By Maariyah Siddique, TwoCircles.net
Former Inspector General of Police Abdur Rahman was one of the first government officials to quit the police force in December in protest against the Citizenship Amendment Bill (now an Act) while it was still being debated in Parliament. He was appointed as the head of the investigation wing of the Maharashtra Human Rights Commission last year and has been in the Indian Police Service for more than twenty-one years, holding different positions in Maharashtra.
While announcing his resignation, Rahman said that CAA is “against the basic features of the Constitution.” He has been vocal on issues concerning the minority Muslim community in India. Recently, Rahman authored a book called, “Denial and Deprivation” that talks about the discrimination faced by Muslims after the Sachar Committee and Rangnath Mishra Commission report.
In an exclusive interview with TwoCircles.net, Rahman discusses the CAA, Delhi Police action on anti-CAA protestors and the Delhi pogrom.
TCN: What led you to take the decision to resign from the police service?
Rahman: I had already applied for voluntary resignation months ago but it was declined so I was still working in the department. But when CAA was brought by the government, I found the law to be an open discrimination against Indian Muslims. Everybody was included in the Act – Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, and only Muslims were excluded. At the same time CAA out rightly violated Article 14, 16, 21 and 25 of the Indian constitution. Equality before the law is the basic feature of our constitution and now when CAA is brought in combination with NPR and NRC, it clearly shows that the present BJP government is trying to marginalize the Muslims. In simple terms, it can be called as an attempt to end the existence of Muslims in India. This is the reason I resigned.
TCN: Given the recent surge of Islamophobia in India, do you think it is being countered sufficiently by the community’s academics, media and political leaders?
Rahman: Muslims have been fighting alone for a long time and now the poor and deprived are also facing these problems as the BJP government is trying to establish a non-Muslim India. Not only Muslims but also Dalits are facing discrimination from the government as it is an openly Hindu majoritarian government bent on trying to establish their Brahmanical cultural supremacy in India.
In Brahmanical supremacy, everybody is subordinate to the upper caste Hindus so all the weaker and vulnerable communities are suffering. But Muslims are now raising this issue and are engaging in conversations to fight but the scale of Muslim persecution is such that the fight against it is not satisfactory. This government has created so many troubles in our society at all levels. Dalits, Adivasis, Tribals and OBCs are persecuted but now I think all these communities have to come together to realize that the BJP government is against the interests of all communities.
TCN: Can you talk to us about the political under-representation of Muslims in India?
Rahman: Muslims are politically underrepresented and that is a fact. It has become more visible since BJP came to power. The political underrepresentation and political marginalization of Muslims in India has always been a fact which we all have to accept now. We as Muslims have known this but at the same time, the non-Muslims and the government in India should accept the fact that the mainstream governments in the past have also been marginalizing us.
If you look at United Nations resolutions, legal frameworks and other international bodies, they have said that the proper political representation of minorities contributes to key establishments in a country and that there should be a proper political representation of minorities in each country. You can take the example from our constitution that grants rights to SCs, STs and everyone in the political landscape. And as Muslims, we are 14.2 percent in population so we deserve around 78-80 seats in the Parliament but since the last 15 years, we are around 20 MPs in parliament and nowhere enough in state assemblies.
Political parties don’t take Muslims. Voters don’t choose Muslim candidates and all of this is because of the communalization of political space. If you analyse the political situation in the country after BJP came to power, whenever there is a public discussion on issues like inflation, unemployment, poverty and other secular issues like rozi, roti, kapda, makaan (food, clothing and shelter), even these issues are communalized by the BJP. This brings down the Muslim representation even more. Take the example of state legislative assemblies too. When Congress was in power, we had more Muslim MLAs and at state levels across the country, we are inadequately represented.
TCN: What are your views on the way Delhi Police has been tackling anti-CAA protests and slapping of UAPA on student activists?
Rahman: We have raised this issue of how in December 2019 the handling of the situation in Jamia Millia by Delhi Police was not proper.
Concerning the anti-CAA protestors, Delhi police is not acting as per law and they are basically acting as an agent of the Central government. It’s a fact that they stationed troops on the road outside the university campus and created a premise to enter the campus when they should have taken permission to enter but they didn’t. First, they entered the campus without permission and then they beat up students taking them out from hostels, bathrooms and libraries and it was basically the humiliation of Muslims and the reflex action of police responding to anti-CAA protests. And this reflex action is not uncommon. If you analyse the role and attitude of the police, their charge sheets, the cases filed by them, you can easily see it is the agent of the Central government and they are not following the law and procedures at all.
TCN: You have been vocal about Muslim issues in India and were once even accused of being biased towards the community during your tenure at Yavatmal? What do you say to this?
Rahman: This dispute is settled now and I can’t give detailed information on this but it was a written exam for state civil exams and the question paper was in Marathi only. The paper consisted of two parts – the objective and essay part. Some students wrote the essay part answers in Urdu language and if you see police recruitment Act of Maharashtra (2007), nowhere is it mentioned the answer should be only in Marathi so this issue was raised by me to allow students to write in Urdu. And after the results were declared we found that 5 or 10 more Muslims students were selected in it than the usual.
TCN: Delhi Police has submitted its latest report on the violence in northeast Delhi in February which lists prominent names including rights defenders. What is your take on the report?
Rahman: The final Police report is yet to come. They are filing chargesheet in bits and pieces and if you analyse recent police action you and I know, including the people of India and people over the world know that Muslims suffered huge losses in Delhi riots. Their houses were burnt, some 40+ Muslims were killed and the rioters targeted Muslims along with the help of police and there is video as well as photo evidence in the public domain. But the police have not taken cognizance of this and not acted against the Hindu rioters. They are just targeting Muslim elements and arresting CAA protestors.
The anti-CAA protestors have been blamed for the riots as well and those charged like Meeran Haider, Safoora Zargar and other student activists have not contributed anything to Delhi riots but they are being charged falsely. The list includes Yogendra Yadav, Harsh Mander and all human rights defenders who have followed the path of non-violence of Mahatma Gandhi and have spoken truth. But the way they have been implicated in the chargesheet by the police is totally illegal and police are not doing their duties and not acting according to law.
The police are not after the actual culprits who instigated riots like Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur etc who have openly said there should be violence against Muslims and there is proof of their incitement to violence. Even FIRs have also been filed by local complainants whose houses were destroyed in the riots but the culprits have not been questioned or called for interrogation or arrested. All we can say is Delhi police is totally working for the BJP government.
TCN: What are your views on the remarks on social media by Dr Zafarul Islam Khan in support of banning Islamophobic elements from Gulf countries?
Rahman: Gulf countries like UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman etc have workers from India – not just from the Muslim community but in fact largely largely from non-Muslim communities. Muslim workers are the second and third largest workforce in the Gulf and these countries bring workers from all over the world to provide a livelihood to them and these workers send remittances to their respective countries. This is the socio-culture milieu of the Gulf countries and their tolerant views. They don’t say anything about other religions. They usually have a tolerant setup.
Action should be taken not just against those peddling Islamophobia, but even if Muslims say anything wrong about other communities and religions, they should be identified and proper action taken against them.
TCN: Do you think with Muslim movements emerging out of anti-CAA protests, issues that plague the minority communities have received greater attention? Has it paved the way for the Sachar’s Equal Opportunity Commission (EOC) in the near future?
Rahman: Everybody is acknowledging that Muslims have come out with anti-CAA protests. Earlier, those who used to sit in Ijtimas and Tablighi Jamaat meetings and were not part of any political discourse are also now actively communicating the injustices towards Muslims, which is very welcoming. This time, all of us have come out together on the roads, organizing agitations on not just our concerns but also on secular issues and identity issues concerning all communities. It’s a good thing that Muslims are coming out on the mainstream level.
The Equal Opportunities Commission was recommended by Sachar in 2006 and it magnifies equal opportunity for diversified communities. If you see carefully, it is there in all developed countries and Sachar recommended not only to give justice to Muslims but also to other backward communities like SCs, STs, Adivasis and Dalits and it’s possible in India. By dividing governing bodies into specific tasks we can establish EOC but, unfortunately, not much more work has been done in this regard.
TCN: What does your book ‘Denial and Deprivation’ suggest as the way forward to fight Islamophobia?
Rahman: Some immediate steps that can be taken to fight Islamophobia must be at three levels – individual, community and national. If the government is not in our favour or not taking any initiatives for our socio-economic development, we Muslims can initiate things at community and individual levels. This is high time that Muslims should realize their socio-economic standing and educational backwardness and sit together to devise concrete steps to overcome these. They should focus on education first – starting from each individual and each family. They should participate in government employment sectors in large numbers and also in private sectors. Public sector enterprises should be given importance and the focus should be in establishing own businesses as well.
Muslims should be participating in every economic activity of the country. With hard work, initiatives should be launched at the family level too. Education and awareness building of our community is in our hands. We should focus on our sheer number which is 14.2 percent of the population, and we cannot live in isolation from the rest of the communities. We can’t live in ghettos either. We have to strengthen our relations with other communities with the help of dialogue so we can be part of the mainstream of India.
TCN: As a police officer, do you think that the institution of bureaucracy, especially police departments across the country, more so in BJP ruled states, has been compromised after Modi came to power?
Rahman: The Police force is a state subject that should promote law and order.
As per the Indian constitution, IPC, CrPc and other police manuals of respective states, the police have to act as per law. They have to be impartial in their action as well as outlook and they must follow rules and regulations. In any case, they must behave with full impartiality but it is not the case in India since Independence.
Not just in current times but the police have never behaved as the police of a secular country. We have witnessed riot after riot and the country has seen the attitude of the police. The police have not supported the victims and have not taken the side of those against whom injustice has been done. The police have always been with the ruling party. They understand whom to serve, how to serve, and at the same time, they have always been with the majoritarian force and serve for the majoritarian community.
The police have behaved completely in a partisan manner and after Modi came to power it has become all the more visible. During the Congress rule and rule of regional parties’, things were hidden and sporadic incidents didn’t make news but after Modi, these things have come in open. And police discrimination against minorities has become the order of the day and they have now become the agent of the ruling BJP party. Police are now openly behaving as the police of the majority community.
TCN: In proportion to their total population, a high number of Muslim prisoners are languishing behind bars? Who would you blame for that? The successive governments or police department as well?
Rahman: The attitude of the majoritarian society is to blame. If you look at data, although Muslims constitute around 14.2 percent of the population yet their representation in jails is higher. Among the undertrials, 20 percent are Muslims and among convicts, 18-19 percent are Muslims and the rest are Dalits, Adivasis, OBCs, and from other poor and deprived communities.
You would hardly find anyone from the majority community and the so-called elite in jails. This is because of the attitude of society and the police, which is partisan.
The representation of Muslims also comes into play in the national police force. Muslims constitute 6 percent of the police force and in population, they are 14.2 percent including the state of Jammu and Kashmir. If you exclude Muslims from Jammu & Kashmir, it is 4 percent. Therefore, Muslims are highly underrepresented in the police force and this is reflected in the working of the police somehow.
The same is the case with the judiciary. If you analyse the criminal justice system – the public prosecutors, the defence lawyers and advocates, the Muslims are less in proportion.
TCN: During your time as a police officer, did you come across police officers having negative stereotypes about Muslims? If yes, what are those stereotypes?
Rahman: Many police officers in the force are like that – not just in their attitude but also in their actions. Being a Muslim officer and acting impartially is your duty but during communal tensions and riots when you try to maintain law and order it becomes difficult. The police don’t act as per the proportion of crime the community has committed but they act as per their narratives. Wherever riots happen, police officers think Muslims have to be arrested. In the majority of other criminal cases, like theft or robbery, dacoit or accidents – the general attitude of the police is professional but when communal tensions or riots take place and whenever two communities are involved, then the police attitude is with the majority. Even recently in violence in northeast Delhi, only Muslims were arrested although Muslims suffered the most in the riots.
TCN: As Black Lives Matter protest continues in the US and calls to defund the police are raised, do you think the same should be done in India considering the police’s record of violating rights of minorities, marginalized and poor?
Rahman: Every incident of injustice and wherever the law is not being followed properly should be highlighted democratically and peacefully. As per Article 19 of the constitution, it has given us rights to create associations but it should be in a democratic way. And if human rights are being violated, if the law is not being followed and if police are being partisan in treating minorities or discriminating on the basis of caste and community, the police force must be defunded. People should not tolerate this behaviour of the police and they come out and protest.