr. Ali Anwar and Dr. Ejaz are politicians from Bihar, who have been associated with the cause of backward Muslims including Dalit Muslims. Because of their decade long struggle they not only became famous but also eventually became Member of Parliament in 2006 and 2008 respectively.
“Intitially all of us were together. I, Dr. Ejaz, Ali Anwar, Usman Halalkhor, Nooruddin Pamaria and others. In fact, I also became vice-president of United Muslim Morcha, an organization created by Dr. Ali. But gradually because of their own selfish interests they broke the organization and also broke the momentum of struggle of Dalit Muslims and created many groups and sub groups,” said Mr. Hawari.
L to R, Captain Hameed and Mohammad Saleem, poster ofJamiatul Hawwarin in the background
He pointed out that, on 1st of May 1994, Dr. Ali formed “Backward Muslim Morcha,” which later on became “United Muslim Morcha”. When differences cropped up between Mr. Anwar and Dr. Ali, then on 24th of October 1998, Mr. Anwar formed “Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz.”
Nominated on SC seat but later removed
Mr. Hawari claimed that on 12th November 2003, he was nominated from Seemapuri assembly constituency in Delhi Legislative Assembly, which is a Schedule Caste (SC) reserve seat. But later on the election authorities told him, that he might be a Hawwarin but he is a Muslim; and Muslims can not be an SC, as per the Constitutional Order of 1950 Para 3.
Dalit Muslim leaders never encouraged
Mr. Hawari said that complete absence of Dalit Muslim leaders is the main reason, why the interests of Dalit Muslims have been ignored.
“We don’t have Dalit Muslim leaders and the credit for that goes to leaders like Mr. Anwar and Mr. Ali. They didn’t ever encourage Dalit Muslim leaders who could have led their community. Instead after tasting power, they just ignored us.”
There used to be a person called Usman Halalkhor, who had the potential to lead Dalit Muslims. Initially he used to be Ali Anwar’s close aide. But reportedly, when Mr. Ali Anwar felt that he is being involved in activities against him, he threw him out of his powerful circle.
Need to come out of OBC leaders’ shadow
Mr. Hawari strongly argued, “It is high time Dalit Muslim struggle should come out of the shadow of non Dalit leaders like Mr. Ali Anwar and Dr. Ejaz. They should create their own destiny. In terms of number, we are more than a billion and if we become united then we can change the political demography of India.”
Mr. Anwar is an Ansari, a caste which comes under OBC in Bihar. Dr. Ali is a Kojda, which is Muslim counterpart of vegetable seller.
Mr. Hawari pointed out that the struggle of Dalit Muslims needs to be distinguished from that of Backward Muslims or “Pasmanda” Muslims”, precisely because the socio-economic condition of these two groups are different, a fact proved by the Sacchar Committee Report.
The report refers to the pathetic condition of Arzals, which is a group of sub castes which are Muslim counterparts of Hindu Dalits.
Arzals include Dhobi, Nut, Bakkho, Pamaria (dancers and singers at celebratory occasions) prominent among others.
He highlighted the fact that unlike Arzals, backward Muslims like Ansaris are much more socio-economically and politically empowered.
Mr. Anwar dismissed allegations
When this correspondent contacted Mr. Anwar for his reaction, he dismissed all the charges as frustration of disgruntled individuals.
“What I have done for the backward and dalit Muslims can not be judged by what few disgruntled individuals say. You go out and talk to people and then ask about my contribution. I have written ‘Struggle for equality’ or ‘Masawat Ki Jung’, you read that and you will understand. The whole world knows that I have created this entire movement from scratch,” he hit back.
(As an attempt to put Dalit Muslims’ struggle for equality and justice in proper perspective, this is the first part of TCN’s series on the situation of the community.)