Alternative Narrative on Women Empowerment in Afghanistan

Alternative Narrative on Women Empowerment in Afghanistan

Syed Ali Mujtaba

There is much talk about the trampling of women’s rights in Afghanistan in the media. The narrative being built is how under the Taliban rule,  girls are not allowed to go to school, working women are told to stay home, demonstrations by women are put down with iron hands, women are not represented in the Afghan government, etc. 

These views on the repression of Afghan women under Taliban rule are occupying the dominant space of the media. India along with the US allies is insisting that the Taliban government should shun their conservatism and give women the freedom to move about freely, go to school, go to work and induct them into the government. This dominant view is backed up by the condition that if the Taliban do not become soft on their women, the western aid promised to them will be stopped, and also they may not be recognized as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.

These are valid points to impress the progressive societies. However what is being preached and propagated 0is only one side of the story about the Afghan women and there is another side of the story as well. This remains unheard and needs to be told for the people to cast their judgment on this issue.

The starting point for this narrative is what the US and its ally really did for the empowerment of women during the 20 years of occupation of Afghanistan. The freedom that Afghan women got under US protection was to wear jeans, play football or cricket in public, and go to school or work but that was only to a very small section of women living in Kabul. The rest of the country had no such freedom that’s alien to Afghan women. As such with the retreat of the US the Afghan women have really have lost nothing as they never enjoyed anything that was for a tiny minority living in Kabul. 

The majority of the Afghans who live in the rural areas remain rooted in their traditional values. It’s since time immemorial their lives have never changed. In fact, their sufferings increased manifold with the US occupation of their country. They were subjected to daily bombings, wanton killings, and arbitrary violence of the warlords, some of them being allied to the US forces. In such kind of repressive atmosphere under the US occupation, the lives of Afghan women deteriorated further than improved on freedom and liberty index.  

The US had repeatedly stated that promoting women’s rights was one of the key reasons for their intervention in Afghanistan. However, after 20 years their record says they did nothing to improve the condition of women in Afghanistan. The fact is 80% of Afghan girls do not have any school to go, the health care centers for women and child remains abysmally low. These facts point that US occupation did not improve the condition of women of Afghanistan rather it made it worse. 

The Afghan war cost the US taxpayer US$2 trillion but not even a fraction of it went to the Afghan women. The fact is the rural areas where women largely live never got benefited from the western donors and aid agencies and their condition never improved. The corruption in the middle siphoned off much of the money supposed to go to them.  What little went to the rural areas did not make any significant impact on the lives of the women of Afghanistan. Even the basic amenities such as health, education, and water supplies were not improved by the US-controlled government. 

The sorry state of affairs in Afghanistan is to be solely blamed on the international community that is largely responsible for the all-around devastation of that country. The ‘Afghan Jihad’ has brought untold misery and mayhem to the people of Afghanistan. Nearly four decades of war have left the country totally battered and bruised.

Now when Afghanistan has got freedom from foreign occupation, the west is talking about the plight of the women under Taliban rule. This is to absolve themselves from the sorry state of affairs created by them in Afghanistan. The US and its allies are making a case to browbeat the Taliban using women's freedom as an alibi to cover their incompetence to correct the wrongs in Afghanistan. 

The Afghan women had never experienced the individual freedoms enjoyed by the women of the west. Such freedom is alien to them. The societies of the occident have undergone tremendous changes following the renaissance and reformation, the birth of Protestantism, agriculture and industrial revolutions, capital formation, etc. The American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Russian Revolution had tremendous impacts on the lives of people in the west and had their own impact on the women living in these countries.  

In comparison, the societies of the orient have not experienced any such shock therapies.  They witnessed very slow-paced changes that too after reaching a higher level of economic development. Educational development was the key to women's empowerment in all Asian societies.

In this social context, Afghan women are at the bottom of the ladder because their country has neither been economically sound nor they made any progress in educating its people. The women in Afghanistan are still struggling to gain respect in their homes. They still live in a male-dominated family where their repression is a common theme. They yet have to become partners in the decision-making process of the family. Their fight is to gain ascendency in the family and then in the society and after that to become visible on the streets. All these are tall order and a work in progress.

The majority of the Afghan women are happy at the departure of the foreign troops. They are equally happy at the return of the native rule, no matter how flawed that may be. They now feel at ease at the modicum of peace being established in their country that eggs them towards freedom of mind and to determine them the pace of their development. 

However, right now, the top priority of Afghanistan is the reconstruction and economic safety of the people rather than the empowerment of women. The focus is on repairing and improving the infrastructure, ensuring supplies of essential goods and services, creating institutional structure, training manpower for administration purposes, etc. Improving the condition of women is below the agenda of priorities in Afghanistan.

The US and its ally after their abject failure to improve the condition of the people are talking about women’s rights. Their precondition to release financial aid and de-freeze the Afghan assets locked in western banks only after the improvement of the women’s rights is quite disgusting. This is being done at a time when Afghanistan desperately needs funds to stem the human catastrophe ticking over their country. 

The threat to stop foreign aid to Afghanistan is a total misreading of the women empowerment narrative in that war-torn country. The US and its allies should allow the Afghan women to choose the kind of social change they may like to bring about and the kind of values, mores, and norms they may like to adopt to live freely in their country. They should also be allowed to change at their own pace and not at the likings of the foreign powers.  

Empowerment of women is a work that has just started in Afghanistan. It may take a long time to reach the benchmark set by the western countries. Till then we have to support the reconstruction efforts of Afghanistan and at the same time give a gentle push to the task of women empowerment there.    

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

How British Media Reported Tipu Sultan

 

How British Media Reported Tipu Sultan

Syed Ali Mujtaba

Perhaps no other ruler of India has been covered by the British media as Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu a.k.a Tipu Sultan born at Devanhalli in 1750 and died at Seringapatam on May 4, 1799.  

Tipu was the most feared Indian in Britain and his activities were widely reported in British media. The people in England hungrily awaited reports of the latest outrage of Tipu Sultan during the four Anglo-Mysore Wars.

 Tipu sultan was at the forefront of the British public’s consciousness and his terrifying tales of attacks on the British forces and threats to trading settlements in Madras presidency appeared at regular intervals in the British newspapers.

The return of British prisoners of war, some of whom were held captive in Mysore for several years, led to the writing of books that told harrowing stories of hardship and torture at the hand of this Indian ruler. Many of these accounts were self-serving and those  who followed Tipu Sultan's activities closely were unnerved reading his tales of defiance.  

Tipu Sultan was possibly the most famous Indian in the whole of the United Kingdom. When he died at the hands of General Harris’s troops, that besieged his island capital Seringapatam in 1799, there were celebrations in Britain. The authors, playwrights, and painters created works to celebrate his demise and the crown’s victor over the Tiger of Mysore.

 The news of Tipu’s death was so powerful event that it fuelled much creativity throughout England. Not only authors and playwrights but also artists and painters used canvas to glorify the end of a dreaded Indian ruler who defied the British might.

Tipu Sultan extensively used tiger imagery to convey a sense of his awesome power. Tiger images emblazoned his golden throne, his textiles, coins, swords, and his soldier’s uniforms.

 It is no coincidence that the Seringapatam medal, awarded to those who had taken part in the siege depicts a rampaging lion mauling a supine tiger, suggesting that the Tiger of Mysore was mauled by the lion i.e. the British empire. 

Tipu Sultan held sway in the public mind of the English people well into the nineteenth century. As late as 1868, Wilkie Collins chose the siege of Srirangapattana and its subsequent looting as the setting for the opening of his bestselling novel ‘The Moonstone.’

The ‘South Asia Gallery’ at the British Museum has provided a space for the legendary Indian ruler Tipu Sultan. It displays his sword, ring, and perfume box. The descriptions of his objects by the British Museum are following:

“From 1766, the greatest threat to the East India Company came from the ruler of Mysore. In 1782 Tipu Sultan became the ruler of the province. His military and administrative skill made him a legend during his lifetime. He was feared and respected both by the English and his countrymen. England sent its best troops to try and defeat him and kidnapped his sons in 1792. He was finally killed in 1799, during a battle in which the British successfully gained control of the city Sarirangapatnam.  Tipu’s possessions (‘everything that power could command or money could purchase’) were taken by victors and are now in collections all over the world. This sword, decorated with his emblem, the tiger is from his treasury, but the gold ring is said to have been taken from his finger after the battle by Arthur Henry Cole, the resident of Mysore.” 

The description of Tipu Sultanat at the London Museum suggests that how important the ruler of Mysore was for the British government. 

It needs to be reminded that Tipu Sultan was secular to the core. His chief minister Purnaiya was a Hindu, and so were several other prominent nobles at his court.

Tipu Sultan was a generous patron of several Hindu temples. This included the Sri Ranganatha temple near his main palace at Srirangapattana. He respected the Swami of the Sringeri Math and called him Jagadguru.

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

 

Afghanistan- Modi has distanced India from Taliban

 

Afghanistan- Modi has distanced India from the Taliban  

Syed Ali Mujtaba

In India, it's being fiercely debated that why the BJP government did reach out to the Taliban when every other stakeholder was talking to them for quite some time?  US, Russia, China, and Iran is in a much better position to deal with the Taliban and address their concerns, whereas the Modi government’s domestic agenda has tied India’s hand to reach out to the Taliban.

Sometimes after 2014, the US and other prominent countries changed their perception towards the Taliban. They realized that the center of gravity rests on these Pashtun guerrillas and so they started talking with the Taliban so that they can exit from Afghanistan.  However, the BJP government’s myopic view of the situation in Afghanistan kept them opposing the Taliban. India continued supporting the puppet government in Afghanistan without having plan ‘B’ in place, in case, if the current government falls down.   

Indian response to the developments in Afghanistan has exposed the chinks in the Modi government’s foreign policy. His arrogance in statecraft is singularly responsible for putting India into the most disadvantaged situation in Afghanistan.

What does the BJP government’s opposition to the Taliban has done to India?  The first and foremost is the threat to India’s investments made in Afghanistan. India has invested over 3 billion USD in Afghanistan. It's close to two decades now that India has been a partner in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. It has built infrastructures in education, medical, agriculture, power generation fields. India has constructed a new Parliament building in Kabul. It engaged in constructing the Shahtoot Dam on the Kabul River. India has also built roads, schools, universities, hospitals, and sports stadiums in different parts of Afghanistan. All these were with good intention to develop Afghanistan. 

However, the question remains, why India did not make any plan to protect its interests if the US and the planted government leave the scene. India was relying on these two fragile sources of strength, hoping US cover will remain forever and the puppet government will serve its interests. Both, these pillars that India thought were its strength have been blown away by the winds of change sweeping across Afghanistan, leaving India in no man’s land.       

The Modi government’s ill-conceived foreign policy towards Afghanistan has numerous impacts on India. The first price for not negotiating with the Taliban is likely to make India forfeit all its investments made in Afghanistan.

The second harm the BJP government did by stonewalling the Taliban is it has put the lives of many Indians at risk in Afghanistan. Recently, the Taliban had displayed its anti-Indian intentions clear, killing an Indian photojournalist in a cold blood manner. India has little option than to pull out its national from Afghanistan. It has been organizing operation ‘Airlift’ to take out its citizen from Afghanistan.

The most interesting question that arises here is; whether the BJP government gives shelter/ asylum/citizenship to people who were in the Afghan government, with whom India had been engaging for 20 years or so while doing the reconstruction work in Afghanistan. If India does not protect them then it will bring a bad name to the country and in case if India welcomes such persecuted Muslims how will they bypass the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA). If that happens, will the BJP lose the sheen of its religious nationalism project?  

The third fall out of the Taliban’s hold on Afghanistan will be on India’s internal security. India cannot stop the mushrooming of the terror groups in Afghanistan who are furious at the anti-Islam- anti-Muslim agenda being pursued in India. In such a case, new factions of terror groups will emerge in Afghanistan on which           India will have no control. Many may be infiltrating inside India and it’s likely that terror activities in Kashmir may increase. 

The fourth fall out of   Taliban control of Afghanistan will be that they will make India a transit route to smuggle their drugs to foreign destinations. Taliban are bound to increase the production of drugs to generate more revenue to run the government and with the golden triangle being heavily guarded, it’s Indian waters that may become a conduit route for the Afghan drugs to move to the foreign countries. A treaty with the Taliban could have addressed such issues, but the BJP government’s arrogance has doomed all such national concerns.

 The fifth fall out of India’s ill-conceived foreign policy towards the Taliban is losing all the partners that may have facilitated India to play a role in the Afghan peace process. Now India cannot cut much ice, vis-à-vis Pakistan or China, because of the given relationship with the BJP government with these two countries. A troika has been made with Russia, China Iran, and Pakistan leaving out India. India going into the American camp has lost both Russia and China. Even the US has sidestepped India and has made a deal with Central Asian republics, Afghanistan and Pakistan to keep its interest afloat in that region, where India has no role to play.      

Now, when the US-backed Afghan government has fallen, India is scrambling for reconciliation with the Taliban but all such overtures have been so far unanswered. It needs to be remembered that the Taliban had reached out to the Indian diplomats in 2018 in Russia to make friends but India did not give any weightage.

The former chief of the Taliban’s Doha office; Syed Akbar Agha has publicly stated that the Taliban are not keen to reconcile with India. The Taliban leader said; “In fact, we had earlier sent messages of peace and friendship but India had rebuffed them and now it’s late.”

Another spokesperson for the Taliban in Doha Suhail Shaheen has commented that after their spectacular victories on the battlefield, India is changing its colors. Shaheen alleged that India was arming the Afghan government all along so, “how it’s possible to talk with them when they were arming the puppet regime? This is contradictory as they with our enemies and not with us. If they stick to their policy of supporting a government-imposed on Afghans, then maybe they should be worried about us and not the Taliban.”

It’s no secret that India has provided military equipment like helicopters, artillery field pieces, small arms, radar, ammunition, amongst others, to the Afghan government to fight the Taliban. In such a case, how India can prove its neutrality to the Taliban.

Taliban’s recent statement reaffirms that they are not happy with India.  They have blamed India for not having an impartial attitude towards them and with the Indian government taking sides supporting Afghanistan, they have doomed their prospects in dealing with the Taliban.

As the drama is unfolding drama in Afghanistan and of Taliban’s victory is keenly watched all over the world, the debate is raging in India as to who has shot our motherland on its foot.

The responsibility for creating a threat to India squarely rests on the current government which has put the country in such a situation that cannot be reversed. After Pakistan and China, the Modi government has made Afghanistan a new headache for India. The narrative of post-truth India making of the brand new republic is solely responsible for creating the threats from Afghanistan. The Modi government’s squinted foreign policy towards Afghanistan has shot India on its foot. It has made the country limp to search for a vantage position from where it can deal with a country that has otherwise been friends with India for long. 

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

 

India Searching for Space in Afghan Peace Process

 India Searching for Space in Afghan Peace Process

Syed Ali Mujtaba

India’s External Affairs Minister Jaishanker was in Iran, apparently searching space for India in the peace process in Afghanistan. Well it’s the magnanimity of Iranian leadership to meet India’s Foreign Minister, as New Delhi is on the list of non-friends, if not enemies. The reason being, India voting against Iran in the United Nations. India’s desperation over the developments in Afghanistan is evident because knowing well the facts on the ground, the PMO has sent the External Affairs Minister to go to Tehran and make friends with Iranians.   

Why was Iran India’s External Affairs Minister Jaishanker destination, why not Moscow or Riyadh or UAE? Well, India has lost Moscow’s cover, since it stopped buying defence equipment from Russia. India has also distanced from Moscow since it abandoned the socialist path and has been following the capitalist path, making anti-working-class laws. India’s domestic compulsions that have been pushing for making India a Hindu religious state further distances Russia, as the two countries are not on the same ideological plane.

India’s open preferences for anti- Islam anti-Muslim agenda at home do not placate the Wahabis and Salafis brand of Islam of the Mid-East as well. This leaves India with the option to court Shiite Iran.I think our Minister has forgotten the Iranian fatwa on the Satanic Verses. In his learned vision, Shiite Iran will tolerate Hindus' slurs on Islam and anti-Muslim campaign in India. 

Notwithstanding the facts, the fact remains that India wants to take Iran’s help to protect its interests in Afghanistan. How far Iran will serve India’s wishful interest in Afghanistan remains to be seen, none the less India’s External Affairs Minister had gone to Tehran to break the ice, searching for space in the Afghan peace process. 

There is no denying the fact that the US's exit from Afghanistan has brought instability to the entire region. The geopolitical situation in that region is in flux. The military vacuum created by the US retreat has moved regional powers to move into Afghanistan.  The idea of a regional solution to Afghanistan has always had a political appeal, but the divergent regional strategic vision has limited the peace prospects in Afghanistan.

Even as a sustainable regional consensus remains elusive in Afganistan, Russia, Pakistan and China have formed a troika to deal with the situation developing in Afghanistan. They have left India out in the Afghan peace deal, and this has made ‘Viswa-Guru’ running to Iran, searching for space in the peace process in Afghanistan.

Who are the regional players in the Afghan peace process?  

Pakistan - The first and foremost regional actor is India's arch-rival Pakistan. It was frontline state for the US from 1979 to 1990 and helped the US build the military machine called ‘Mujahedeen’ to oust the Soviet invaders. It was at the behest of the US; Pakistan created the backup force called the Taliban to replace the Mujahedeen at a later stage. After the withdrawal of the US from Afghanistan in 1994, Pakistan played a key role in placing the Taliban on the hot seat of power in Kabul.  1994-2001, Taliban rule in Afghanistan, saw Afghanistan becoming heaven of Anti – American forces, leading to an attack on Twin Tower in New York on September 11, 2001. This triggered a direct invasion of the US into Afghanistan. Pakistan was once again made a frontline state by the US in its war against terror. The US was successful in ousting the Taliban and physically supported an Afghan regime that the US placed in Kabul for the next twenty years. However, having failed to bring stability to Afghanistan, the US bought peace with the Taliban and made an exit from the place it desired to bring enduring freedom.  This has made Pakistan is once again relevant in the Afghan peace deal because it has been handling the Mujahedeen and the Taliban for from last forty years or so.

Iran – Iran is another neighbor that has close involvement with Afghanistan.  This is because Persian being the court language and well understood and spoken in Afghanistan all over and second, a large Shia population living in Northern provinces of Afghanistan.  Iran has been traditionally protecting the interests of its population and most of the ruling elite in Afghanistan are of the Shia sect. Iran can’t forfeit the historical role it has played in the political stability in Afghanistan.

Tajikistan – Uzbekistan – Turkmenistan etc. – These central Asian republics share borders with Afghanistan. They too have their ethnic population residing in Afghanistan. These multiethnic groups in Afganistan have a support base in central Asian republics. As a result, Tajikstan – Uzbekistan – Turkmenistan have a decisive role in the future political settlement in Afghanistan.  

Russia – Even though Russia is an extra-regional power since 1979 it's been playing a huge role in the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. After the 1990s, Russia has been on the Taliban side to oust the US  occupation of Afghanistan. It is well known that Russia has been providing military assistance to the Taliban to sustain its anti-US military campaign. Therefore, Russia has a huge interest in shaping the peace process in Afghanistan.    

China – China has emerged as a new player in the peace process in Afghanistan. It wants to enter into the power vacuum left behind by the US. China shares a border with Afghanistan and there are unconfirmed reports that say that it has been training the Taliban, providing them arms and ammunition to fight against American occupation forces. China offers the Taliban the recognition of its alternative vision of governance that does not conform to the Western model. China is willing to recognize the Taliban as the legitimate ruler of Afghanistan. Just like Myanmar, China is ready to protect the Taliban regime against any western sanctions. China is aware of its role as a regional player and has a huge stake in bringing stability to Afghanistan. China's main interest is to make its belt and road policy run into central Asian republics. It wants China- Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to be extended beyond Pakistan and through Afghanistan enter into the central Asian Republics. Besides, China is keen on mining activity, that’s in abundance in Afghanistan and remains unexplored. All these grand designs of China are quite palatable to the Taliban. They are  receptive to the Chinese investments in Afghanistan as this may bring all-around development to their country. So, China has a huge stake in peace and stability in Afghanistan.  

India- All these factors have been increasingly pushing India into a geopolitical tight spot in Afghanistan. This is because the era of prolonged peace in Afghanistan secured by the US military presence has come to an end. It means new constraints on India’s ability to operate inside Afghanistan. As such India’s lack of direct physical access to Afghanistan and that underlines the importance of having effective regional partners for playing peacemakers. 

But who could be India’s regional partners? Certainly Pakistan and China is ruled out because the current political dispensation in Delhi sees the two countries as enemies of India. As a result, New Delhi is intensifying its engagement with Iran. In fact, India had made great preparation to hold Afghanistan through Iran, committing to build Chabhar port. However, India voted against Iran at the United Nations giving weightage to the US over Iran and that has turned to be its undoing. Now, it remains to be seen how much weightage Iran gives to India to meddle into Afghanistan.

India has invested billions of dollars after the US invasion of Afghanistan.  It has constructed a new Parliament building in Kabul. India has also built dams, roads, schools, universities, hospitals, and sports stadiums in different parts of Afghanistan. This means India has to gate crash into Afghanistan to safeguard its interests. That is the reason the current leadership in Delhi is courting Iran, expecting it to facilitate India's entry into Afghanistan. However,  this is subjected to numerous ifs and buts.

So, will India lose all its investments in Afghanistan, which run into billions of rupees? Certainly not! India has some history of engaging Taliban. Indian officials had first direct contact with the Taliban in 2013, when they issued a visa to senior Taliban leader Abdul Salam Zaeef for attending a conference in Delhi. Further in 2018, some senior Taliban leaders met with Indian representatives in Moscow. Indian officials and Taliban leaders held a meeting in Doha in June 2021.  It was reported that the Taliban leader Mullah Baradar was in contact with former Afghan president Hamid Karzai, who was pushing Russia, Iran and India to start a dialogue with the Taliban. Taliban group was aware that India was providing military support to the US-backed Afghan government and it had warned Delhi to remain impartial. The Taliban leadership had made it clear that they would not interfere in Kashmir to suit India’s interests. 

As a result, India has to rethink its stand on dealing with the Taliban if it likes to protect its interest in Afghanistan.  Since India is in no position to dictate terms to the Taliban it has to evolve a new policy that is different from the current policy of supporting the US-backed Afghan regime. India's new policy should not be based on Pakistan and China’s moves in Afganistan. India has to acknowledge the fact that it cannot match the reach and depth of Pakistan and China that has land boundaries with Afghanistan. 

The good thing is, Taliban has signaled that it will not be a proxy for anyone and will pursue its independent policies. This gives India the opportunity to deal exclusively with the Taliban. Taliban has already given assurance that it will not support Pakistan-backed anti-India terrorist groups from its soil. It remains to be seen that India gives an assurance to refrain from Muslim bashing that's currently going on to build a new relationship with the Taliban. 

There is no denying the fact Taliban remains a major force to reckon with in Afghanistan. There cannot be any peace in Afghanistan without Taliban playing a central role in the Afghan peace process. At the same time, Taliban cannot rule the whole of Afghanistan without accommodating the interests of other groups in that country. 

If India has to protect its investments in Afghanistan, it has to directly deal with the Taliban. India has to remain active and patient watching the evolving situation in Afghanistan.  There may be many opportunities for India that may bacon it from the front door in the Afghan peace process, and this need not be through Iran. Certainly for this, India has to bottle up its own Taliban!  

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan Model is Now Real

Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan Model is Now Real  

Syed Ali Mujtaba

The new Pew Research Center report has come out with startling revelation as it says that for many Hindus, national identity, religion, and language are closely connected. Nearly, 76% of Hindus say being Hindu is very important to be truly Indian. Nearly two-thirds of Hindus say it is very important to speak Hindi to be truly Indian.

The new Pew Research Center report is based on a face-to-face survey of 29,999 Indian adults fielded between late 2019 and early 2020. This was before the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey takes a closer look at religious identity, nationalism, and tolerance in Indian society. The survey was conducted by local interviewers in 17 languages and covered nearly all of India’s states and union territories.

Hindus who strongly link Hindu and Indian identities express a keen desire for religious segregation. They say they do not have much in common with members of other religious groups. Most of the 86% of India’s large Hindu population, says their close friends come mainly or entirely from their own religious community.

Hindus who strongly link Hindu and Indian identities feel it is very important to stop Hindu women from marrying into another religion. Roughly two-thirds of Hindus say it is very important to stop Hindu women (67%) and Hindu men (65%) from marrying into other religious communities. Even those who place less importance on Hinduism’s role in national identity, hold the same view about inter-religious marriages.

Among Hindus who say it is very important to be Hindu to be truly Indian, 80% of them also say it is very important to speak Hindi to be truly Indian. Most Hindus in India say being able to speak Hindi is very important to be ‘truly’ Indian. Moreover, Hindus in the Northern (69%) and Central (83%) strongly link Hindi with national identity. Together, the Northern and Central regions cover the country’s “Hindi belt,” where Hindi is most prevalent. The vast majority of Hindus in these regions strongly link Indian identity with being able to speak Hindi.

Majority of Hindus say a person who eats beef cannot be a Hindu. Dietary laws are central to Indians’ religious identity. Hindus traditionally view cows as sacred, and laws on cow slaughter have recently been a flashpoint in India. Nearly three-quarters of Hindus (72%) in India say a person cannot be Hindu if they eat beef. This is larger than the shares of Hindus, who say a person cannot be Hindu if they do not believe in God (49%) or never go to a temple (48%).

Among Hindus, views of national identity, go hand-in-hand with politics. Support for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is greater among Hindus who closely associate their religious identity and the Hindi language with being truly Indian.

In the 2019 national elections, 60% of Hindu voters who think it is very important to be Hindu and to speak Hindi to be truly Indian cast their vote for the BJP. In comparison, only 33% of Hindu voters feel less strongly about both these aspects of national identity.  

These views also map onto regional support for the BJP, which tends to be much higher in the Northern and Central parts of the country than in the South.

India’s caste system, an ancient system of social hierarchy continues to dominate Indian society.  A large majority of Indians overall (70%), say that most or all of their close friends share the same caste.

Large shares of Indians (64%) say it is very important to stop women of their caste from marrying into other castes. Similarly, about the same share (62%) say it is very important to stop the men in their caste from marrying into other castes. Across the different castes, all object to interreligious marriages.

The survey finds that three-quarters of Muslims (74%) supporting having access to the existing system of Islamic courts. To this followers of other religions are less supportive and don’t concur with Muslims having access to this separate court system.

According to a Pew report, Religious conversion is not alarming as it is made out to be. Among Hindus, for instance, any conversion out of the group is matched by conversion into the group. So Hindus gain as many people as they lose.  As far as Christians are concerned there are some net gains from conversion.

These are inchoate images of changing India. India is making a decisive change from the Nehruvian era to a Hindi Hindu Hindustan identity, the call given by V.D Savarkar. Nehruvian India aspired for an inclusive society. There was no connection between the state and religion. Indian nationalism and Hindu nationalism were poles apart. Hindi was not a synonym for Indian nationalism. There were 14 other languages that enjoyed equal status with Hindi. It's precisely because of the diversity of languages in India, Hindi could not become the national language of the country. Nehruvian India aspired for a casteless society. It encouraged inter-caste marriages to break the barriers of caste hierarchy. Inter-religious marriages were encouraged in Nehruvian India to bridge the social tension between the religious communities in the country. 

The new Pew Research Center report amply points all these ideals of India that were envisioned in Nehruvian India are set aside. India has moved to the ‘Post- Truth era and Indians are living in 'The Brand New Republic.’ 

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. His forthcoming book is ‘Post- Truth India, The Brand New Republic.’  He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com

 

India's Islamic Heritage Sites Being Documented

 

India's Islamic Heritage Sites Being Documented  

Syed Ali Mujtaba

Mr. Siraj Thakor, from Toronto, Canada, has undertaken the monumental task of creating an online database of all the Islamic Heritage Sites of India. He likes to preserve it digitally and make it available to all to cherish the Islamic past of this great country.

Mr. Siraj is looking for volunteers to assist him with the information on Islamic Heritage Sites in India. In response to his call, someone wrote to me with detailed information about a graceful mosque that lies in ruins in the Gaya district of Bihar.

This mosque popularly called ‘Lodi mosque’ was built around 1536 AD during the Lodhi rule in India. It is believed that Sultan Ibrahim Lodi, one of the rulers of the Lodhi dynasty had taken initiatives to get this mosque constructed.

This mosque is about 25 km from Gaya on Gaya-Patna road. It is exactly near Kundwa village at Khijrasarai block in Gaya district. It is situated on the banks of the river Falgu, a kilometer from village Kundwa. On the West of the river is Lodhipur village colloquially called Lodpur, while on the east is Kundwa village.

The mosque becomes functional only during the ‘Eid’ and ‘Bakrid’ festivals when some Muslims from Kundwa village come to offer prayers in this mosque. For the rest of the years, this mosque remains a picture of neglect and want for maintenance. There is no Azaan called from this mosque as there is no one to take care of this house of worship. Some people have illegally occupied the land around this mosque but there is none to challenge such encroachments.

This historical mosque comes under the Archaeological Survey of India but neither ASI nor the Bihar government nor the Waqf Board, have any concern in protecting this Islamic heritage site. It is in this context people like Mr. Siraj Thakor, who is the Past President of the American Federation of Muslims of Indian Origin (AFMI), comes into the picture. 

 He wrote to me: “Dear Brother Syed Ali Mujtaba, ASAK, I am a Past President of the American Federation of Muslims of Indian Origin (AFMI), We have undertaken the monumental task of creating an online database of all the Islamic Heritage Sites of India to preserve it digitally and make it available to all. I would take this opportunity to request you to be part of our team to collect info on Islamic Heritage Sites in your area. Alternatively, can you put in touch with someone or the organization which would be interested in such a historical task and leaves a legacy for the Indian Muslim generation to come? Wassalaam- Siraj Thakor.”

Mr. Siraj has started an All India campaign to document such historical Islamic heritage sites in ruins. If you have any similar story of any such Islamic heritage site near you, please write to him directly with photographs; (thakorsiraj@hotmail.com). You can even contact him on ‘WhatsApp’ -+1 416-277-7082.

This is a huge initiative and the efforts of people like Mr. Siraj needs to be strengthened. Anyone, anyone where in the country who feels concerned about vanishing  Islamic Heritage Sites in India must come forward and join his team.

– Maiñ akelā hī chalā thā jānib-e-manzil magar– log saath aate gae aur kārvāñ bantā gayā –

(Translation: I set off alone towards my goal, but, people came along and it began to turn into a caravan!)

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

Some Muslims set to visit Temple on Ugadi day

Some Muslims set to visit Temple on Ugadi day

         Syed Ali Mujtaba

Chennai:  Come, Ugadi, the Telegu New Year that falls this year on April 13, 2021, and some Muslims of the Kadapa town in Andhra Pradesh will be seen flocking to the historic Sri Lakshmi Venkateswara Swamy temple to seek blessings from the presiding deity for a great year ahead.  

Lord Venkateswara, Balaji is a form of Vishnu, who is believed to have appeared here to save mankind from the trials and troubles of Kali Yuga.

This tradition is centuries old in the Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh. Many Muslims from Chittoor, Kurnool, and Anantapur district visit the Balaji temple every year on Ugadi day.

The temple is popularly known as Devuni - Kadapa, or the threshold of the Lord, and is considered as the gateway to Tirumala, some 120 km away, the abode of Lord Sri Venkateswara in Tirupati.

The members of the Muslim community believe that Lord Balaji had married a Muslim woman known as Bibi Nancharamma.  According to a popular legend, Bibi Nancharamma was one of the consorts of Lord Balaji, a local Muslim woman.    

Another legend is Bibi Nancharamma was the daughter of Malik Kafur, the General of Allaudin Khilji in South India whom Lord Balaji married in 1311 AD. The Muslim community of this region since then treats Lord Venkateswara as their son-in-law.

Muslims throng the Devuni - Kadapa temple right from 6.00 AM and scores of men and women take ‘harathi’, consume the ‘teertham’ and ‘prasadam’ and accept the “satagopam” placed on their head by the temple priests there.

On the day of the temple visit, Muslims do not touch any non-vegetarian food. They take bath and carry flowers, jaggery, sugarcane pieces, and tamarind to offer to the deity. This includes ‘Vepapathi,’ a special dish made of jaggery and sugarcane.

Priests conducted special prayers and bless the Muslim devotees as they do to the Hindu devotee. This tradition is centuries old and there is nothing Hindu- Muslim about it. This is done every year and those who visit the temple are allowed to pray and seek blessings for peace and prosperity for the year ahead. 

Kadapa incidentally has a Dargah, which is frequented by the Hindus, and the Muslim priest there does the same act without making any fuss about the Muslim or the Hindu community. 

Well, this is real India untouched by the pollution of high politics of Hindu nationalism. In post-truth India, where the brand new republic is being experimented, such practices of interfaith communal harmony show mirror how pluralism is thriving in the country.   

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

 

Hindutva has arrived in America!

 Hindutva has Arrived in America! 

Syed Ali Mujtaba

This may not be news for those who have little connection with US domestic politics, but for those who are closely watching the house of Uncle Sam it's apparent that Hindutva forces have arrived in America! 

This is an interesting development that needs to be closely watched as America’s "melting pot culture" is having the taste of India’s Hindu organizations that are challenging the core US values in its home turf.

These organizations are; 'Hindu SwayamSevak' (HSS) - the International Wing of the RSS, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHPA), the Overseas Friends of BJP (OFBJP) and the Hindu American Foundation (HAF). 

These organizations are extolling the virtues of the Hindutva ideology and teaching the Americans the values of Hindu Civilization.  

Surprisingly these Hindu outfits do not claim to be the custodian of ‘Santam Dharma.’ The confine being the advocacy group of Hindu Americans but do not define ‘Hinduism.’ They seem to be self-convinced to represent the entire caste matrix of ‘Santam Dharma’ along with the Hindu minority groups like; Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains in their world view of Hinduism.    

Among the Hindutva organizations, the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) is the most articulate organization. It was founded by rich, articulate, and highly educated second-generation Indians in 2003 with the mission to educate the Americans about Hindus and Hinduism.

 The HAF came into existence barely a few months after the Gujarat pogrom in 2002 which was against the Muslims and there was huge outrage against then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.  

The HAF justifies the Gujarat communal riots calling them a spontaneous act, an outburst of the Hindus against the Muslims who they say were responsible for the death of ‘Kar Sevaks’ in the Godhra train tragedy. A similar stance was taken by them during the 2020 Delhi pogrom. 

The HAF members are on a mission to support Narendra Modi and his extremist policies. They dismiss all criticism against him as ‘Hindu-Phobia.’

Going through the website of HAF one gets the impression it’s an extension of Hindutva forces that are currently at work in the US.    They have put stories on their website that suggests their energies are focused on supporting Modi’s acts in the ‘Dreamland.’    

 After 2014, the HAF’s effort is to defend Prime Minister Modi’s policies. Be it, note ban, GST, making J&K a UT., the lockdown, etc. The talented pool of young and accomplished voices of HAF is defending Narendra Modi as a savior of mankind, projecting him as the world’s ‘greatest leader.’

This group’s speckless campaign was finely articulated at the ‘Howdy Modi’ show. This particular event during the Trump administration boosted the Indian Prime Minister’s image in America and showcased the Hindu- American voting muscle to the Americans.

Banking on the large Hindu voters, such lobby groups are propping up Hindu candidates that could represent their ‘Hindutva ideology’ in the US Congress, thus making deep inroads into the US politics.

Tulsi Gabbard, Sri Preston Kulkarni, Padma Kuppa, Raja Krishnamurti were candidates that was backed by the Hindu lobby groups in America.  

Some civil rights activists in the US have accused HAF of backing a fascist ideology. They in turn are rebutted with the accusation that they are pro-Islamists suffering from Hindu-Phobia.

The HAF proclaims to be involved in the areas of human rights, civil rights, and education, etc. They say their motto is to promote dignity, mutual respect, and pluralism along with the well-being of the ‘Hindus.’  

However, these sweet words are a charade, the truth is their mother outfits RSS and the BJP in India instruct them to make inroads into US politics. The neo-rich Hindu Americans are donating extensively to support the Hindu candidates so that they can impact US politics.

The HAF job is also to challenge the mainstream US media on their reportage on India. Several websites are propped up by them that are engaged in challenging the popular media outlets like NYT, Washington Post, and Time, Newsweek, etc. Their job is to refute the negative coverage of the Indian Prime Minister and his policies.   

The HAF claims it is a politically agnostic and non-partisan group that does not favor or endorse any political party or candidate and is not affiliated with any religious or political organization. However, if we go to their website, they have put stories on ‘Bengali Hindu Genocide in 1971’, ‘India's Citizenship Amendment Act,’ ‘Kashmir and Articles 370/35A’, ‘Correcting Media Portrayals of Hinduism’, Commercial use of Hindu Images, etc. 

All these stories, tear open the underbelly of Hindutva forces in America from where the yank Golwarkars and Sarwakars ooze out.

There is a need to keep a close watch on such organizations that are spreading their tentacles in US politics. They need to be put on a leash before they make any deadly assaults on the American value system.   

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

 

 

Democracy has won over ‘Demoncracy’ in J&K Polls

Democracy has won over ‘Demoncracy’ in J&K

Syed Ali Mujtaba

The BJP government in Delhi has conducted the District Development Council in J&K. This was done almost one year of its occupational rule. The poll was conducted to make a point that people of J&K endorsed BJP’s decision of August 5, 2019.  The results speak how miserably the BJP has failed. Inherent in the BJP’s victory beguile is the slur that Democracy has won over ‘Demoncracy’ in J&K

There are few things that need to be analyzed with regard to the DDC poll results. The BJP’s strategy was that the local poll will be boycotted by the people of Kashmir and in such case its victory in Jammu will hold the credibility of the poll and that would justify its August 5, 2019 decision.  The participation of the mainstream party in the polls upset the BJP’s calculation.

The results of the DDC polls did not endorse the BJP’s move to revoke the special provisions to the J&K and make it a Union Territory. In fact the poll verdict made a loud statement for the restoration of the autonomy which was forcibly taken by the BJP government in Delhi. It also made a statement that the people of the Valley desperately need freedom, peace, dignity and democracy.

 The poll results highlighted the total alienation of the people of the valley towards the Delhi rule. The restoration of faith and trust deficit that BJP has created will linger on long after it ceases to be the rulers of ‘Hindusthan.’

The BJP’s claim that it has emerged as a single largest party at the DDC has to be accepted with a pinch of salt.  Out of 75 seats that the BJP won, 72 have come from the Jammu region, that too from six Hindu dominated districts —Jammu, Kathua, Udhampur, Samba and Doda and Reasi.  In these districts there is sharp religious polarization between Hindu Jammu and Muslim Kashmir. These districts are traditional Hindutva vote banks and there is nothing to celebrate about the BJP’s win.

The fact is the Congress won 26 seats in the Jammu region and the ‘Alliance’ won in both mixed areas, as well as in Muslim-dominated areas, makes BJP claims of being the single largest party being hollow.

The puzzle is how did the BJP win three seats in the Srinagar region? How it got 3 per cent votes in the Valley?  Independent sources say, the 3 seats are won by coercive methods. People were asked at gunpoint to vote for BJP. Many votes were cast in absentia by bogus voting. Those managing the booths voted for the BJP. Huge security personnel took part in the state orchestrated voting process.

There were reports that the alliance parties were not allowed to campaign freely, their movements were restricted. The central government made life difficult for the top leaders to reach out to the masses. The BJP candidates or its allies were given full security to campaign. Many high profile Muslim BJP leaders like Shahnawaz Hussain and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi went to for campaigning to the valley.  Even with all these, hullabaloo the   BJP could win only 3 seats. Given the administrative paraphernalia and security set up that the BJP has put up in the Kashmir valley, this very poor show by the mighty state power. Certainly, the result does not suggest that the BJP has become a mainstream party in the Valley.

The BJP backed Apni Party hardly had any significant impact in the DDC polls. There were reports that the BJP used the state machinery to the benefit of the Apni party. It has also pumped in huge cash and resources to help it win the polls. But in spite of all the backing given by the BJP, the Apani party could win only 12 seats. The BJP thus miserably failed in creating an alternative leadership in the Kashmir valley.

The BJP’s moves to change the course of Kashmir valley’s politics by propping up Apni Party was totally debunked by the people of the Kashmir valley. In BJP’s circles,  Altaf Bukhari, the leader of the Apani party is touted to be the new Shiekh Abdullah who will hold the BJP’s flag high in the Kashmir Valley. The DDC   results point that Altaf  Bukari  has become the Altaf Hussain of Pakistan – a  crook to the core.

The DDC poll also did not endorse the BJP claim that its move of August 5, 2019 has been able to contain the scourge of terrorism in J&K.?  The statistics of militancy related activities speak the fact that armed militancy has increased since the state became a Union Territory. 

The BJP claims to end dynasty rule has also not got vindicated at the DDC poll? The fact is BJP’s campaign to remove dynasties in J&K did not reflect on the poll results. People have restored faith in the old dynasties of Abdullahs, Muftis and Sajjad Lone. 

In sum the DDC poll results clearly reflect a mass resentment and anger at the state of affairs in the Union Territory of J&K. People have clearly voted against the ‘demoncracy’ that is thrust on them. The poll verdict points that the people unanimously oppose the central government’s move to abrogate Article 370, the dissolution of the state assembly, the arrest of political leaders, the lockdown, the clampdown, and the totalitarian and authoritarian methods adopted by the BJP. The DDC poll results reflect a total failure of the BJP government towards J&K.

The DDC poll on the positive side has restored people's faith in the electoral process. The results vindicate that people want restoration of autonomy, state assembly and true federalism in J&K.

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