Jaswant Singh saga would haunt for long

Jaswant Singh saga would haunt for long
Syed Ali Mujtaba

Jaswant Singh’s book 'Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence' that interprets events leading to India’s independence and Partition differently than the official NCERT version has triggered a huge debate in the country.

The book praises Pakistan’s founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah, and calls him a secular Indian. This is contrary to the popular in the country that holds Jinnah solely responsible for the Partition of India, The book equally holds Congress leaders Sardar Valbhbhai Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru responsible for India’s Partition. The 71-year-old ex officer in Indian Army also asserts in his book that Indian Muslims are treated as ‘aliens,’ in the country, a fact unacceptable to many Indians.

The Bhartya Janata Party, to which the author belonged as member for three decades, called his formulations ‘hearsay’ that went against the core ideology of the party and expelled Singh from its primary membership. The Gujarat Chief Minister Nrander Modi took this matter a step further and banned his book in this BJP ruled state, after burning some of its copies.

All this has once again opened the Pandora box of the debate that has been in circulation for time now in India. The issues involved are tolerance towards academic freedom, plurality of thought, breaking the stereotypes, the guts to circulate new ideas and so on and so forth.

Its not long ago, this debate ranted the air when a section of Muslim community protested Salman Rushdie’s book Satanic Verses, Taslima Nasreen’s controversial writings and caricature cartoon of Prophet Mohammad by a Danish newspaper.

A large number of liberal and enlightened souls in the country rebuked at those whose beliefs were sullied by irreverence of some adventurers. They called the protestors; bigots, reactionaries, non liberal, non tolerant people belonging to a particular community.

In this bandwagon were a large number of Saffron activists that took a pot shot against the believers of Islamic faith and sided with the liberals who were beating their chest at the murder of freedom of expression.

In an ironical twist of tale, Jaswant Singh’s book has turned the tables against those ‘kettles’ who called the ‘pot black’. There was hardly any distinction between the two and behaved in the same fashion when it came to negotiate with any plurality of thought. However, the former could get away with their protest under the nationalist cloak, the later could never remove the stigma of being religious bigots.

Let’s leave this matter and come to point, what does Jaswant Singh’s book try to signify? The most important message he tries to convey goes beyond the demolishing many stereotypes in circulation for long in India.

One of it is that he denounces demonizing Jinah, and calls it a conspiracy hatched by Nehru and Patel to put the entire blame on Muslims for Partition of India. This is so as to project Muslims a hallucination for unifying the divergent Hindu society.

The Congress was successful in this venture and kept Muslims under psychological fear so that they would resign themselves to their subordinate status in Indian polity. It was the reason of this ugly legacy that political assertion by Muslims has always been construed as communalism.

The Congress experiment was so successful that different so-called political parties which emerged during the course of time including the BJP also deliberately followed this experiment so as to perpetuate this myth and reduced the status of Indian Muslims as mere vote bank.

Its impact was so pernicious that the whole concept of ‘secularism’ in India has come to revolve around Muslims communal identity, and the community has remained content with the false promises of ‘security’ and safety. For Muslims parties may come and go and they may rush from one to another, their fortune did not changed except for getting a few doles grants.

It is precisely for this Mr. Jaswant Singh deserves all the praise. He is the first political leader in India that too from the party of Muslim baiters, who has brought to the fore the grave reality of the alienation of Indian Muslims perpetuated since the Partition of the country. He deserves a special place in the annals of Indian political history.

Now lets divert the attention and compare BJP’s response to Jaswant Singh’s book with Varun Gandhi's hate speech against Muslims during the last Lok Sabha elections.

In case of Varun Gandhi, the BJP without associating with his speech backed him to the hilt and did not oppose him or accused him of disturbing communal peace in the country. Whereas in case of Jaswant Singh’s book that narrated some historical facts, the BJP members were up in arms and even without reading the content of the book, distanced with its author, who happen to be party member for 30 yrs and had served it with distinction.

While in BJP’s Ayodha plot, Varun Gandhi was not even a ‘Ram Biriksh’, Jaswant Singh, was hailed as ‘Hanuman’ of the party. Like the mythical ‘Hanuman,’ Singh had gone to Kandhar and save the lives of many innocent Indians held hostage by the terrorists in the high-jacked Indian Airlines plane. Yet when it came to evaluating the services of the two characters, the BJP leadership rejoiced at Vaun Gandhi’s speech, its blood boiled at Jaswant Singh’s book.

Singh who was one of the founding members of the BJP in 1980 was not even considered to give explanation nor was asked to go through the motion of trial by the party that swears by democracy. In his case the BJP simply donned the fascist mantel and summarily sacked from the primary membership of the party.

Why such special favors were bestowed to a rabble rouser and why a Muslim sympathizer was shown the door? It is because Varun Gandhi;s speech synced with the Muslim bashing ideology of the BJP, and the objective assessment of historical facts by Jaswant Singh was considered as against the core ideology of the party.

What does the BJP wanted to convey sacking Jaswant Singh? Does it mean that it is going to rule this country from Dashrath’s throne at Ayodhya, or its wants to alter the democratic framework of the country?

The people of India have given the mandate time and again not to alter the secular and democratic character of the country. Even the BJP’s strident campaign for Hindutva to alter the core characteristics could not gave it a majority to rule the country. This truthful reality of Indian politics has been conveyed through 15 parliamentary elections spread over a time frame of 60 years in the country.

Even while every Indian is convinced about the composite character of Indian politics, the aging BJP leadership does not seemed to be charmed by this point of view. They continue to believe of coming to power on the anti Muslim plank with the help of Hindu votes that constitute 80 per cent of the Indian population.

It seems these make believe world view is rattled by Jaswant Singh’s book 'Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence.' Jaswant Singh’s saga would definitely linger on and would haunt the Indian politics for time to come.

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a working journalist based in Chennai. He is also author of the book “The Demand for India’s Partition.” He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com


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India asks Burma to expedite national reconciliation

India asks Burma to expedite national reconciliation
Syed Ali Mujtaba

India has asked the Burmese government to expedite its political reform. India’s reaction comes following the conviction of Burmese pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for 18 months of detention. Her last period of incarceration had expired at the end of May 2009.

Indian Foreign Ministry that has seen reports of the sentencing of the Burmese pro democracy leader called upon Burma to expedite political reform.

“India has always maintained that it wants Myanmar to expedite national reconciliation,” said India’s Ministry of External Affairs in a statement.

"India has emphasized to the Government of Myanmar the need to expedite their political reform and national reconciliation process, and have noted the various steps taken so far, by the Government of Myanmar in this direction,” the MEA statement added.

"We have maintained that this process should be broad based, including the various ethnic groups. In this context, the issue of release of political prisoners will no doubt receive due attention," the MEA statement said.

Meanwhile, the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) in India along with the People's Politics Front (PPF – Lok Rajniti Manch) has also expressed its grave concern on the setback to democracy struggles in Burma.

"It is another big blow to democracy struggles in Burma" said Dr Sandeep Pandey, Magsaysay Awardee (2002) and leader of National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM).

The NAPM and PPF leaders demanded release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other measures to ensure democratic processes strengthen and go forward in Myanmar.

The pro democracy leader of Burma Daw Aung Suu Kyi, was sentenced to three years jail and hard labor by a military court in Rangoon on Tuesday.

The court sentenced her on charges of breaching the terms of her house arrest after a US national, John Yettaw, in May 2009, swam across her lakeside house to meet her, where she was then under house-arrest. She had, allegedly, allowed him in the house, for which both the US national and Aung San Suu Kyi were charged by the court now.

The US national John Yettaw, was sentenced for seven years, including four years of hard labor, while the pro democracy leader was sentenced of three years of jail and hard labour.

The court verdict on Aung San Suu kyi was commuted to 18 months of house arrest by General Than Shwe, Burma's top military ruler who intervened in the matter fearing global outrage.

However, even milder punishment did not stop global condemnation. The European Union has expressed to "respond with additional targeted measures against those responsible for the verdict."

Australia was quoted to consult the international community, including the Asian regional forum ASEAN, "on the need to put even more pressure on the Burmese regime to move down the path of democracy".

Similar statements of support for Aung San Suu Kyi and democracy in Burma came from United States of America (USA), Indonesia, Malaysia, United Kingdom (UK) and France.

India is one of the few countries along with China and Thailand that has trade ties with Burma too has called upon its neighboring country to speed up political reforms and national reconciliation process.

Burmese siren sizzles in Bollywood movies

Burmese siren sizzles in Bollywood movies
Syed Ali Mujaba

Bollywood fans are in for a delight to watch a hot babe in “Kool Nahi Hot Hai Hum” released last November. Called Laila Khan, this chink beauty has made her presence felt in the over crowded Hindi film industry.

Curiosity since then has been building up among the Hindi moviegoers to know more about this new Bollywood siren. Speculation were rife, the new import into Hindi cinema could be a ‘desi stuff’ from our northeast region, somewhere near home to actor ‘Danny` Denzongpa of Sikkim.

Others speculated she could be a true import from foreign land, maybe from Central Asia, the land of Changiz Khan, as her name suggests.

Slowly, the mysteries are unraveling about this round faced girl. Laila Khan is actually Sandar Win, a native of Burma, now called Myanmar.

Sandar was discovered two years ago while working as a general manager at an advertising company in Dubai. Many Bollywood directors and producers frequented this ad firm where this Burmese girl worked, to advertise their films. Sandar’s looks caught their attention and they coxed her to act in Bollywood films.

“They encouraged me to try my hand at acting because they thought I looked gorgeous,” said Sandar Win, who actually comes from Rangoon.

“Feeling confident from their encouragement, I flew to Mumbai with a dream of becoming a Bollywood star. But when I got there, I saw many attractive girls from around the world and was really nervous,” she said.

“I had to undergo exhausting screen tests but despite issues with the language barrier and learning Bollywood style dance, my screen tests went well. They liked my acting and sent me to a choreographer, and after two days I was able to perform Bollywood dance,” she added.

“A month later, I received a call that I have been selected to act in “Kool Nahi Hot Hai Hum.” I was incredibly happy… I did not expect this to happen… I had never dreamt that I would be an actress,” she said in an interview.

How Sandar Win did become Lalia Khan? “Well, they wanted to label me on the lines of Bollywood nymph Helen,” another import from Burma, who sizzled on Hindi sliver screen for the decades of 60s, 70s.

“And since I was coming from Dubai, where Laila is a common name, and this they suffixed it with Khan, a much circulated name in Bollywood dictionary, and give me the screen name Laila Khan. I had no issues with this name,” Sandar said.

So far Sandar Win has acted in three films. “Kool Nahi Hot Hai Hum” that was released last year. Her two more movies, “Faraar” and “Choore Pe Moore,” are set for release this festive season of November and December 2009.

She has signed contracts for another four Bollywood films. These are big budget films to be shot in Germany, Austria and Russia and for each film, Sandar will spend 40 days in each country.

The journey of Sandar Win from Rangoon to Dubai and from Dubai to Mumbai is a story of luck by chance. Truly it’s a story of someone on whom destiny is bestowed. / ens/
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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com

Monuments Vanish – Government Unfazed

Monuments Vanish – Government Unfazed
Syed Ali Mujtaba


Some wise men of India say what is good about this country the opposite of it is also holds true. Take for instance the discovery of ancient heritage sites. On average Indian newspapers fill one item every week describing in graphic details, the discovery of heritage site excavated by the Archeological Survey of India.

One relish the hard work done by the government body that was set up way back in 1961 to discover the glorious past of the country, and thank it to let every Indian feel proud of the wonder that was India.

Well that’s brighter side of the story; the opposite is, Archeological Survey of India is also responsible for the disappearance of thirty-five of its protected monuments across the country. These protected monuments were notified during the British rule.

India’s culture minister Ambika Soni placed this information before Parliament on March 27 2009 and listed 35 “centrally-protected monuments/sites that are not traceable now”.

“The disappearance came to light in the course of surveys of the monuments and it is not feasible to fix individual responsibility,” the Minister said in a written reply to the upper house.

She blamed “rapid urbanisation, construction of multi-storeyed residential and commercial buildings, implementation of development projects, etc.” for the disappearance of the monuments.

As many as 12 of the 35 entries; some have more than one structure are in Delhi. Uttar Pradesh has eight, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir three each, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat two each and Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Karnataka one each.

The 12 monuments missing from Delhi includes Moti Gate in Bazidpur; Phool Chadar, Mubarakabad; Barakhamba Cemetery; Alipur Cemetery; Joga Bai Mound, Jamia Nagar; Shamsi Talab, Mehrauli and Nicholson statue.

Among them is Moti Gate of Sher Shah Suri’s Delhi, notified as a centrally-protected monument in 1913. There is also no trace of the Alipur cemetery, which apparently fell victim to a bypass on the GT-Karnal Road in the 1980s.

Uttar Pradesh with eight untraceable monuments comes second. Most of these monuments are spread over Lucknow, Banda, Hardoi and Jalaun.

In Lucknow, the big monument lost is Imambara Amin-ud-Daula and many cemeteries. In other places, most of the monuments are cemeteries

What cannot be traced in Jammu and Kashmir are rock carving of Sitala, Narada, Brahma, Devi riding a lion and Radha Krishna in Kathua district. Also lost is cave temple of Visveswara in Kathua.

In Karnataka, a pre-historic site in Mysore cannot be traced while in Gujarat ancient site in Sejakpur in Surendranagar is lost. Haryana has lost Mughal Kos Minar in Faridabad and Kurukshetra. In Rajasthan, inscription in Fort Nagar and 12th century temple in Baran cannot be traced.

The figure does not indicate the true magnitude of the problem. The government’s list only mentions the “centrally-protected monuments,” a reference to the sites in the care of the Archaeological Survey of India, which number 3,667 at present.

It does not include sites that at some time were “protected” by state authorities. Currently, there are about 4,000 of them across the country.

More important, the figure does not take into account the unprotected sites, many of which are not even identified as “monuments”.

Taking into account this colossal damage that is going on to the national heritage, the union government has recently launched National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities to place such little-known sites on record. It has been given a corpus fund of Rs 90-crore and a time frame of five years to identify and document such monuments and antiquities.

One hopes that the records will be set right and no future loss to its monuments and antiquities will take place. We leave this to future and talk about the present where the stand-off between Archeological Survey of India and Muslim worshippers continues.

The Muslim worshipers are demanding to open the gates of protected mosque, to cater to the religious obligation keeping in mind the growing population and keep such places of worship in service for which they have been constructed.

Recently a group of people tried to forcibly enter the ASI protected the Jamali Kamali mosque at Mehrauli in South Delhi to offer Friday prayers but were chased off by the Delhi police.

Responding to the incident, Home minister P Chidambaram said; the Government would not allow prayers in monuments protected by the ASI except in 12 structures where they were being offered for years.

We are for defacto status quo. But in no other protected monuments prayers will be allowed to be offered," Chidambaram said. Among the 12 places of worship, five are in leading monuments and seven where prayers have been offered on Fridays.

One wonders at the wisdom of the government in prohibiting the Muslim worshippers from using their places of worship. The late Rajiv Gandhi who had the dubious distinction of the opening the gates of Babari Masjid at Ayodhya to the Hindu group, had then defended the ban on the Muslims to worship in the protected monuments, saying these architectures are in depleted condition and from safety point of view it was advisable not to pray in such mosques.

We can argue with the government over this issue but when we take into consideration the disappearance of the 35 protected monuments, one has think, whether such places of worships would be safer with the government or in the custody of the worshipers for whom it’s a necessity at least five times a day.

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a working journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com

Loud Thinking on Welfare of Indian Muslims

Loud Thinking on Welfare of Indian Muslims
Syed Ali Mujtaba

The issues concerning Muslims are many; from profiling, security, education, jobs, poverty reduction, and economic participation to social and political empowerment. However, there is no agreement on the agenda and the course of action to be followed to address these anomalies. In order to grapple with this issue, a meeting of the Muslim MPs and intellectuals was organised on 14 July 2009, by NEFM in New Delhi.

The round table meeting was chaired by the Union Minister of Minority Affairs, Salman Khursheed and attended by several MPs and other eminent persons from the Muslim community. The deliberations at the meeting resulted in six point recommendations that need to be followed for the welfare of the community. They are as follows:

1. Correction of the religion based discriminatory Clause (3) under Article 341 of the Constitution, which was imposed by a Presidential Order 1950. The existence of this Clause contradicts the secular character of our constitution, which is mentioned in the Preamble of the Constitution and guaranteed under Article 14, 15 and 16 of the Constitution “that no discrimination will be made to its citizens based on gender, caste, religion etc.” And yet Muslims and Christians face religion based discrimination under this infamous Presidential Order 1950.

2. Fair Share under the OBC quota, wherein based on the Mandal Commission recommendations, Muslims OBC castes constitute one third (8.4%) of the 27%. Muslims, like Hindus MBCs, have not got their share in OBC reservation, as few powerful castes take away the chunk of the OBC quota, say Yadavs in Northern India. Therefore based on the pattern of South Indian states like Kerala, Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, OBCs, MBCs and Muslim OBCs may be given Quota within Quota, as per their share. This will be in total conformity with the spirit of reservation, where all get Justice, a Just and a Fair Share.

3. Affirmative Actions for their effective participation in the national mainstream by accessing education and economic opportunities through a set of Affirmative Actions. Through Special Component Plan of Rs. 25,000 crores, an annual budget of Rs. 15,000 crores may be created for modernisation of the Madarsa educational network and for opening new educational institutions for Muslims under 85:15 ratio, wherein 85% grant is by Government of India and 15% by the Muslim community. Another Budget of Rs. 10,000 crores to be created for their large scale skills development programs, creation of small enterprises and other economic opportunities.

4. Equitable Distribution under the spending by all economic ministries of the Central Government. The appointment of a Monitoring Officer in each ministry or mandating the Ministry of Minority Affairs to ask for status report on quarterly basis of the adherence to the 15% spending for minorities (10% exclusively for Muslims) would serve the purpose.

5. Safety, Security and Sensitivity towards minorities: Suitable law may be passed by the Parliament for the protection of minorities by covering them under the Criminal Act, on par with the SC/ST Criminal Act. This will ensure that harassment and profiling of minorities is not done. And in cases of riots, blasts and terrorist activities, even before the preliminary investigations are done, some Muslim names are flashed in media, which not only affects the investigations, but create very negative perception about Muslims in the society. Similarly, in cases of riots, strict punishment to those responsible, compensation to the victims, (Rs. 25 lacs and jobs to the dependents of the victims) and time bound enquiry and adoption of reports, will stop any riots in future.

6. As special measure it was recommended to constitute four committees to help the community: 1. Setting up of Indian Minorities Economic Development Agency, 2 Setting up of National Level Monitoring and Response Centre, 3. Setting of a political affairs committee, 4. Setting of a Committee on Education Affairs.

In addition, it was suggested to form an advisory committee for the Ministry comprising of twelve to fifteen members that may meet once a month to discuss the issues concerning minorities, suggest agenda and action and monitor various programs.

Earlier, making a presentation before the august gathering, MJ Khan, President, NEFM emphasized the need to work out a clear agenda for the development of the community. He highlighted the need for a proactive approach and divided the agenda between; A) Action by the Government and B) Action by the Community, and further categorized them as; a) Social and Political, b) Governance and Developmental.

A- Agenda for the Government

Social and Political: a) Proportionate Political Representation to Minorities, as for Dalits in India, b) Expanding overall OBC quota, including more Muslim castes as in many States and trifurcation of OBC Reservation, c) Removal of Article 341 (3) the religion based discriminatory clause Profiling of Muslims, d) Code for investigating officials and media Safety and Security – Control of riots, e) Acceptance of Enquiry reports, accountability, deterrent punishments and equal compensation, f) Annual report to be released by Home / Minority Affairs Ministry on Minorities Level of Confidence in States, and ranking them on the same.

Governance and Developmental: a) Equal opportunities commission, b) Waqf properties documentation, vacation, valuation and commercialization c) 85:15 ratio basis education scheme, d) ITI status to those Madarsas, meeting the criteria, d) Special Monitoring Officer for minority schemes in each Ministry / PMO or MMA e) Special Component Plan for Minorities of Rs. 25,000 crore

B- Agenda for the Community

Social and Political: a) Setting up a Monitoring and Response Centre for research, response, coordination and delivery at the National and State levels
b) Image building exercise c) Coordination on major political and social issues and meetings the Government.

Economic and Developmental: a) Operationalising an Economic Development Agency, b) Large Scale programs Mission Skills, c) Creating awareness and empowerment to access major Governmental schemes like SSA, RGURM, NREGA, NRHM, PMEGP, NHM etc.

Speaking on the occasion Union Minister of Minority Affairs, Salman Khursheed said neither he nor his Government is against the tabling of the Mishra Commission report in the Parliament, and will decide appropriately on its timing and presenting the Action Taken Report. He elaborated, while Sachar Committee report has diagnosed the problem, Mishra Commission report provides solution to them.

The minister suggested that there is need for Muslims to take maximum benefit of the mass scale schemes such as NREGA, PMEGP, RGURM, RKVY, NRHM etc. He agreed fully to the need of Government coming up with a special economic development package for minorities aimed at creating better educational facilities, more employment and skills development for self-employment opportunities.

Mr. Khursheed concurred to the demand for removal of religion based discriminatory clause 3 under Article 341. He said, such religion based discrimination under our secular Constitution has no place in our democratic country and added that the Government is in seize of the matter and the same has been recommended by the National Schedule Castes Commission, besides Mishra Commission.

Speakers after speakers at the meeting highlighted that the time has offered us a historic opportunity, where the Government is in know of the Muslims problems and seems keen to deliver the solutions. Therefore the community must seize the opportunity and approach their problems in a business like mode and prepare a clear road map and a clear action plan for the development of the community. There was a total unanimity among the speakers for a proactive approach of the Muslim community if they want to embark on the development path and reap the benefits of the secular and democratic state.

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

MIZZIMA TV Programmes and CVC Reports

MIZZIMA TV Programmes

1- Talktime with Col Hariharan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k59Cnsqic9M

2- Talktime with col Hariharan-2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHOgorqva3k

3- Talktime with comodor Vasan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKwNMnv_TMo

4-Talktime with comodor Vasan 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iaaSyt67vs

5- Talktime with Uttam KumarJamadagni- part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6URyEx3Z9Q


6- Talktime with Uttam Kumar Jamadagni-part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n852p8Z2R0

7-Talktime with Somi Hazari

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjOxnhhsujc

8-Talktime with Ramu Manivanam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUQEtaXp1aM

9- Talktime with DS Rajan -1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wEWMIRpA7s

10- Talktime with DS Rajan 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pNAlx8ZIH4

11- Talktime with Lawrence Prabhakar -1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICmhYZQpZco

12- Talktime with Lawrence Prabhakar-2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qU15p9srI2I

13- Syed Ali Mujtaba at audio release by A R Rahman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_0eCGfzwok&feature=related

13- Syed Ali Mujtaba and Strings

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtY-88FT4K4

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CVC REPORTS

1- On anti Smoking

https://www.cvcradio.in/audio/by/artist/sarah_bell_interviews_syed_ali_mujatab

2- on Dowry Harassment

http://www.cvcradio.in/podcast/syed-ali-mujtaba-on-dowry-harassment

3- on Industrialisation

http://www.cvcradio.in/podcast/syed-ali-mujtaba-on-industrialisation

4- on on Garbage Burning

http://www.cvcradio.in/podcast/syed-ali-mujtaba-on-garbage

Creating Musical Bridge between Divergent Faiths

Creating Musical Bridge between Divergent Faiths
Syed Ali Mujtaba

Can Islam and Judaism live in peace? Skeptics may have a two word answer but incorrigible optimists may like to argue; Yes they can! This optimism comes after listening to Shye Ben Tzur, the acclaimed Israeli composer, producer and performer, who is trying to synthesize his personal experiences of Judaism with Islamic mysticism and has succeeded in creating a unique cross cultural musical platform unheard in modern times.

Dressed in black sherwani, Shye Ben-Tzur looked immaculate at the EarthSync festival held at Sir Mutha Venkatasubba Rao Concert Hall, Lady Andal School, in Chennai, on May 30, 2009. He performed songs from his upcoming album “Soshan” (rose) on a exotically decorated stage and infornt of a packed audience.

Dabbling with tunes set to Hebrew and Urdu lyrics, he held the centre stage with his group consisting of Rajasthani musicians, and Israeli artists, and was able to create a unique musical experience of very unusual kind.

The evening performance was spectacular. Shye started his performance with flute recital; it was followed by title song of his new album “Shosan”. Frida Begum the earthy Punjabi singer from Rajasthan and the Quwals from Ajmer regaled the audience.

A few songs later, listeners were hooked to the drum beats modeled on traditional north Indian wedding music where groom rides a horse in a musical procession and makes entry into the bride’s house. The Rajasthani musicians with thick moustaches and colorful turbans created an electrifying atmosphere. The crowd went on rupture hearing a beautiful melody on the Clarinet and were on their feet clapping and whistling to the sound of music.

Barring a few composition that were in Hindustani, most of the songs were in Hebrew. Shye spoke in English the meaning of those songs and it was all about the conversation between the devotee and the divine. One was devotee’s total surrender to the divine’s will; other was about the profound love for the divine.

By the end, when Shye, introduced his troop members to the audience, they all had assembled near the stage, dancing on the tunes of each musician that played a solo piece. The entire troop gave their heart to the audience when they showered rose petals on the crowd who danced with them in joy.

Watching Shye and his musicians I was struck by the group's heterogeneity. There was Spaniard Fernando Perez on the guitar, Israel Eyel Mazig on the bass, his countryman Ran Lev Ari on the drums. They were accompanied by Rajasthani folk musicians with their rare instruments. A clear example of how music and art form can cross political and religious boundaries, and create a cross cultural synthesis based on the unity of mankind.

Just before his concert, I caught Shye for a friendly chat outside the auditorium. I asked him, how he began his musical journey? “Well I started as a rock musician in Israel and my first band was “Sword of Damocles.” I had been composing music quite early in life but deep inside remained hungry for right kind of inspiration.

Then, I attended a concert by Hari Prasad Chaurasia on flute and Zakir Hussain on Tabla. This left a deep musical experience on me. I came to India to discover an ocean of traditional musical form being practiced all over the country.

However, I was looking for sacred and meaningful music and that brought me to the Ajmer dargah where I fell in love with qawwali music. I also discovered here the beauty of Islam ad was amazed to see so much beauty and healing touch also existed in Islam.

I asked him if he is enjoying the status of Hebrew Qawwal and being hailed as a Hebrew Sufi. Shye shot back; I am neither a Qawwal nor a Sufi. I draw lot of inspiration from Qawwali music but that does not qualify me to be a Qawwal. There are many accomplished practitioner in this form of music. As far as being called as Hebrew Sufi, this again would be a misnomer. subject. You can at best call me a Hebrew music composer.

To my question why does he compose music in Hebrew, he said, though he can speak Hindustani, he is more comfortable in his mother tongue. I am translating Urdu poetry into Hebrew and composing music for it.My ancient language lends itself so beautifully to Sufi songs, the Ajmer qawwals like to sing my Hebrew lyrics, he said.

To my question how is his music being received in India and Israel, he said, I have performed several times in Israel including at the World Music Festival in May 2004 where Rajistani folk artists, group of qawwals from Ajmer, Israeli artists all come together to bind Judaism and Islam in a joyful celebration. Emotionally music is all about unity and it transcends all barriers, he said.

In India, I have performed at Jahan-e-Khusrau, the prestigious international Sufi music festival in New Delhi, and at everal other cities of the country. The response is tremendous, I m glad my music is finding its own place in India.

To the question whether he likes India, he said though Israel is my country of birth he finds emotionally attached to India. India has such a strong Sufi tradition; it has not just touched me but grabbed me.

Shye Ben-Tzur is living in India for over a decade now. He has dedicated himself to work on cross cultural platform to bridge the divergent faiths of Judaism and Islam. He sings in Hebrew, but his words are of Islamic Sufi tradition. He has set to tune many insightful Urdu poems written by famous Sufi saints of India.

The singer's first effort to promote his brand of music was "Heeyam" (supreme love). In this album he has succeeded to bring his own ancient culture alive with Islamic Sufi tradition of India. Involving musicians from various ethnic and religious backgrounds, the album shares the vision of unity of mankind through music.

Shye Ben Tzur has unwittingly become symbols of cultural harmony. The EarthSync, a Chennai based music label by giving support to such kind of music has once again reinstated its commitment to nurturing world music of unique kind. In past, EarthSync’s work such as Laya Project and Laya Project Live! ‘The Ojos de Brujo albums’, ‘Nagore Sessions’ and ‘Voice Over The Bridge’ has been well received world over.

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a working journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com