Repeated debate has always meant more TRPs but never really a step forward
By Nita Khan for TwoCircles.net,
It was August 22, 2011. A week after Anna Hazare’s fast unto death had started at the Ram Lila Maidan. The India Against Corruption (IAC) movement had gathered enough steam and the television channels with almost 24X7 coverage were adding fuel to the fire.
In the heat generated against corruption, against politicians, against the system, against the establishment and of course against the Congress, several Indians in Delhi and across India had started joining hands with IAC. It was then, almost a week after the hi-voltage drama started when Syed Ahmed Bukhari, Imam of the Jama Masjid, Delhi, asked Muslims not to participate in the agitation as its slogans ‘Vande Mataram’ and ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ were “against the tenets of Islam.”
Earlier, in an attempt to dissociate themselves from alleged right wing connections, the team IAC had changed the backdrop of the stage – from Mother India to just a huge face of Mahatma Gandhi – and also brought in Muslim intelligentsia, especially those from left wing. The result was obvious. The teeming thousands that thronged the Ramlila Maidan over those 15 days includes scores of Muslims, who were oblivious to the slogans and just wanted to get rid of corruption. But as was evident from Bukhari’s appeal, on political level, there were always the objections.
“We have no objection to India Against Corruption’s fight (against corruption) but Anna Hazare should include Muslims in his fight too. Muslims cannot be included with Vande Mataram,” Bukhari had told me then (Not exact words, but words to this effect, from what I remember from 2011).
I remember, the very next day, Dr Ali Javed from the Progressive Writers’ Association had trashed his idea. “Maadare Vatan (love your motherland) was a slogan coined in Urdu/Hindusthani long back. It simply means salutation to the motherland. And it has been used since the freedom movement. Why should anybody oppose Vande Mataram?”
Dr Javed had spoken from the stage but some elderly Muslims in the crowd, who had agreed with him, had even claimed that the slogan ‘Maadare Vatan’ dated back to the 19th century when it were the Muslims from Delhi who ran against the British before the 1857 Uprising.
The sentiments about Maadare Vatan that the elderly Muslims had shared were evident even in 2011, more than 150 years later. With the crowds sloganeering in full patriotic fervour with the tricolour held high, there was no way one could tell if the crowd had any Muslims. But yes, young Muslims were there as I could make out from names asked, some of them volunteering with the IAC.
The reason I remember it today is, of course, MIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi’s comments. Be it Vande Mataram or Bharat Mata Ki Jai, the two slogans have always evoked strong reactions from a big section of Muslims. Owaisi, perceived to be the new voice of the Muslims, has found a political opportunity in it.
While re-searching for the story in 2011, I had come across journalist Aziz Burney’s blog where he had tried to understand the other side. In his post अब एक नज़र विभिन्न विचार धाराओं पर भी-2 dated November 24, 2009, he said:
“यहां मैं यह भी कहना चाहूंगा कि कोई क़ानून बनाकर, ज़ोर जबरदस्ती करके किसीको अपनी मां से प्यार करने के लिए मजबूर नहीं कर सकता। किसी के प्रति प्यार पैदा करने के लिए क़ानून में कोई तरीक़ा नहीं है, लेकिन किसी व्यक्ति को यह एहसास अवश्य कराया जासकता है कि यदि उसने अपनी मां से मोहब्बत नहीं की, उसकी सेवा नहीं की तो मां के क़दमों में जो जन्नत है, वह उसे नहीं मिलेगी। जहां हम पैदा हुए हैं, उसे हम मादरे वतन(मातृभूमि) कहते हैं, इस मादरे वतन की अपनी मां के साथ तुलना करूं तो यह कोई मज़हब विरोधी काम नहीं है, जिस का दोहन हमने सारी ज़िदगी किया, जिसका अनाज और पानी अंतिम सांस तक पिया, उस का कोई अधिकार हमारे ऊपर है या नहीं?”
He also invoked Hadis to draw a parallel to what the land where one is born is called and why one should love it. But at the same time, he was very clear no one can enforce love for mother (or for that matter motherland).
Coming back to Owaisi’s reaction. Even when some learned Muslims take him (Owaisi) lightly saying, “He knows how to be in news”, the main stream media laps up every statement that he makes in any corner of India. Apparently in response to what RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said, Owaisi declared in a meeting in Maharashtra, “Even if at a knife’s point, I would not say Bharat Mata Ki Jai.”
Now, even when one agrees or not with what Bhagwat says, does it call for such an extreme reaction? Owaisi has mastered the art of using the media. The reasons he gave for not chanting the slogan is “because the Constitution does not require (him) to.” For other leaders, such as Bukhari, the most common reason is Islam does not permit salutations to anybody other than Allah.
The topic is currently a hot favourite in all media. But unfortunately the entire debate is centred on either criticising or defending Owaisi, and,whether what he spoke is right or wrong. He is an elected Member of the Parliament and there is a belief that he is a popular face among the Muslims. But what if some Muslims do not have a problem with uttering any slogans?What if more than some Muslims feel that expressing patriotism will not in any way be against their respect for their prophet or their religion.
But as usual, the media will debate the issue superficially and then, moves on to next topic.It is high time the media – both the main stream media and the community media – reached out to the common men – and of course women – from the Muslim community to know exactly what they want. Do these common Muslim men and women identify with what the Owaisis and the Bukharis of the world says?