By Mahmood Asim, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: A newly formed forum of Muslim students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), named Youth Forum for Discussion and Welfare Activities (YFDA), held its first public talk on the theme of inclusiveness in democracy on Tuesday night at Koyna Hostel.
Former chief justice of Delhi high court Justice Rajinder Sachar presided over the event, while Dr Hilal Ahmad, Assistant Professor at the centre for the study of Developing Societies, delivered a lecture on the idea of democracy and need of inclusiveness in this country.
Dr Hilal Ahmad of CSDS began his speech, with the Islamic greetings of ‘Salaam’, and added that when here I start my speech with Islamic greeting it doesn’t mean I am imposing my culture upon you, instead its symbol of existence of multiculturalism. To assert your identity is very crucial question for any minority, he said, adding, “when Hindutva forces want only Indian identity of minorities and when you assert your identity as Muslim, Dalit, women, etc. you are immediately dubbed as outsiders.”
Justice Sachar in his presidential remarks appealed to youths, particularly JNU students, to be hopeful and if need be ready to stand up for constructive causes. He expressed his strong disapproval of the recent spate of attacks on Muslims over beef saying that about 98% of the beef trade in India is in the hands of Hindus and if beef exports were to decline, it would impact India’s GDP.
Defending the famous Sachar Committee report against criticism of its exclusive focus on Muslims, he asserted that minority Muslims are an integral part of India. He commented on several other issues, such as the misrepresentation of Aurangzeb in history, the authoritarianism of the Narendra Modi government stemming from the mandate of a mere 31%, and the failure of the Haryana government to assuage the fears of Muslims in Atali village during Jat-Muslim conflict over building of a mosque.
Justice Sachar also quoted Prophet Mohammad’s egalitarianism of Arabs and non-Arabs, blacks and whites; and also read out a section of Swami Vivekananda’s remarks on advaita and the equality preached by Islam.
Dr Amir Ali, who teaches Political Science at Centre for Political Studies in JNU, criticized the Narendra Modi led central government for its policies while describing the dismal situation of minorities, particularly Muslims of the country.
Earlier, while introducing the forum at the beginning of the event, General Secretary of YFDA Muhammad Umar, a research scholar in International Legal Studies at JNU, described the nature and scope of the forum. “We are a non-political group of Muslim Students at JNU; eager to participate in, or initiate at our own, any academic and intellectual discussion that human imagination can comprehend, imbibe or reflect,” Umar said.
A pamphlet circulated all over JNU with the name of YFDA on very theme of inclusiveness in democracy, read “Hashimpura , Moradabad, Bhagalpur, Nellie, Bombay, Ayodhya , Gujarat, Muzaffarnagar and Dadri are just a few names of places which have become symbols of the ‘exclusion’ of the Muslim community from the social life of the ‘largest democracy of the world’.”
Commenting on beef politics in India YFDA said that when carcasses of cows are rendered more mournable than minority lives and are used by vigilante mobs to unleash terror, it signifies a time of deep introspection.
Criticizing the left wing politics for “miserably failing” in addressing problems of Muslims in the country Asifa Zunaida, joint secretary of YFDA, put the phrase that now left has been left out from the scene.
Giving details in this regard, YFDA pamphlet reads, “The ‘Muslim Question’ in India is a favorite trope for endless debates on secularism for the left and ‘progressive forces’ and the bogey of terrorism and anti-national activities for the right. Between the charade of left and hysteria of right, voices of redressal of everyday forms of seemingly insignificant prejudices against Muslims are drowned out”.