Omar1984
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The parallel between the conditions of the Muslims of India and those of Mubarak's Egypt is far-fetched in that India is a functioning, stable democracy that guarantees basic freedoms to its masses - the very opposite of Mubarak's regime. If so, why did many Muslim Indians watch events in Egypt unfold with a personal interest?
India is home to 160 million Muslims, the third-largest such concentration within a state's boundaries (after Indonesia and Pakistan). As in many developing countries, where ethnic minorities tend to perform relatively poorly in post-colonial environments, India's Muslims declined from a middle-tier economic position at the time of the country's independence in 1947 to the bottom of the ladder over the subsequent six decades.
The reason for their decline is the same as for ethnic minorities in peer countries (including, by the way, Christians in Egypt) - discrimination by the state (acknowledged, in India's case, even in official reports) started the process. This included undue police harassment, discrimination in hiring for government jobs and reduced allocations of development funds for Muslim-majority areas. This was followed by social stigmatization that is political, cultural and economic. It led ultimately to the formation of ghetto societies from which Muslim Indians have been largely unable to escape (again, a fact acknowledged in Indian government reports).
Mostly, ethnic discrimination is a feature of authoritarian societies. That discrimination against Muslims occurred in democratic India is remarkable, a denial of justice on the tacit grounds that - though citizens - they are subject to different rules. Despite repeated efforts by Muslims to participate in civil society as citizens of the Indian state - high voter-turnout rates in elections, investing their meager resources in education - the reality is that Muslims have failed to progress socioeconomically and to gain either a civic identity or political power within the context of a secular, democratic state. Instead, they are identified in the average Indian mind as those favoring a theocratic state, a position from which they are unable to gather any momentum to escape the ghetto.
Some of the outcomes, as anthropologist Thomas Hansen notes, are that the "majority of young Muslims who receive a higher education do so from private and community-based institutions throughout the country. Muslims are severely underrepresented in the military, police and in the civil service, and their involvement in formal institutions of credit, insurance, and so on is the lowest in India. Apart from small, wealthy and well-defined elites, most Muslims in India work for other Muslims and sell their services and goods to other Muslims in a semi-formal or informal economy."
Egypt's Jan. 25 revolution provides Muslim Indians with a methodology, as it were, of overcoming discrimination - peaceful, public protest by oppressed citizens of all ages and genders - that was never seen among Muslim populations in the post-colonial world. At issue is whether the Egyptian method offers a way out of their current state. Just as the cry of "Allahu akbar" (God is great) was a cry for justice in Egypt, not an appeal to give up lives for a theocratic state (as journalist Robert Fisk has noted), can Muslims of India find their own cries that identify them as Muslim Indians demonstrating for justice? If they can find their own way of protest, will it work when other civic options - participation in elections, for example - did not?
We see strong reasons for optimism. Just as Tunisia's Jasmine Revolution spurred its largest Arab neighbor, the events of Egypt - the Muslim world's cultural heartbeat - are an example to Muslims everywhere. To an extent that cannot be understated, the "sickness" of Egypt during the time of Mubarak helped legitimize, in the Muslim Indian mind, the lie that he was being told by those around him: that Islam and democracy were incompatible. Authoritarian Muslim societies like Mubarak's Egypt allowed India's rulers to ignore the declining state of its Muslims with the false argument that Muslims did not know how to prosper in a free society. These lies are now exposed.
The ferment among Muslim Indians now is the stirring of those reassured about their true worth. If it leads to action that forces the state to respond positively, official discrimination could finally be overturned. If so, Muslims finally might be allowed to enjoy the freedom of equal opportunity so far denied to them. The country, as a whole, will benefit, and all India's citizens will rejoice at this new empowerment.
Indian Muslims may find inspiration in Egypt - SFGate
India is home to 160 million Muslims, the third-largest such concentration within a state's boundaries (after Indonesia and Pakistan). As in many developing countries, where ethnic minorities tend to perform relatively poorly in post-colonial environments, India's Muslims declined from a middle-tier economic position at the time of the country's independence in 1947 to the bottom of the ladder over the subsequent six decades.
The reason for their decline is the same as for ethnic minorities in peer countries (including, by the way, Christians in Egypt) - discrimination by the state (acknowledged, in India's case, even in official reports) started the process. This included undue police harassment, discrimination in hiring for government jobs and reduced allocations of development funds for Muslim-majority areas. This was followed by social stigmatization that is political, cultural and economic. It led ultimately to the formation of ghetto societies from which Muslim Indians have been largely unable to escape (again, a fact acknowledged in Indian government reports).
Mostly, ethnic discrimination is a feature of authoritarian societies. That discrimination against Muslims occurred in democratic India is remarkable, a denial of justice on the tacit grounds that - though citizens - they are subject to different rules. Despite repeated efforts by Muslims to participate in civil society as citizens of the Indian state - high voter-turnout rates in elections, investing their meager resources in education - the reality is that Muslims have failed to progress socioeconomically and to gain either a civic identity or political power within the context of a secular, democratic state. Instead, they are identified in the average Indian mind as those favoring a theocratic state, a position from which they are unable to gather any momentum to escape the ghetto.
Some of the outcomes, as anthropologist Thomas Hansen notes, are that the "majority of young Muslims who receive a higher education do so from private and community-based institutions throughout the country. Muslims are severely underrepresented in the military, police and in the civil service, and their involvement in formal institutions of credit, insurance, and so on is the lowest in India. Apart from small, wealthy and well-defined elites, most Muslims in India work for other Muslims and sell their services and goods to other Muslims in a semi-formal or informal economy."
Egypt's Jan. 25 revolution provides Muslim Indians with a methodology, as it were, of overcoming discrimination - peaceful, public protest by oppressed citizens of all ages and genders - that was never seen among Muslim populations in the post-colonial world. At issue is whether the Egyptian method offers a way out of their current state. Just as the cry of "Allahu akbar" (God is great) was a cry for justice in Egypt, not an appeal to give up lives for a theocratic state (as journalist Robert Fisk has noted), can Muslims of India find their own cries that identify them as Muslim Indians demonstrating for justice? If they can find their own way of protest, will it work when other civic options - participation in elections, for example - did not?
We see strong reasons for optimism. Just as Tunisia's Jasmine Revolution spurred its largest Arab neighbor, the events of Egypt - the Muslim world's cultural heartbeat - are an example to Muslims everywhere. To an extent that cannot be understated, the "sickness" of Egypt during the time of Mubarak helped legitimize, in the Muslim Indian mind, the lie that he was being told by those around him: that Islam and democracy were incompatible. Authoritarian Muslim societies like Mubarak's Egypt allowed India's rulers to ignore the declining state of its Muslims with the false argument that Muslims did not know how to prosper in a free society. These lies are now exposed.
The ferment among Muslim Indians now is the stirring of those reassured about their true worth. If it leads to action that forces the state to respond positively, official discrimination could finally be overturned. If so, Muslims finally might be allowed to enjoy the freedom of equal opportunity so far denied to them. The country, as a whole, will benefit, and all India's citizens will rejoice at this new empowerment.
Indian Muslims may find inspiration in Egypt - SFGate
