By Syed Ali
Come election season and political parties of all hues (Red, Green, Saffron and a mix of all) and their ring leaders vie with one another in wooing Muslims, forgetting their track record. The party which produced modern Nero to plan extinction of that sub-species of Homo sapiens called Muslims from the face of India and when they failed they produced a parrot that reproduces, not from the roof tops but from the podia of the public meetings the choicest abuses against Muslims, much to the glee and merriment of his masters. Even the iron man cracked at this time and appeals to Muslims to vote for his party.
Those who fight for Muslims and landless poor elsewhere, target Muslims on their home grounds, to favour the big investor and deprive land to the poor Muslims.
The party that dons the mask of secularism and boasts of its role in the freedom struggle, forgets conveniently, the role of Muslims themselves in the freedom struggle and not only remains a silent spectator when atrocities are committed in the states ruled by opposition parties, but commits the same type of atrocities on Muslims in the states ruled by its own party. They appoint their own henchmen as heads of Minorities Commission and pressurise them not to publish the investigation reports of the police atrocities committed on Muslim youths. This time the great Maratha man who held the defence portfolio during the Bombay riots, 1993, and who saw to it that the army entered late enough to cause maximum damage to Muslims by the sons of the soil, now comes to the rescue of Muslims and absolves them of the charges of terrorism by finally coming out with the greatest truth of the day that it was the Hindutva terrorists who were behind the bomb blasts in the country because there are no bomb blasts from the time they were arrested and that Muslim youths were unnecessarily harassed.
Now the Rajasthan police also reveal that even the Ajmer blasts were the handiwork of the Hindutva group involved in Malegaon blasts. In A.P. police opened fire and shot to kill the Muslim youths in the aftermath of the Mecca Masjid bomb blasts, A Commission was appointed with Justice Bhasker Rao. The Commission held hearings and submitted report shortly afterwards. But the state government sits over it.
The AP State Minorities Commission appointed Mr. Ravichandra, a young and honest advocate as Enquiry Commission to investigate and submit his report. The Report was withheld by the Chairman of the Minorities Commission for a long time and then handed to the Government. Human rights wise it is a horror report. It shows India has its own Guantanamo Bays. It is full of stories of kidnappings, torture and wrongful confinement. Literature wise it is a literary piece of work. Hats off to the Advocate who had the guts to put forth the truth before the world. Even this report is suppressed by the Government. What is surprising is that the political parties, having no valid agenda, are bickering on trivialities. When they have a concrete proof of commission of atrocities by government machinery laid down in the Report of an enquiry commission appointed by a department of the same government, why don’t they use it as a weapon in their election campaigns? This shows in the matter of Muslim woes, all politicians are one.
The usually silent and sober prime minister who thought it his duty as soon as he took charge, to offer apology to the Sikh community for what happened in 1984 Anti-Sikh riots, but did not think necessary to apologise for Muslim massacre in the much recent riots of Gujarat in 2002. He is the person who was, once, more worried about signing Indo-US nuclear deal than saving his own government, knowing fully well that the deal would benefit most the lobby that has harmed the Muslims all over the world. Even this gentleman PM now sounds remorseful about harassment of Muslim youths in the name of terrorism.
As for the regional parties, those who were part of NDA, the alliance which ruled the country and the Gujarat state during 2002 state-sponsored riots, can not be trusted by Muslims. Gujarat police walked over the state in A.P. during the period of this party’s rule and the state government handed over whoever they pointed their finger at as the terrorists. This was the party which started yielding to the Gujarat Government pressures to hand over scapegoats from the state for foisting as terrorists.
Now, the party which claims to champion the cause of Muslims and which has occupied a seat in the parliament and five seats in the State Assembly, besides capturing the Municipal Corporation of the State capital of Andhra Pradesh, is not free from the blame of siding with the state government and covering up their crimes against Muslims. Had they not colluded, the state government would not have committed atrocities against Muslims and washed their hands so easily. Grabbing of Awqaf lands by the government in collusion with this party is yet another story.
Sikh community has produced a journalist who hurled a shoe at the home minister as a protest against CBI giving clean chit to a person involved in inciting violence during the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. The same home minister who was at Hyderabad a few days ago had brushed aside the question of a journalist and declared the case of Muslims youths arrested on charges of terrorism was closed. No one raised an eyebrow. Muslim ministers and Members of the Legislature have no courage to raise their voice in the Parliament or the Assembly. Even ulema have tasted blood. They have jumped in to the arena for electioneering. They are after power. It is true power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
This situation is therefore vexing the Muslim voters, as to who to vote. Non-voting is liable to cause misuse of their votes. There are parties which are first-timers in the field and whose mettle is not yet tested. Why not test unknown waters then? It is finally left to the choice of the voter.