My article on the India Islamic Culture Centre in The Pioneer September 21, 2006 Nightmare of Kubla Khan Ather

Farouqui The India Islamic Culture Centre is nothing more than a symbol of cynical opportunism. The India Islamic Culture Centre in the heart of New Delhi is a modern edifice of decadence sheltering opportunistic scallywags masquerading as the progressive face of Indian Muslims. Let us see how they play their part in this entire rigmarole. It is apparent from the social behaviour of India's Muslim elite that they are merely concerned with things that give them personal welfare. Their attempts calculated to gain public awe gives away their desire to secure for themselves the role of leaders in the community. Their presence at Government-sponsored initiatives proves little of the altruistic interest they have in deprived Muslims. They don't care a fig about the welfare of common Muslims. Rather, from their mehfils the Muslim crme de la crme dream of their glorious past laced with mending lament over the failure of the system they have helped to create. The elite want common Muslims to remain captive of the past, which is glorified in movies and literary works. But in stark reality, frothy make-believe forms a very small part of Muslim life. Muslims agree and most of the time they cite Government figures to support their belief that they are the most backward community of India - economically as well as educationally. But, little effort is made by these selfappointed leaders of Muslim society for the empowerment of their crawling brethren. Yes, when asked for tangible effort to do something about the ghetto lives of most Muslims, they show a trick or two so incongruous that it provokes both anger and distress. One example of this is the India Islamic Culture Centre. It is beyond comprehension as to why the Muslim elite wants to establish exclusive institution that can do nothing but mock common Muslim's plight. If I am at liberty to make an analogy of their purblind attitude I would best cite Marie Antoinette asking her starving subjects to eat cake if bread was scarce. During the days of Congress hegemony, a mix of serving and retired civil-service personnel (Muslim, of course) asked the Government to provide them with a scheme and land to establish an 'International Islamic Culture Centre'. Of course, this opportunity to gain benefits for themselves was at the expense of the taxpayer; and that too sans any idea or agenda of what specific role such a centre should play keeping the socio-economic conditions of Muslims in mind. They justified it by stating that this centre would promote character of Indian Muslims as a modern, progressive social group. Hungry, illiterate, but progressive! When the number of retired Muslim bureaucrats increased, some clever ones amongst them lobbied for a Muslim version of IIC. In order to replicate something like the IIC, these Muslim 'leaders' begged donations from Islamic countries in the name of constructing a huge edifice that would dwarf every other structure around it. They asked for donation on the basis of the claim that the Islamic Culture Centre

would signify the glory of Islam in India. Yet, the construction of the project remained incomplete even after one and a half decade of its inception. The obvious result was that estimated expenditure skyrocketed and the upkeep of the unfinished dream became a drag. To top it all, the elite started washing dirty linen in public over nepotism and corruption spawned supposedly in the guise of Islamic modernity. A war of influence has started amongst the power hungry Muslim elite and culture has taken a backseat. Like the aspirations of other social elite, the neo-rich but uneducated sections of Muslims too aspire for leadership roles. This trait of human nature one can hardly condemn but to trample mass aspirations of development at the altar of personal welfare is abominable. In the last days of the BJP rule, an election for the office bearers of the centre was held. A variety of Muslim contractors and petty businessmen were at loggerheads for the post of the president. The battle was won by a group aspiring to be the new Muslim poster boys of the BJP. Incidentally, one 'Marx-man' of the Urdu Department of Delhi University, Ali Javed, too, curiously threw in his red hat into the ring. He was the one to stir the pot of the India Islamic Culture Centre. Hypocritically ridiculous as it may sound, it was a pathetic transformation of the dialectical process. Red or Green, after all, are just shades of colour. Ideology must exit from the backdoor when opportunity knocks. Of course, we never got to read anything pertaining to this electoral farce in Left-wing journals. Not even a whisper was heard from academic thickets that usually cry themselves hoarse. With the end of the BJP rule in Delhi, the committee of RSS Islamists shed saffron for the Congress tricolour and invited its president to inaugurate the centre. Crores of rupees have already been spent on its construction during the past decade and a half. The new committee's promise of completion within a year (December 2003) naturally calls for cash help and Government grants (therefore, the revised guest list!) The money being spent on this centre can finance the modernisation of about 1,000 educational institutions that cater to Muslims. The centre will attract patrons not because there is any genuine concern for the community but because there is a lot to gain from its footprints in the form of privileges. The cultural centre institutionalises the indifference of the elite towards the struggling masses.