Muslims are Dotting Punjab’s Landscape Once Again

Muslims are dotting Punjab’s Landscape Once Again

Syed Ali Mujtaba

Punjab faced the full fury of the communal violence in 1947 during the Partition of India. The state witnessed an extremely turbulent and traumatic situation in the run up to the independence and Partition of the country.

The transfer of power from British to the dominion of India and Pakistan accompanied large scale transfer of population from both sides of the border. While Sikhs and Hindus were driven out of West Punjab, the entire Muslim population of East Punjab was ethnically cleansed or forcibly driven out of the state. 

Carnage of humanity unprecedented in the annals of history was witnessed in both sides of Punjab. The share of Muslims population in East Punjab was 33.0 percent before the Partition of India and in its aftermath it plummeted to less than 00.50 percent.   Virtually, the entire Muslims population of East Punjab was driven to Pakistan or were cleansed, their property looted or forcible occupied, mosques razed to the ground or vandalized, women were raped etc.    

However the situation has drastically changed from then and now. Muslims are growing fairly rapidly since last seven decades or so in Punjab. Muslims are once again dotting the rural and urban landscape of Punjab. Today of the total 277 lakhs population of Punjab, Muslim population is 5.35 lakh that is about 1.93 per cent of the total share of population.  

Though Muslims share in the total population of Punjab still remains very low,  the number of Muslims in Punjab has multiplied by six times in the five decades since 1961, while the total population has multiplied by a factor of 2.5. In 1961, the proportion of Muslims in the state population was only 0.80 percent; it has grown to 1.93 percent in 2011.

The growth in the share of Muslims has been much more pronounced during the last two decades and now Muslims population could be anywhere between 2 to 3 percent in the 6 out of the 20 districts of Punjab.

An interesting fact is, even amidst the holocaust of Partition, survive two pockets Muslim population in Punjab. One is the principality of Malerkotla in Sangrur district, and other the town of Qadian in Batala sub-district of Gurdaspur.

The Muslim population in Malerkotla and Qadian are quite different than those in other parts of Punjab. They are Punjabi Muslims, who remain settled there for several centuries and are of the same ethnic stock that of the Sikhs and the Hindus. They have little in common with the Muslims that have migrated to Punjab from other parts of the country.

The Muslims of Punjab who are recent immigrants are culturally different from original Punjabi Muslims.  Majority of them are farm laborers residing in the villages and those who are daily wage laborers or are concentrated in the towns and cities of Punjab. Even though they are culturally different, most of them are integrated into the linguistically milieu of Punjab.    

The Muslims growth story in Punjab is very significant. There were 1.14 lakh Muslims in 1971 and it increased to 5.35 lakh in 2011. In Malerkotla there were 61.5 thousand Muslims in 1971 and it has increased to 1.79 lakh in 2011. The share of Muslims population in Malerkotla, has increased from 15.2 percent in 1971 to 22.5 percent in 2011. The proportion Muslim population in Sangrur district, which includes Malerkotla, is now near 11 percent.

The Qadian town in Batala sub-district of Gurdaspur district is the birth place of Mirza Gulam Ahmed, who founded the Ahmadiyya sect of Muslims in 1889.  Qadian has much smaller Muslim population In comparison to Malrekotla, but is the second largest Muslim concentration in Punjab.  In Qadian town where the total population is only 23.6 thousand, Muslims are little more than 3 thousand. Their share in the population of the town has increased from 4.4 percent in 1971 to 13 percent in 2011.

Elsewhere in Punjab Muslims have also shown a much faster growth rate. The number of Muslims outside Malerkotla has risen from 53 thousand to 3 lakh 56 thousand. Cities like Ludhiana have a sizable Muslim population close to 2.5 lakh who are all migrants from other parts of India.

The stories of Malerkotla, Qadian are of course emblematic of the secular spirit of India in which different religions and sects continue to flourish and find dignity, security and prosperity, even in very tense times. These stories also remind us that in India since Independence, minority communities have invariably grown faster than the majority.

To know more on the subject, I had a freewheeling conversation with Dr Mohammad Khalid from Malerkotla and who teaches Political Science at Department of Evening Studies, Punjab University Chandigarh.

The conversation took place at Sri Venkateshwara University, Tirupati, where both had come to take part in the conference on India Vietnam relations held on March 18 and 19. I had the privilege to share the room with Dr Khalid at the University’s guest house.       

He narrates; “in the years following Partition, while Malerkotla continued to remain a haven of peace, there was an overall atmosphere of hostility towards Muslims and anything constructed as ‘Muslim’ was scorned off.  There seems to have a clear attempt of contempt towards Muslims denying them any place in the Punjab’s society."

He says; ‘there is a sea change in the communal and social situation of Punjab, since then. Now Muslims are no more vilified in the state and many pockets of Muslim settlement are visible in some cities of Punjab.’

The atmosphere has greatly improved now and it is no longer problematic to show one's Muslim identity. The old mosques are repaired and made functional and where there are none, new mosques have come up. Muslims can maintain their distinct identity and freely profess their religious faith without any fear.  

Dr Khalid revealed an important nugget on the religious context that may have some bearing on Muslim population in Punjab. He elaborated that many Sikh brothers have protected the Muslims from the communal fury during the Partition days, a fact which is little known.  There may have vested interests in doing so as many such Muslims had occupational utility like being carpenter, barber, mason, mechanic midwives etc. They were protected hiding them in Sikh attire and even with changed names.  

Now In the changed communal atmosphere in Punjab such Muslims have come into open and have registered their names in the census list leading to a slight rise in Muslim population. Such Muslims are now freely professing their faith visiting mosques and practicing their religious rituals without any fear. This is a remarkable change witnessed in Punjab now.    

He said; now Muslims can be found in all walks of life. A string of Muslim Punjabi folk singers has emerged in Punjab. Sadrul Sikander, Master Saleem, Khan Sab, Kamal Khan etc are doming the Punjabi music charts. The current heart throb of Punjabi music is Khan Sab, he said asking me to check up U tube videos.  

Muslims are active in the economics and politics of the state. They are freely doing business and some gaining prominence in politics as well, especially from Malrekotla, he said. The younger generation of Muslims in Punjab no longer caries the baggage of the past and they don't have the kind of fear or insecurities that the earlier generation witnessed following the Partition.

Dr Khalid gave part of the credit for improving communal relationship between the Sikh and Muslim communities to the Shiromani Akali Dal. The Anandpur Sahib resolution, a key ideological document for Akalis, does include a clause on protecting the rights of all religious minorities in India.

Talking, about Muslim immigrants from other parts of India to Punjab, Dr Khalid said, such people are the backbone of the state’s economy. Without these labor forces, the state may come to a grinding halt; Dr Khalid said and added that many among them are second generation immigrants now and are fully integrated into the Punjabi society.

Dr Khalid’s comment on the upcoming election was; it will be a political ‘dangal’ essentially between the Congress and Akalis in Malerkotla city, with the Aam Aadmi Party doing well in the villages.

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He has done his doctoral research on ‘The Demand for Partition of India. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com

Mahatma and his Mock Assassins Visual Text Analysis

Mahatma and his Mock Assassins Visual Text Analysis

Syed Ali Mujtaba                        

A Professor from Madras University was describing the background of Champaran Satyagrah of 1917, at an International Conference on India Vietnam Relations through the Prism of Gandhian and Ho Chi Minh Philosophies at Centre of Southeast Asia and Pacific Studies Sri Venkateshwara University Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh on March 18, 2019.  

As the learned Professor was speaking why Mahatma Gandhi launched the mass movement from Champaran, my mind was jogging the memory lane doing the the visual text of Pooja Shakun, leader of the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha,   who had enacted the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on January 31, 2019.

Professor was saying that a Gandhiji’s disciple, Raj Kumar Shukla, goaded Gandhiji to visit Champaran and do something about the plight of the indigo farmers and their families who are reeling in penury and living in inhuman conditions.   

Gandhiji asked Acharya J.B Kirpalani, Dr. Rajendra Prasad and others to go to Champaran and prepare a report on people’s sufferings there. The Congress workers came up with a detailed survey of the villages, accounting the atrocities and terrible episodes of suffering, including the general state of degenerate living.

Gandhiji after going through the report pulled up Acharya Kirpalani saying; you have written so many things in this, but they all are about men, you have not all mentioned anything about the condition of women in Chaparan, why?

Acharya told Gandhiji that social equations in Champarn did not allow any outsider that too a male to talk to female and that being the reasons of non-inclusion of any information about the women there. He suggested to Gandhiji to send a women team to assess the condition of women in Champaran.   

Gandhiji immediately asked his wife Kasturba to immediately go to Champaran and meet women there and prepare a report on their condition.  Kasturba and a few associates traveled to Champaran for this purpose.

As they roamed in the streets they found only men folk and children on the streets and to their utmost surprise no woman were there in public view. They realized that most of them were living inside the closed houses.

Kasturba haggard and tired knocked the door of one of the houses in the strret of Champaran. A very feeble female voice emerged from inside asking their whereabouts. Kasturba told them they are woman travelers and like to have a glass of water to quench their thrust.

And after a while the door was opened ajar and a female hand with a glass of water emerged from the door. Kasturba drank the water and asked for more for her colleague and then asked for permission to be let inside the house.

After getting inside the house, Kasturba told the women that they have come to assess the conditions of the women in Champaran and ask them the reason why most of them remain indoors. 

The woman gave a chilling account of the plight of woman in Champaran. She said there are three women in the house and between them there is only one SAREE, to wrap their bodies. So they take turns in the morning to fetch water from the well and go to attend the nature’s call after the sunset in the fields.          

When Ksasturba submitted the report, Gandhiji was deeply moved by the condition of the people living in Champaran. The sufferings of the people there compelled him to change the strategy of freedom struggle in India. Thus Satyagrah became the main weapon of Gandhiji to protest the presence of British rule in the country. The Champaran Satyagrah was the first mass movement that has a seminal place in the 

struggle for freedom in India.

Now coming to the Visual Text Analysis of well clad Pooja Shakun, leader of the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, the only words that come to my mind is ‘arrogant’, ‘ignorant’ and ‘pitiable.’ 

Pooja Shakun, well fed and well clad lady who had enacted the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi hailing his murder Nathuram Godse as her hero if had undergone even a little of pain and suffering of the women in Champran, she should have shuddered to train her guns at the father of the nation even though symbolically.  

The Champaran Satyagraha was the first Satyagraha movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi in 1917.   It was a farmer's uprising against Indo cultivation that forced them to live in live in abject penury.

As Indigo was used to make dye the British forced the North Indian farmers to grow indigo for its exports value. Under Colonial laws, many tenant farmers were forced to grow some indigo on a portion of their land as a condition of their tenancy. Since this cash crop barely gave any returns to the farmers there was much resentment and anger among the farmers for growing this crop.

When Gandhiji returned to India from South Africa in 1915, he saw peasants in Northern India oppressed due to indigo plantation. He was moved by their conditions and used the methods to Satyagrah as a mass protest movement against injustices going on in the country.

The Champaran Satyagrah is a major landmark in the Indian Independence Movement. The mock assassination by Pooja Shakun, on October 2, 2018 is another landmark in the history of the country. Well these are some of the inchoate images  of changing India. 

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com