Is India’s honeymoon with the gulf region is getting over

Is India’s honeymoon with the gulf region is getting over  

Syed Ali Mujtaba

The Gulf fall out of the Covid-19 on India is the repatriation of the Indian workers working in the Gulf region. India is making a major evacuation plan involving its Navy, Air Force and Air India to take back Indians facing job losses due to plummeting oil prices and continuous lockdown due to Covid-19. Such operation may involve taking back home some 20 lakh Indians. This is expected to take place sometime after May 3 when the lock down period ends in India.

The Gulf countries have made it clear that it would not to renew visas of Indian migrants that have expired during this pandemic period and they have to leave their country of their work. They have also made clear that after the pandemic is over they may like to restructure their ‘cooperation’ and ‘labour’ relations with India. These include imposing strict future restrictions on the “recruitment policy" where they may  introduce "quota system” for each country. It is also said  that they have terminated the MoUs signed earlier in this regard.

 

It looks two things one the fall out of the Covid – 19 and other the carefully crafted ‘political project’ in India, has cast an evil shadow on the Indians working in the gulf region. It is estimated that about eight million Indians are working currently in the Gulf region, with about 3.2 million in the UAE alone. The massive job loss and uncertain future looms large and it appears that Indian workers honeymoon with the gulf region is looks getting over.  

In this how far the Hindu zealot's spread of Islamophobia in India and Arabia is responsible is a matter of debate but fact is there has been a conspiracy of silence of the Indian ruling elite that may have accentuated the matter. The failure of the Indian government to reign in the radicals elements at home gives the impression that it wants to condone the acts of Islmophobia even at the cost of historic ties with the Gulf region.

Ever since the world got riddled with Covid-19 epidemic, in India the novel virus took a communal turn. Muslims and Islam has become a subject of rebuke and the entire community is held responsible for the spread of the unseen virus. The tweets on social media, the reports on television, newspaper and websites were all awash with linkage of the pandemic with the Muslim community.  

These angry comments targeting Muslims in the media were largely due to the linkage of the Covid-19 with Tablgi Markaz congregation in New Delhi. Even as the hate orchestra was played in the full volume there was a complete silence of the Indian ruling elite as all and sundry took a pot shot on Muslims and Islam. The government instead of given stern warming to the hate mongers chose conspiracy of silence at the sudden rise of Islamophbia in the country. Their tight lips look like that they endorsed the hate mongering industry flourishing in India. 

Professor Ashok Swain, who is at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University, Sweden says; “Islamophobia has reached its peak in India with the increasing rise of coronavirus crisis. This is not just a primordial reaction of a society, but a very well planned and finely executed political project of the ruling elite.”

Professor Swain attributes this to the mismanagement of the government in handling the pandemic and the serious nature of economic crisis that India faces. He goes on to add; “India’s Hindu nationalist regime aims to give the coronavirus crisis a communal color, which will give it an escape route from its abject policy failures and at the same time the increasing anti-Muslim environment will bring much better political benefit in the future. Even though Coronavirus is responsible for a very serious crisis in India,  for the Narendra Modi regime, it has also provided a powerful political opportunity,”  he says. 

This ‘Islmophobia project’ in India took a new turn, when the exchanges between Hindu nationalists and some sections of the Gulf’s elite – royal family members, business persons, professionals and human rights activists etc started taking place on the social media. The exchange of unsavory words by few Indians caught the attention of the Arab world and they saw a new face of India that is abusive of Muslims and Islam with much dismay.

This made Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a federation of 57 Muslim nations to came up with a statement to condemn the developments in India. It chose some harsh words; “the unrelenting vicious Islamophobic campaign in India, maligning Muslims for spread of Covid-19 as well as their negative profiling in media subjecting them to discrimination and violence with impunity is highly deplorable.” The OIC called for a special session to deal with the problem of Islamophobia emanating from India that otherwise was supposed to meet in April 2020 in Islamabad to discuss on India’s new stand on Kashmir.

Similarly, Kuwait a member of the ‘Arab League’ which comprise of 22 Gulf States  called for an emergency session to deal with problem of anti-Muslim anti Islam propaganda going on in India.

The reasons for such annoyance of the Arabs was uncouth Muslim profiling, hate Muslim propaganda,  fake news, abuse messages churned out  on social media from India  and state government little opposition to it giving the impression  of a ‘well-crafted’ state project.

When the Indian the ruling elite that this ‘political project’ is slipping out of its control, it engaged in damage control exercise. Prime Minister Narendra Modi held telephone conversation with the leaders of the Gulf countries reminding them that India continues to be secular and pluralistic country. This was followed-up by India’s Foreign Minister Jaishankar who talked to the Foreign Ministers of Gulf region and committed that India is not on the throes of any rhetorical shift.  

Prime Minster Narandar Modi tried to clarify the communal controversy building around Covid-19 in India with a tweet on April 19. “COVID-19 does not see race, religion, color, caste, creed, language or borders before striking. Our response and conduct thereafter should attach primacy to unity and brotherhood.  We are in this together,” Modi said.  

Modi’s tweet if read between the lines has the most glaring omission and that is total silence to shut the hate shops in India and to reign in the Hindu zealots in the country.  The tweet was more to placate the paranoid Gulf audience rather than to warn the Hindu radicals. 

It is not as if the Gulf region does not know of the periodic communal conflagration that occurs in India but so far they have viewed them as an aberration in a large and diverse nation as India.  Even in the exchanges of the current tweets their responses were of anger, dismay and not of any bad blood at the developments in India.

Nonetheless, the recent exchanges of tweets have exposed the Hindutva ideology in its full nakedness to the Gulf public. It has planted the seeds of suspicion in their minds and future ‘cooperation’ and ‘labour’ relations with India maybe no more shaped by old parameters.    

This is because it is for the first time the Gulf countries have woken up to the scourge of extremist Hindutva ideology in India. So far they had never paid any attention to faith based relationship with India. In fact in their ties with India, faith hardly played any role either in recruitment of the work force or making investments. Among the eight million Indian who work in Gulf region there is almost negligible percent of Indian Muslims. The lion share of gulf remittances goes to Hindus homes and the employers have no qualms about it.

However, now that the Gulf region has become familiar with the agenda of Hindutva adherents, it is difficult to assume that the India - Arab ties will be the same as before the Covid- 19 incursions.  The challenge before India’s ruling elite is to make sincere efforts to re-cement the centuries-old ties with the Gulf region. 

The first thing to be done is to stop aiding and abating the Hindutva cadres from spewing venom against the Muslims and Islam and all the hate factories in India should be lock down immediately.  If India’s ruling elite continues to maintain a conspiracy of silence on this issue it would certainly impact the India-Gulf relations for worse and fore sure not for better.    

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

Indians have to Decide - BJP First or India First

Indians have to Decide - BJP First or India First

Syed Ali Mujtaba

It has vividly become clear that Indian is facing a conflict between ruling party’s interests and the national interests. The BJP government’s policy to consolidate Hindu votes through anti-Muslim anti-Islam propaganda is clearly in conflict with the national interests.

As Indians we have to make a choice whether we want the so called nationalist party or we want to with the Indian nation where each one of us can hold their heads high and rally below the national flag.   

The BJP no matter how much is making pretensions about being a nationalist party, it is apparently clear that its policies are making India’s long-term prospects hostage to the party’s narrow and parochial interests.  

Regional peace is being made hostage

The BJP’s policy of anti-Muslim, anti-Pakistan and anti-Kashmir, that is crucial for consolidating its Hindu vote bank, has jeopardized the prospects of regional cooperation and India’s good neighborly policy is in disarray.  

If we look at the regional scene, Pakistan is in no mood to bow before the whims and fancies of the BJP government. The firebrand speech of Pakistani Prime Minister at the United Nation’s General Assembly turned heads towards the regional concerns that emanated from the BJP government’s domestic policies. Currently, Islamabad is fuming at New Delhi’s anti-Muslim feast, telling it had warned before of the agenda of the supremacist party.

As far as Afghanistan is concerned, the BJP government’s policy has jeopardized India’s interests. It is not going send the IPKF to Afghanistan to protect its interests. The party has shut the country’s doors to Indian friends by promulgating Citizen Amendment Act (CAA). Such policy of the BJP has sent adverse signals to the groups or specificity who are friends of India elsewhere that they may not fall into India’s bait. Further BJP’s anti-Muslim anti-Islam policy is not going to make friends with the Taliban. In short, India has lost Afghanistan due to BJP government’s anti-Muslim anti- Islam perceptions.       

The Islamists in Bangladesh are hauling at Hasina Wajid, who remains a silent spectator to the Islamophibia built in India. They are waiting to unseat her from power. Speculation is being made that she may meet Shiekh Mujibur Rehman’s fate, because of her tacit support to anti-Muslim anti- Islam forces in India.

Maldives, the third Muslim country in South Asia, apart from Afghanistan, Pakistan 

and Bangladesh is in a defiant mood. It has extended invitation to the Pakistan Army Chief for the reasons best known to the Indian establishments. Such anti-India posturing has definitely to do with BJP government’s policy towards Muslims.   

Nepal, the Hindu majority country has decided to end its dependence on India and is set to use Chinese ports to trade with other countries. Srilanka, the Sinhala majority Buddhist country, is deeply in debt to China and the latter wants to build houses and roads in the north and east region of Sri Lanka.  It is here majority of Tamils and Muslims live. They are hauled by the Sinhala majority and they look towards India for their protection. The BJP government’s anti-Muslims policies in India refrains it from as asking Sinhala parties to stop persecution of its minorities because it’s doing same in India.

The Indian media is being asked by the ruling party to build the narrative that it is neighbors who are at fault and they are being anti-India. However, the fact is, it is BJP’s policy towards its neighbor, for gaining Hindu votes, is compromising India’s interests in the region.

Antagonizing Muslim World 

The BJP government’s anti-Muslim anti-Islam policy is anxiously being watched by more than 55 Muslim-majority countries in the world. These nations are collectively known as the Muslim world.  Muslims are spread across the Middle East, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Asia-Oceania, Europe and North America, Muslim constitutes 24.1% of the world’ population and is estimated to be 1.8 billion. They contribute 8% to the world's GDP. 

The BJP’s anti-Muslim and anti -Islam policies to consolidate its Hindu vote bank has pitted India against the Muslim world. The way Muslim and Islam are being rebuked in India with the tacit support of the BJP government, makes India in the eyes of the Muslim world that it is into the game of ‘clash of civilization.’

The BJP is solely responsible for such perception and it appears that the BJP wants to prevent India to reach out to Muslim nations and wants to develop the country minus Muslim world’s assistance. Such policy of the BJP to get domestic support is clearly against the national interests.

Further BJP’s policy to foster anti-Muslim sentiment is jeopardizing livelihood of Indians in the gulf region. Every Indian working in the GCC or UAE is a contractual employee with no job security. The BJP government’s anti-Muslim, anti-Islam agenda in India has lit of the Arab fuse. An Arab spring has emerged against the Indians working in the gulf region. 

Indians face reputational risk as they are tarred with anti-Muslim anti – Islam stereotypes due to the policies of the so called India’s nationalist party. BJP government has risked the livelihood of not only Indians abroad, but has shamed the nation for its own political aggrandizement.

Anti- Indian Muslim Agenda of the BJP

Muslims are the largest minority religion in India. They make up 14 percent of the total Indian population. Muslims have played a seminal role in shaping the Indian society and culture. They have illustrious history in India’s freedom struggle.  In spite of all injustices, Muslims have been loyal to the Indian nation since independence.

Even though the Constitution gives them equal opportunity, Muslims face all round deprivation in the country. The main reason of it is a general environment of hostility is created in India against Muslims for consolidating the Hindu vote bank.

The history of Muslim deprivation goes back to the independence and the Sachar Committee and Rangnath Mishra Commission Reports brings them into public but off late since the BJP government has come to power in 2014, the marginalization of the Muslims has accentuated.

It all started with the BJP government’s tacit support to the cow vigilant and egging them for the mob lynching of the Muslims. The BJP government’s interference in the Muslim personal law and the abrogation of triple talaq’ without much consultation is seen as infringement on the community’s privileges.

The BJP government’s policy of taking away the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir and splitting it into two Union territories is deliberate attempt to take away the Muslim majority status of the restive state.

The Supreme Court judgment on the Babar Masjid case is touted to be bought by the ruling government that promised to its vote bank ‘Mandir wohin Bnanyge’ clearly has anti-Muslim bias.

The same anti-Muslim bias is seen in in the promulgation of the Citizenship Amendment Act promulgated by the BJP government. All these are part of the chain of events that the BJP is pushing for its narrow interests at the expense of multi religious identity of India. 

The same trend was glaringly visible in the fight against Covid-19. Taking advantage of the Corona- Tabligue Markaz linkage the BJP government is guilty of fanning Hindu-Muslim communalism. The silence of the BJP government to the growing communalization of the society, makes one wonder the primary role of the ruling party to stitch the communities together at a time of global crisis.  

Here the question is whether the anti- Muslim policy of the BJP that is useful for consolidating its power base, is also useful for the overall development of the country? The answer is certainly not because such policy is detrimental to India’s progress. India cannot progress without Muslims progressing in India.

Way forward for Indian Muslims

In the book “Denial and Deprivation: Indian Muslims after the Sachar Committee and Rangnath Mishra Commission Reports” authored by Abdur Rahman, (Manohar 2019), I have argued that demonizing Muslims is a dangerous trend in India. I have cautioned that those engaged in negative profiling of the Muslim image are doing disservice to the country.  

Studies show that propaganda against Muslims can cause alienation among the largest minority community in India. It can lead to loss of belongings towards the country and may develop fissiparous tendencies among the Muslim youth. Such fissures can radicalize them and any dissent by a large size of population may not be easy to control.

So the BJP government’s short term gains of anti-Muslim propaganda are pushing the country into unmanageable propositions and such nefarious designs have to be exposed. This is because for its political gains BJP is jeopardizing the long term interests of the country.  

I have offered some pointers to counter the current anti- Muslims situation in India. It is essential for the Muslim youths to stay focused on their life's primary goals; education, employment career, business and social work etc.

Muslim should refrain from engaging in nonproductive discussions to counter malicious campaign built against them and instead should pool their time and resources in making strategies to develop a road-map for their political, social and economic progress and betterment and that would be the best way to counter the assaults made on them.

The Muslim community should not get drawn into communal controversies and get trapped into the vicious narratives build around them by the media.  The Muslim youth should not to get driven by emotions and become hyper sensitive towards the controversies raked in the media against them. This is part and parcel of media’s sale strategy and the endorsement of the BJP government’s anti-Muslim policy will get them revenue.

In the book I have warned the Muslim youth to never think of any separatist course as such thinking can push the community further deep into the abyss. This would be playing into the hands of the inimical forces that want to take the community out of the national mainstream.

While facing all hostile situations, Indian Muslims should never allow developing any inferiority complex and hold their heads high to counter all such evil designs. They concentrate first to develop themselves as individuals and then their families and collectively focus on the development of the community.

Indian Muslims need not to worry about the BJP because the larger Indians will take care of it once they realize that the so called nationalist party is fooling them at the expense of the national interests.  As when Indians have to decide, BJP first or India first, they know their choices. 

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

  

  

Where ‘Muslim Game’ is heading in India?

 Where ‘Muslim Game’ is heading in India?    

Syed Ali Mujtaba

India is undergoing a rhetorical shift. This trend is glaringly visible since the nation is engaged in the Covid-19 war and the communal virus bubbling across the length and breadth of the country. It appears that while government is fighting the Covid war, the Hindus and Muslims have their own scores to settle.

Ever since Markaz – Corona linkage has surfaced, the Hindu- Muslim hatred is blatantly at display. All and sundry are rebuking at Muslims as if the entire community is responsible for the Markaz lapses. If one goes by the media reports, one gets the impression that Muslims have become the biggest headache for the Hindu community. 

The Mrakaz- Corona debate has made it evident how the charade of secularism was overlaid on the Indian society for so long time.  Now that cloak is shed and beneath it the societal truth of bitter social relationship is out in open. As one can see the social tension in India is bursting at its seams.  And to such developments the blind eye of the ruling elite is quite puzzling. Their conspiracy of silence has made many think where is this Muslim game heading in India?   

There is a long history to it that goes back to 1947, but ever since the current government has come to power in 2014, Indian Muslims are drifting at a much faster pace.

It all started with the condoning the crime of mob lynching of Muslims for the cow protection. The triple talaq’ issue torpedoes the Muslim personal law. The Babar Masjid judgment was an appeasement to the majority community. The abrogation of article 370 and 35 A, and then the announcement of the promulgation of the citizenship laws were all part of the same chain events that points to a rhetorical shift India is making with a clear agenda to marginalize the Indian Muslims. 

Some equate these developments in India with those in Spain some 500 years ago when Muslims were exterminated from that country in 1612.  How that was done is being studied by some radical Hindus who want to replicate the ‘Spanish model’ on the Indian Muslims and exterminate them from India.

What is Spanish model and how it is being implemented in India?

Muslims ruled over Spain for 780 years from 712 AD to 1492 AD. Subsequently, political power slipped out of their hands and in next 120 years they had to Spain where they lived for almost 800 years.

In order to understand this we have to have a clear knowledge about the Spanish society. Muslims in Spain were divided into three categories: (i) the descendants of the Arabs, (ii) descendants of Muslim fathers and Spanish mothers (iii) and locals who adopted Islamic faith.

In India some similar categorization of Muslims exists. 1) descendants of those who came from foreign lands ii) offspring of Muslims and locals iii) and locals who adopted Islamic faith.

In Spain after the “Granada War” ended the Nasrid dynasty the last relic of Islamic rule. After that some among the top category of Muslims left Spain, and some chose to live in Spain. They were subsequently targeted as 'foreigners" as it is happening in India and are called ‘Babur ke aulad.’

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In the second category, the offspring of Muslim-Christian parentage were ridiculed. Their lives and property was under constant attack. They were subjected to ‘Muslim whistling’ and fear was instilling in them to revert to Christianity, if they wished to save their skin. As in India the Spanish Muslims were told this was a temporary phenomenon as they got constitutional rights but the ground reality was quite different as it is now in India.

In the third category Spanish Muslims who converted from Christianity to Islam were persuaded to reconvert to Christianity. They were told that since their ancestors were forced to become Muslims they should revert to their old faith as there was no coercion or fear left.  It is the same kind of thing happening in India and its echo are found in ‘Ghar Wapsi’ campaign.

In Spain, the government made deliberate policies for the marginalization of Muslims. Arabic was removed from the administration; schools attached to mosques were only asked to give religious teachings. Lessons in history were rewritten. Muslim rule was dubbed as barbaric. Contribution of Muslims to the development of Spain was blacked out.  Muslim houses were constantly searched for anti-national activity. Islamic law was declared illegal. Marriages performed in the Islamic way were directed to be registered.  

In Spain there was no political leadership of the Muslim, no organization to protect them, the Muslim intelligentsia left the country due to hostile environment.  Only religious leaders were left but due to adverse situation they had to leave Spain in 1612.

In compare the method adopted by Spain’s rulers it can be said that many developments taking place in India looks like a complete replica of the Spanish model. 

The periodic communal riots in India are one such example. In the earlier years of communal riots, Muslims resisted and fought pitched battles on the streets with police coming late to the scene. Then gradually the riots became one-sided affair, Muslims being the losers as police playing partisan role.

Muslims history is disappearing from the Indian syllabus. A great martyr like Tippu Sultan who fought against the colonial rule is now made a controversial figure. Whereas the name of Tantia Tope, who fought not for India but for his own pension, and Rani Laxmi Bai of Jhansi, who fought for her adopted son's heir-ship to the throne, are being glorified.

Urdu, which holds the same place in India as Arabic was in Spain, has been eased out. In north India where Urdu is the mother tongue of the Muslims, are making the children learn Hindi so they can be assimilated with the larger society. Some Muslims who are voluntarily going to madrasas

to study Urdu and Arabic are taking refuge in religious activities and have distanced themselves from the common Muslims.    

There is no middle class among the Muslims in India. Muslim elite are away from the Muslim masses. They are more comfortable with the Hindus, living in non-Muslim localities and cutting themselves away from the Muslims masses. As such the gulf between the educated rich Muslims and poor Muslim masses is widening every day in India.

On the political front, Muslim electoral constituencies are divided horizontally and vertically in India so that Muslims don't have an effective voting power anywhere in the country. Any move to organize Muslims is branded as communal and any one flirting with such idea is called ‘anti-national’. Such mockery of democracy goes on in India.

Muslim masses are left rudderless. Among them leadership is not allowed to flourish. Their ultra-secular Muslim leaders are holding on to the tails of the Hindu leadership to survive in the so called secular political parties.

What is left in India is the theological leadership that is trying to maintain the cultural identity of the Muslims. But they are also under constant attack. The cries of Personal Law amendment and its replacement with common civil code pose a big challenge to the theological leadership and they are facing pressure from both within and outside the community. Remember what happened to ‘Desh Bacho, Deen Bacho tehrik.’  

What comes out clearly from this discussion is Indian Muslims are constantly being subjected to the replication of the Spanish model. They are living in fear but in hopes that everything will be fixed one day or other in their favor. But these are wishful thinking that is not going to take the community anywhere.

It is high time the Muslim intelligentsia rises to the occasion and come up with some counter measures to check the Spanish model being replicated in India. It has to be understood that religion does not protect its followers; it is the followers that protect the religion. 

In the given situation it is the Indian Muslims who alone can save themselves from the incursion of the Spanish model being thrust upon them. How they will do it is another tale for another day to tell.

Note: This is a summary of a long editorial in ‘Dalit Voice,’ May 16-31, of 1999 with substantial changes being made to make it contextual. 

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

Frauds like Pushpendra Kulshreshtha may not let go scot-free

Frauds like Pushpendra Kulshreshtha may not let go scot-free  

Syed Ali Mujtaba                                             

There are many hate factories opened in India whose full time job is to do anti-Muslim anti -Islam propaganda.  One such person whom I have stumbled upon is Pushpendra Kulshreshtha (PK). Watching him on the ‘You Tube’, my summary is, he is a cancer to the society and such people need to be punished.  

A little search about him revealed that PK worked as a journalist and was the Bureau Chief Pakistan’s Aaj TV news in New Delhi. It’s due to that affiliation he got himself elected as general secretary of the Press Club of India not once but thrice.  

It was in his third term around 2009, he was caught doing financial irregularities with the Press Club funds. The Press Club called an extraordinary general body meeting that was attended by over 200 members and in that EGM, PK was he was unceremoniously removed. 

Going further deep into him, I learnt that he is from Aligarh and was educated in Aligarh Muslim University. Being at AMU he developed good command over Urdu language and also oratory skills in this language. He follows the ideology of Veer Savarkar and M. S. Golwalkar. His mentors are reported to be; Col. RSN Singh (Ex-RAW Head), Major General G. D. Bakshi retired Indian Army officer, Ajit Doval, (National Security Advisor) etc.

PK addresses the RSS gathering in north India where some 5000 to 10,000 people attend.  His speeches are full of wild allegations couched with lies, unsubstantiated facts, defamation, slander, libel. He only talks about hatred against Muslims and Islam. He thinks Islam is the cause of every problem in the world. He wants to wipe out every Muslim from the face of the earth. He thinks Muslims do not belong to this planet and Islam is not a religion.

It appears PK has a team that helps him prepare his hateful speeches. In all such speeches, his bigotry and rabble rousing are explicit. He is brain washing the Hindu youths, inciting them to commit violence against Muslims. He directly asks them to commit genocide against Muslims.

It seems he is let loose on the internet since 2014 to spew venom against Muslims and Islam. He has uploaded many videos on the ‘You Tube’ that are blatantly anti-Muslim and anti -Islam. His 'You Tube' shop is only thriving rebuking at Muslims and Islam.  He is a militant Hindu face on the internet. He wants either Muslim should get converted to Hinduism or be ready to be killed.

Going by the hits to his videos one gets the impression that he enjoys a large fan following. He has a fan club that gleefully watches his videos. Reading some of the comment in the comment section of his YouTube channel, some persons are talking about starting a civil war against Muslims in India. 

PK thinks Hindus and Muslims cannot co-exist in India. He supports Mahatma Gandhi’s killing. He also supports the mosque attack in New Zealand. He views are full of prejudice and hatred against Muslims and Islam.

I am sure he enjoys the protection from the political leadership that may have asked him to do such hate mongering to unite the Hindu community for political gains.  He also enjoying liberalism of Google that has given him a platform to do the hate mongering. His views are a threat to global peace. There is little doubt that PK is a cancer for Indian society. He is creating enmity among different sections of the society and a threat to peace and harmony in the country.  

Talking to a Supreme Court Lawyer, Syeda Hena Rizvi, I inquired how can such deadly and destructive virus can be taken behind bar. I was told that such a rabble rouser can be booked under different sections like; 124 A & 153A & 295 & 295A of the Indian penal code. He can be shown the click only if some social activists and lawyers come forward and file cases against him.  

In this context there few cases that come to my mind and has hogged the media lime light. They are Zakir Naik case who was accused of spreading communal hatred between communities, Akbaruddin Owaisi, who too faced similar charges, and recently of Sharjeel Imam, who was charged for sedition. If we compare these cases with the kind of rabble rousing that Pushpendra Kulshreshtha is doing they pale in insignificance. 

It sees to reason that it’s high time that people like PK should be brought to justice. The should not be left to go scott free because they tearing the society apart. The only way to deal with them is to initiate judicial proceeding and get him punished in such a way that can set an example for others.  

In sum, in a country like India, that houses different religion and cultures mutual tolerance and understanding of different religion is essential to maintain internal peace and harmony.  The diversified and composite culture of India has to be nurtured carefully and it is essential for the progress and development of the country. 

In such pursuit it is important to take to task insane people like Pushpendra Kulshreshtha who is slur on Hinduism. He by doing hate mongering is creating disturbing the peace of the society. There are enough legal provisions to deal with such kind of people and this should be initiated sooner than later to bring him to justice. 

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

India’s Covid-19 war - A 25 days assessment of lock down

 India’s Covid-19 war - A 25 days assessment of lock down

Syed Ali Mujtaba

India is running through the course of 40 days of lock down period, as part of its strategy to fight the Covid-19 war. But no one knows where our country is placed after that in this Covid war?  The parable of the Blind Men and an Elephant succulently sums up India’s story of fighting the Covid war.

A quick recap: India reported its first case of Covid in Kerala on January 30, 2020. It was also the day when WHO, for the sixth time in history, declared a "public health emergency of international concern." India on March 13 declared Covid-19,  a ‘Notified Disaster.’   

However, it was only on March 19 that our Prime Minister wakes up to the reality and appeal to the nation to observe a day-long voluntary lock down on March 22 that some urgency starts emerging. The country really became serious about Covid problem, when Prime Minister on March 24, announced a total lock down of the country till April 14.  

While making the announcement of 21 days lock down the Prime Minister said; Mahabharta war was won in 18 days; we will win the Corona war in 21 days. Subsequently on April 14, our ‘Mukunda’ did not even frat on his earlier boast of winning the war in 21 days, when he extended the lock down for 19 days more.  It appears that since March 19^th, the country’s leadership is grappling with ‘what to do’ syndrome and no one knows what to do!

The burning question is can we get rid of this virus and if so what is the way out? Since the beginning it is said, there are three options to get rid of the virus and there is no fourth.

One, the virus dies its natural death and frees the world from its horrendous impact. Second, a vaccination gets developed quickly and each of us gets vaccinated and get ready to work. The third is to develop the capacity to test the people and segregate them from haves and have not!

The fact remains that the first two options are only day dreaming and wishful thinking which is not going to happen in the immediate future. So the only option is to quarantine people and test them for virus of doom.

Indian leadership too engaged in going for the third option. Since it does not have sufficient kits to test, its strategy is to push the people indoors and wait for the cases to emerge and then go for treatment. The assumption was that by lock down and social distancing method, the intensity of the corona virus could be broken.  

The 25 days assessment suggests this strategy has miserably failed. It is said, corona virus has not yet peaked in the country. The country looks nowhere in sight of defeating the virus and each of us kept in complete darkness when we will overcome this crisis.

Notwithstanding, the facts remains, even during the lock down, there are 71 categories of people who are exempted from staying indoors. It is estimated that roughly they maybe half of the country’s population. In other words they vulnerable to Covid infection and in that case the whole idea of lock down are undermined.   

Further it is widely believed that lock down is only a “pause button” and once the lock down is lifted the fear is the virus may reappear. In such no one may risk its life, even the lock down is officially come to an end. After all, protection of one’s life is more important than material gains. So work loss may continue to be the dominant feature even in the post lock down period.   

In such case when the virus curve continues to grow in the country the clamor is, what should be done differently so that we may be quickly able to control it and normalize the situation?

The only way forward should be instead of watching virus emerge; the strategy should be to go after the virus. That’s the only way to pre-empt the virus from attacking the people. And in order to do this a countrywide testing architecture has to be put in place. It’s only through rapid testing of the entire country’s populace the objective of containment of virus could be achieved.  This would entail, certifying those who are healthy, quarantining those who are symptomatic and admitting those who are Covid positive. It is only through this method any semblance of control over the virus can be achieved. 

But it is here that the problem lies. The country’s leadership has not yet put in place the paraphernalia needed to do the testing. The country simply does not have the wherewithal or sufficient test kits to do the test. This is borne by the fact that India doesn’t come even in the top 40 countries, which are doing something to challenge this deadly virus.

The country’s leadership is silent about its gigantic failure. No one from the top is trying to brief the people about the amount of capacity building the government is able to achieve so far. The reality is after 25 days of lock down we have been able to build the capacity to test only “199 people per 100,000. This is peanuts for the size and scale of India’s population.

India’s Covid war can be only be won if we are able to get enough testing kits. Right now local supply line of kits is yet to begin and we are importing the kit from China. We all know to test each and every person in this country is a herculean task but then there is no short cut to this. In this, the blame certainly goes to the government in failing in its duties.

The current leadership in order to divert the attention from these pressing problems has consciously pushing the country into the communal cauldron. The people are worried about the communal virus than the corona virus.

Meanwhile, the gimmicks of clapping and beating the vessel, lighting the candle are done by the leadership to keep the people busy that it’s trying its best to fight the Covid war.    

In a cool and dispassionate analysis India’s Covid-19 war is not heading anywhere. Indian leadership has miserably failed to tackle the corona virus war. The current leadership is too arrogant to tell to the people about the magnitude of the problem, the way and means to tackle the problem and the time frame in which the Covid war will get over. The current set of people really do not know how fix up the things.

At the moment people’s anger against this government is at its boiling point. If a referendum held now, the Parliamentary majority that this government boasts and is the real cause of its arrogance will get a public's boot. It’s high time for the people of this country to call off the bluff of this government. If the people do not like to do this, the only option left for them is to look at the sky and ask for of mercy.   

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

Religious Profiling in India Echoes in the Gulf region

Religious Profiling in India Echoes in the Gulf region

Syed Ali Mujtaba  

India's former Foreign Secretary M K Rasgotra (1982-85), speaking at the seventh Non Aligned summit held in New Delhi in March 1983, had said; ‘the world has become so interconnected that if you touch a flower here, you may disturb the stars.'   

As a school boy, I heard these words on the black and white TV at my sister’s home in New Delhi. His words still keeps ringing into my years and now some 37 years after, when I watch the Corona - Tabligue Jamat link debate, on my Sony Bravia HD TV his words becomes prophetic.

This is because the way Islamofobia, communalism and hate mongering against Islam and Muslims being broadcast in the Indian media has definitely ‘disturbed the stars.’ 

These concerns are not unfounded, because there are two worrying statements coming from two prominent individuals one from the GCC and other from the UAE, both make 11 sovereign countries in the gulf region.

These statements even though are coming from individuals and not from state heads is a source of worry to the eight million of Indian expatriates earning their livelihood in the oil rich gulf region. It is also a cause of concern to the families in India who are living on tax free remittances coming from the Gulf region.

The first statement is made by a scholar from Saudi Arabia Mr. Abidi Zahrani who has proposed that Hindus involved in spreading hatred and committing crimes against the Muslims should be sent back to India from GCC countries.

GCC means Gulf Cooperation Council which is a group of six countries in the Persian Gulf region: Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates are its members.

In a tweet Mr Zahrani said; “Gulf States host millions of Hindus, some of whom are infected with COVID-19 and are treated free of charge regardless of their faith while fascist Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu terrorist gangs while following the Hindutva agenda are committing crimes against its own Muslim citizens.”

Mr Abidi Zahrani further said; “I propose to the respected followers of Islam to list out all the Hindus who are working in the GCC region and spreading hate against Islam, Muslims or our beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), to track them and initiate the process to send them back to India.  

If this is not music for the Indian ruling elite then the second statement that comes from Princess Hend Al Qassimi, a member of the royal family of United Arab Emirates is poignantly haunting.  Princess Qassimi said, though the ruling family of UAE is “friends with Indians”, but hate Islam hate Muslims campaign is “not welcome”.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) consists of seven independent city-states: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Umm al-Qaiwain, Fujairah, Ajman and Ra's al-Khaimah.  Around 3.3 million Indians are living in the UAE and they constitute roughly 30 per cent of the country's population.

Princess Qassimi while responding to a series of “Islamophobic posts” on the micro blog Twitter said anyone who is “openly racist and discriminatory in the UAE will be fined and made to leave” immediately.

The UAE royalty was responding to twitter posts of a Hindu Indian living in UAE targeting Muslims over the March congregation of Tablighi Jamaat in New Delhi. He allegedly used abusive language against the Tablighis, calling them “radical Islamist terrorists”. This micro blogger in his earlier tweet had said, all Islamic organizations “should be kept on vigilant watch or barred” as they only spread violence and unrest.

 Taking a note of such unsavory tweets, the UAE royal princess slammed the micro blogger and giving stern warning that such kind of people “will not go unnoticed.”’  “All employees are paid to work, no one comes for free. You make your bread and butter from this land which you scorn and your ridicule will not go unnoticed,” she wrote.

According to our government sources, a total of 3,336 Indians tested positive for Covid-19 infection, majority being in the Gulf region.  There are 2,061 Indians who have been tested positive residing in Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, UAE, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Most of them are getting free treatment in their respective countries.

India as a matter of policy has decided not to bring back its stranded citizens from these countries. The Indian official sources say that Prime Minister Modi had discussions with leaders of the Gulf countries about the welfare of Indians in the Gulf region.

However, the official sources did not divulge upon what the leaders of the gulf region told to the Indian Prime Minister. It is on record that the United Arab Emirates has warned of possible action against countries refusing not to allow their citizens to return back to their respective countries.

Well, India media is always in the habit of sacrificing the other side of the story and we the people have to swallow the information what is told through the elaborate paraphernalia of mass communication.

It is untrue that hate Muslim, hate Islam campaign going on a full throttle scale in the Indian media is unnoticed. TN Ninan, Chairman of Business Standard and a well regard journalist, has boldly said that marginalization of Muslims has become a ‘jan-andolan’ in India. 

Many self-conscious and peace loving people of this country do agree with this statement. Abusing Muslims and denigrating Islam has become the pet theme of a large section of Indian media. This narrative has a cascading impact on the world wide Indians who live on the staple diet fed by the Indian media.

Among them there are many Indians who are living in the so called Islamic countries. Swayed by the tone tenor of Indian media’s diatribe against Muslims and Islam they essay their mind on the social media sites. Little they know the damage they are doing to the fellow expatriates living in the gulf region.

  

The epic center of all such hate mongering is the broadcasts done from India. This is because some Indian media have declared the faith of the killer Corona virus to Islam, and Muslims are being dubbed as terrorists fighting the ‘Corona Jihad’

All these are happening under the state patronage. India’s ruling elite gleefully watching these rants of the wounded civilization on their television sets, are taking solace they are winning the battle in the ‘clash of civilization.’ Little they realize, India rests in the soft belly of the Islam arch, can only survive like a tongue between the jowls and any such war may be a nightmare.    

To cut the story short, the alarming voices in the gulf region have started ringing the bells. It can have a devastating impact if life support of many Indians is taken off. The ruling elite have to wake up to stop the sowing of the seed of hatred going on in the garb of fighting COVID-19, else our country may have to redeem itself, long after this unseen virus goes into oblivion. 

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