Islam and Politics

16 Sep 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com

Do Indian Muslims Need a Leader?

By Saif Shahin Wanted: A leader for Indian Muslims. That advertisement hasnt quite appeared on t he Classified pages of newspapers yet, but you can read it in the anguished conv ersations of many a woebegone Muslim overcome by the ills of his society and the plight of his fellow travellers. Leadership is important: you must have good lea ders, professedly secular non-Muslims also shake their heads and say, while ruing poverty, illiteracy, religious obscurantism and general Muslim disempowerment. Its true: Indian Muslims have never had a Chosen One. Dalits can flaunt their Jag jivan Rams and Mayawatis, Yadavs and Kurmis their Lalu Prasads and Nitish Kumars . Dravidians can stick Annadurai posters on their walls, Marathas can show off P awars and Thackerays, and even tribal communities, much divided though they are, can swear by Sorens and Mundas. But there isnt, and never has been, an Indian Mu slim Leader who can claim to have the whole community by his side. That is not to say there are no politicians who are Muslims. Every political par ty clamouring for the Muslim vote has had them: Salman Khursheed and Ghulam Nabi Azad in the Congress, Sikandar Bakht and Shahnawaz Hussain in the Bharatiya Jan ata Party (BJP), Azam Khan in the Samajwadi Party... the list is long. Indeed, t here also are political parties claiming to be Muslim: the Indian Union Muslim L eague, for instance, and the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen and the more recent Al l India United Democratic Front led by Badruddin Ajmal. But none of the above mentioned leaders, or any of their ilk, has enjoyed widesp read support from the Muslim community; and the influence of the so-called Muslim parties too has been limited to a few constituencies at best. Muslim religious l eaders, such as the Imam of Delhis Jama Masjid, and organisations such as Jamaate-Islami have similarly tried, and failed, to muster broad political influence o ver Indias Muslims. Whats so wrong with the community that it cant produce a single decent political l eader of its own? Commentators have often pointed fingers at the geographical sp read of Muslims in India. The community, although constituting only about a sixt h of the overall population, is dispersed across every state and union territory , permeates every electoral constituency and perhaps every police station. That means while Muslim voters exercise some say over who wins elections almost every

where, there are only a few pockets where they determine the results. The condit ion, say experts, is not conducive to the rise of a powerful Muslim leader. Or is it? Diffused demography isnt really the bane of Muslims alone; other commun ities also suffer from it and have yet produced leaders they can look up to. Dal its, for instance, are only marginally more than Muslims in numbers, constitutin g about 15% of the national population compared with Muslims 13.4% (2001 census). They are similarly spread all over the country. Both communities have an aboveaverage share of the population in Uttar Pradesh: Muslims at 18.5% and Dalits no sing ahead at 21.1%. Yet, no Muslim Mayawati has emerged even from this state; f orget a nationwide following within her community, there has been no UP Muslim l eader who could claim even statewide support. Another, albeit less commonly touted, explanation for Muslim leaderlessness is s ectarianism. It goes like this: while most Indian Muslims are Sunnis, Shias cons titute a sizeable chunk as well, undermining the evolution of a Muslim leadershi p. But once again, Muslims arent the only community to suffer from schisms: secta rian, sub-regional or sub-caste ruptures exist in every Indian community. Also, if sectarianism was that strong a sentiment among Indian Muslims, at least Sunni leaders and Shia leaders should have emerged if not Muslim leaders. That, too, hasnt happened. Indias lack of Muslim political leadership perhaps reflects an unarticulated real ity: Indian Muslims dont constitute a political community. In other words, Muslim i s not a strong enough political identity in this country. Diffused, not Distinct The claim admittedly flies in the face of common wisdom. Ever since its creation through a Partition that happened on religious grounds, India has seen its dome stic politics split along the secular-communal divide, with policies towards Mus lims defining which party stands on which side. While communal partiesthe Jana Sang h, the BJPhave supposedly pushed an anti-Muslim agenda, the definition of a secula r party has not been non-religious but rather pro-Muslim. And yet, Muslims, the c entre piece of Indian democratic politics, have failed to produce a single tower ing political leader of their own. Political communities need two basic qualitieswhile being internally cohesive, th ey should also feel distinct from others. Members of a political community shoul d identify with each other and, at the same time, consider themselves, their bel iefs, their concerns to be different from everyone else. This is what leads to t hem to choose leaders from among themselvespeople they identify with, people who share their beliefs and who they expect will help them answer their concerns. Muslims lack of leadership suggests that, despite all the talk of secularism and communalism, they dont feel all that distinct from the rest of India. They dont ju st identify with other Muslims, they can as easily identify with and share the c oncerns of non-Muslims too. Admittedly they have some concerns and grievances as Muslims too, but they havent been acute enough to turn Muslims inwards political ly. And so they have been happy to vote for non-Muslim leaders and parties as if the y were voting for their own. Beneficiaries of the Muslim vote have ranged from t he Upper Caste-dominated Congress and the BJP (yes the BJP too) to the Backwarddominated Janata Party and its offshoots (Janata Dal, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Jana ta Dal-United, Samata Party, Samajwadi Party, etc.) to the Dalit-dominated Bahuj an Samaj Party and even the godless Communist parties. Muslims lack of leadership thus shows they are much better assimilated with the r est of the country than is usually assumed. Demographic diffusion, far from bein

g the reason for lack of leadership, is a symptom of this integration. Thanks, but no thanks. Is lack of political leadership good or bad for the community? There is always t he theoretical possibility that internal political leadership can benefit the ma sses, help them identify and avoid pitfalls as they lurch ahead. A far-sighted M uslim leader can, for instance, tell Muslims it is important to avoid religious orthodoxy, gain modern education and work for their prosperity rather than lie b ack and blame others for discrimination, and so forth. But this rarely happens in practice. Emerging political leaders who voice real o r perceived grievances of their communities, particularly minorities, may initial ly have the communitys concerns in mindbut once given the mantle of leadership the y dont necessarily want to see these concerns go away. For if they do, the reason why they became leaders will also go away. Being a leader can easily, and often does, become an end it itself. Political le aders, thus, find it in their interest to manufacture grievances, create artific ial concerns, bolster their communitys political identity by building more walls between them and against othersall the while buttressing their own claims to lead ership. Indian Muslims have seen many such attempts. Religious leaders have spoken of th e evil of modern education, particularly for women, to cut Muslims away from the rest of Indian society. Politicians, both from within and outside the community , have waxed indignant about systemic discrimination against Muslims and warned sp eciously against the threat of communal parties. Occasionally, these efforts have succeeded in instilling fear and building walls . That is why there are Muslims who choose to live in ghettos and send their chi ldren to madrasas. But largely, these efforts have failed. That is why the bulk of Indias Muslims are scattered across its cities, towns and villages, dissolved in its essence like sugar in water. And that is why they dont have, and dont reall y need, a Muslim leader. URL: http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamIslamAndPolitics_1.aspx?ArticleID=549 6

Forward to a friend

Print

COMMENTS

9/16/2011 2:25:04 PM satwa gunam

The tone of the author is confusing and the article lacks clarity. In the initial stage, the author speaks about the Muslim vote not having winning power due to distribution across the country. Actually the Muslim require a towering leader like Gandhi but also require follo wing masses. In the name of discipline and religious adherence they have lost their capabilit y to think. Muslim are too muddled with their religions of 7th century and they look upon Ulema for fatwa which a man with common sense can decide. Further if the Muslim lives in ghettos so is the Hindus who follow the same prac tice: More children. No education. It is a social crime of any citizen to get a life to the world if they cannot br ing them up as responsible citizens. Further the power of the masses is used for the following purpose by selfish pol iticians and Ulema: Taslima stay in Calcutta. Shah Bano not getting pension. Stop any reform to empower woman: anybody can compare the rights of Hindu woman before independence and today. Male student arguing for beard in the class. Female student arguing for face cov ering. Protest for building mosque in Israel or Saudi Arabia. Finally they do not have the power when they require for their own upliftment. In fact they want to keep them in that state as it gives them power to bargain f or more benefit for themselves with the government.