Face to face with the Indian Muslims

They don't believe the official headcount regarding the Muslim population. They complain that the government has an ill-motive behind
showing a lower number for the Muslims in India. The Muslims don't even
have a 2 percent stake in the government service which is very
insignificant in relation to the total Muslim population in India. The actual
account of deprivation will become manifest if the correct statistics
of the Indian Muslims are revealed. As a result, dissatisfaction will
rise and people will strive to claim their rights. The increase
in number will boost their morale and self-confidence, and accelerate
their political uprising. The Muslims believe that this fear of
uprising instigated the manipulation of the Muslim population
statistics. The actual number of the Indian Muslims is kept as secret
as the number of the Indian soldiers; hence is the nonchalance to
reveal the actual headcount by the government.

The Muslims complain that during the last census many Muslims
were intentionally left out from the provinces adjacent to
Bangladesh. Political parties like BJP (Bharatya Janata Party
i.e. Indian Peoples Party), Bishwa Hindu Parishad (i.e. World Hindi
Congress), RSS and Bajrang had long been alleging that millions of
Bangladeshis illegally entered the West Bengal, Assam and Tripura
provinces. They want immediate expulsion of these Muslims. This demand
was in high gear in Assam. Many Muslims were excluded from the census
as well as voters' list due to their mounting pressure. Also excluded
were the Muslims of West Bengal who live in the slums of Bombay or New
Delhi to make a living. The complaint against them is that they are
Bangladeshi -- the proof being their Bengali mother tongue. Since the
inclusion into census is considered as evidence for citizenship,
Muslims are kept out of census through different lame excuses. This is
how India wants to keep the door open to push these Muslims into
Bangladesh at a suitable time. A news item in the Time of India is
noteworthy. It mentioned a central Jubofront (Youngmen's Front) leader
who claimed in a mass-gathering that Muslim population rose
significantly in Assam and West Bengal. Magazines like The Time of
India and The Hindustan Time frequently spread these kind of
rumors. There was an article in the Hindustan Time that attempted to
incite the threat of the Muslims in the minds of the Hindus. Under the
headline "Hindu Population and Muslim Population" the article stated
that the growth of Muslim population is much higher than that of the
Hindus. Hindu domination will soon come to an end if the Muslim
population increases at this rate. These type of sentiments and
statements are vented through that magazine in different names and
perspectives few times a week. It is obvious that these articles are
published as a refresher so that the anti-Muslim sentiment is kept alive. The
stuntmanship of the Indian newspapers and magazines to inculcate the
fear of the Muslims in the minds of the Hindus is on the increase.
There are exceptions in this regard but the circulation of these
newspapers is very limited.

The Indian governments' employees (servants?) are more
communalistic than the Indian political parties. These bureaucrats
are more active to preserve their own selfish interests. Any small
attempts of favoring the Muslims are viewed as 'self-subversive' by
them. The Bengal Pact forwarded by Chittaranjan and Suhrawardy ended
in fiasco due to these bureaucrats. The reason was that the Pact
promised employment opportunities for more Muslims. The selfish
interest that they established in the administration as the
foot-lickers of the British was kept unaltered in the independent
India. Above all, they want assurance of that special privilege for
the future generation. They consider the possible advancement of the
downtrodden Muslims as signs of danger for them. Consequently, Muslim
hatred is in their hearts and minds. One can easily sense the tip of
the ice-berg after landing at Bombay or Calcutta airports with a
Bangladeshi passport. The ostensible communal nature of the Indian
Police becomes clear during Hindu-Muslim riots. The police becomes
more active in suppressing the Muslims than the riots. Numerous
Muslims were killed or oppressed by the police in Bombay. In Meerut,
Indian police added a new chapter to their already tainted record book
by dumping hundreds of Muslim corpses into the canal to show lower
number of murders. They also provided security for the militant Hindus
so that the demolition of the Babri mosque could be
accomplished without much resistance from the Muslims. Even according to
government statistics, more than two thousand Muslims were murdered in
Bombay alone -- fire was set to thousands of houses and shops
belonging to the Muslims. What is more surprising is that the police
claimed not to be able to find a single murderer as if everything was
being controlled by some invisible power and police pretended not to
hear or see anything. Countless murders, rapes and arson took place
due to the inactivity of the police. Not a single murderer, rapist or
arsonist had to appear before the judge to receive their due
punishment. When the attitude of the bureaucrats is such, it is not
too surprising to find the Muslims excluded from the voters'
list. They do not suffer from lack of interest in this kind of matter;
rather they devised effective plans.

The Muslims number around forty thousand in Joypur but less than
ten percent of the city area is inhabited by them. The
heavily-congested areas are the abodes of the Muslims. There are no
parks, no wide roads, no drains, no good schools or colleges -- even
no arrangements for regular removal of garbage. Most of the civic
facilities are absent there. These kind of poor situations exist not
only in Joypur but also in Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Hyderabad,
etc. Muslim dwellings are situated in unhygienic and congested areas
of the city centers. This is because of the fact that the Muslims
suffer from a lack of safety and security in other areas of the cities. In the
past, during the Hindu-Muslim riots, the victimized Muslim families
happened to be the inhabitants living in the Hindu-dominated
regions. The neighboring Hindus always appeared ready to annihilate the
Muslims. As soon as any riot starts, the Muslims are robbed of their
houses and properties, their houses are gutted, and women are
raped. And murder remains on the top of the agenda. What is more
shameful is the fact that these kinds of heinous atrocities are
committed not only by the hoodlums of the localities but also by the
so-called educated Hindus. The so-called intellectuals help not only
in instigating riots but also actively engage themselves given the
opportunities. A doctor in Bereli recalled how a Muslim professor was
killed by his Hindu neighbor's gunshot. And this is exactly the reason
why the Muslims have left the Hindu-dominated regions and have
gathered in the Muslim-dominated regions. Although located at the
center of the cities, the Muslim-dominated regions have no room for
expansion in face of increasing population. On the other hand, the
Hindus are establishing their absolute dominance in the new
residential areas.

After 1947 the mass migration of the Indian Muslims took place
primarily in two ways -- external migration and internal
migration. The external migration was basically exodus to
Pakistan. And the goal of the internal migration was to leave villages
or non-Muslim dominated areas to settle in the Muslim-dominated areas
in the cities. The Indian Muslims are faced with the very similar
situations that the Jews once experienced in Germany, Poland, Russia,
and other European countries. Confronted with persecution by the
Christians, they became accustomed to the ghettoed life in the heavily
congested areas of the cities. As such every major city in India is
divided into two sub-cities. The Hindu-Muslim division-line is all too
obvious to ignore. During the riot, this division-line becomes the
border between the warring Hindus and Muslims. The Two-Nation Theory
(TNT) may not be comprehensible to many Ph.D. holders in Bangladesh
but in India, even an illiterate person is able to understand the
necessity of the TNT. The current inhuman condition of the Indian
Muslims explains why the movement for the creation of Pakistan was so
strongly felt, why the Indian Muslims were eager to migrate to
Pakistan even at the cost of abandoning the dearest lands where their
forefathers settled in the first place.

Joypur city has many mosques. I intentionally offered my prayers
at different mosques (at least at seven of them) every time I got the
opportunity. I found every mosque to be old and dilapidated. The
number of the mosques did not increase even though the Muslim
population soared. I had seen similar conditions in Delhi and
Bombay. Consequently, the Muslims become compelled to stand on the
street during Friday prayers. This creates traffic jams in busy areas
-- the domino effect being the creation of utter hatred among the
Hindus against the Muslims. At some places, the masjid surroundings
had been annexed illegally by either government or non-government
authorities. I witnessed the process of dispossessing all the
surrounding land properties of the mosque (located beside the Joypur
airport) by the government-owned P.W.D (Public Works Department). The
imam of the mosque hailed from Bihar province. The mosque was built
during the rule of the British. There is a room adjacent to the mosque
to provide accommodation for the imam, but the room now belongs to the
employees of P.W.D. I saw many people seated in that room. Imam sahib
sleeps right on the floor of the mosque. On the huge waqf compound of
the mosque lies worn-out metallic substances belonging to the P.W.D.

After the prayer, I talked with the attendees at the
mosque. Knowing that I was a Bangladeshi, their enthusiasm got quite a
bit of boost. I had the opportunity to ask them many questions. They
also wanted to know many things about Bangladesh. A BJP (Bharatya
Janata Party) minister is rules Rajasthan. There are no riots but
oppression on the Muslims is taking place in different ways. The
educated Muslims have no chance to secure jobs. They have no other
alternatives but to accept low-paying jobs at the factories owned by
the Hindu businessmen. As a result, they have lost their zeal for higher
education.

They face resistance from the government when attempts are
undertaken to add another storey to a single-storey mosque. No
mosques can accommodate all the attendees during any large Ijtema or
Jalsa. To cope with this problem, the local Muslims took initiative to
construct a two-storey mosque near Joypur but the government did not
allow it to be built. BJP government of Rajasthan does not want that
Muslim icons of historical significance increase or get attention of
people.

While strolling along the streets of Ajmeer, I came across a
retired headmaster of a local middle school. All four of his sons were
highly educated but no one got good jobs. He lamented, "The Muslims
have no other alternatives but to do menial chores under the
Hindus. Some are living from hand to mouth by begging at the majar
sharif [shrine]". We were discussing while standing on the main street
in front of the majar. The shopkeepers were doing brisk trade on both
sides of the road. Most of the buyers were Muslims travellers. The
headmaster continued, "Here you can see hundreds of shops but none of
the shops are owned by the Muslims -- not even the shops that sell
prayer rugs and tasbees [counting beads] even though the Muslims
comprise 40% of the population of the city of Ajmeer. Even in
Muradabad, Aligarh, Bereli where Muslims are somewhat successful in
businesses, their shops and houses were burnt many times under the
pretext of different flimsy excuses. This is how attempts were undertaken to
drive the Muslims away". I talked with several shopkeepers at Agra --
the city that boasts the Taj Mahal. They sell miniature marble replicas of
Taj Mahal. Most of their highly educated relatives did not get
jobs. The Muslims can't even get near to the ladder to socio-economic
development let alone climbing up that ladder. Stagnation prevails
over their entire existence.

Apart from business, the Muslims are also being gradually
driven away from the higher education sector. Wherever the Muslims
could get entrance are now at the risk of closure. Aligarh Muslim
University was founded through the donation from the Muslims. New laws
had been passed to curtail the admission of Muslim students and
introduce the admission of the Hindu students. The logic shown is that
the Hindus will have to have equal rights of admission in every
institution in the secular India even in Aligarh. As a result, Aligarh
Muslim University has lost its Muslim identity. Instead, the Hindu
fundamentalism of BJP has achieved a stronghold. These days, the city
is remembered more for brutal anti-Muslim skirmishes than for the name
of the University.

I heard from an ex-Aligarh Muslim doctor about his story of how
he was deprived from getting admitted into the post-graduation program
due to the meddling of ever-increasing Hindu faculty members. He said
that Hindus comprise more than half of the number of teachers of this
traditional Muslim University.

Whenever some of the Indian Muslims working in the Middle-East
take the initiatives to build, at their own cost, schools, colleges or
madrasahs for the betterment of the backward Muslims then the Indian
Hindu media starts storms of propaganda. BJP-supported parties assume
active role. They complain that an uneven competition has been started
which will help the Muslims to get forward. They demand equal
opportunity for the admission of the Hindu students at these
institutions which are built at the sole expense of the Muslims' hard
earned money. The government yields to their demands. Consequently,
not only the Hindu students get admitted but also Hindu teachers are
given appointments. The situation is such that the Muslims can't grow
up in the way they want. Everywhere, including at the religious
institutions, there are government interferences.