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Hindus and Muslims may fight but always make up
Unlike in the past, the Modi government’s schemes have reached the poorest sections of the Muslim community.
ANALYSIS Updated: May 13, 2019 07:55 IST
Syed Zafar Islam
People who try to pit Hindus against Muslims in India should be aware of the damage that they are doing by chipping away at the natural unity between the two communities.(Deepak Gupta/ Hindustan Times)
If Modi had been such a divider, Hindus and Muslims would not be living together as we do today. We still fight as siblings do. We still share hopes and we dream together as Indians. Indian Muslims have not been sent to Pakistan or thrown into the Indian Ocean or the Arabian Sea. We share our cultural heritage with the Hindus. Modi promotes this.
We are safer here than the Shias and Ahmadiyyas in Pakistan. We are better off here than Muslims are in many other countries. Not that there have been no problems, as I mentioned. EM Forster refers to this in his A Passage To India in the early 20th century. There are numerous other authors who have chronicled those tensions. Were Muslims not killed in riots in the pre-Partition days? Were Hindus not hacked to death by Muslims in those days?
There is no denying that there have been unfortunate incidents of lynchings carried out by anti-social elements in the guise of cow vigilantes. It’s also true that most of the victims were Muslims and lower caste people. Modi has more than once cautioned those involved in cow-related lynchings saying they were not the true followers of the dharma. He warned people to not fall prey to such monsters and their claims about protecting cows.
Unlike in the past, when Muslims were used only as vote banks, the Modi government has seen to it that all the government-sponsored schemes, such as Ujjwala reached the poorest and most disadvantaged in the Muslim community. Around 22% beneficiaries of several such schemes are Muslims.
These sweeping generalisations about divisions between the two communities are based on ignorance. And it beyond comprehension to say that there is a conspiracy of silence on the part of the prime minister and his government when it comes to justice for Muslims.
Hindus and Muslims may fight but always make up
Unlike in the past, the Modi government’s schemes have reached the poorest sections of the Muslim community.
ANALYSIS Updated: May 13, 2019 07:55 IST
Syed Zafar Islam
People who try to pit Hindus against Muslims in India should be aware of the damage that they are doing by chipping away at the natural unity between the two communities.(Deepak Gupta/ Hindustan Times)
If Modi had been such a divider, Hindus and Muslims would not be living together as we do today. We still fight as siblings do. We still share hopes and we dream together as Indians. Indian Muslims have not been sent to Pakistan or thrown into the Indian Ocean or the Arabian Sea. We share our cultural heritage with the Hindus. Modi promotes this.
We are safer here than the Shias and Ahmadiyyas in Pakistan. We are better off here than Muslims are in many other countries. Not that there have been no problems, as I mentioned. EM Forster refers to this in his A Passage To India in the early 20th century. There are numerous other authors who have chronicled those tensions. Were Muslims not killed in riots in the pre-Partition days? Were Hindus not hacked to death by Muslims in those days?
There is no denying that there have been unfortunate incidents of lynchings carried out by anti-social elements in the guise of cow vigilantes. It’s also true that most of the victims were Muslims and lower caste people. Modi has more than once cautioned those involved in cow-related lynchings saying they were not the true followers of the dharma. He warned people to not fall prey to such monsters and their claims about protecting cows.
Unlike in the past, when Muslims were used only as vote banks, the Modi government has seen to it that all the government-sponsored schemes, such as Ujjwala reached the poorest and most disadvantaged in the Muslim community. Around 22% beneficiaries of several such schemes are Muslims.
These sweeping generalisations about divisions between the two communities are based on ignorance. And it beyond comprehension to say that there is a conspiracy of silence on the part of the prime minister and his government when it comes to justice for Muslims.
