As long as you are an active member of Facebook, it is likely that you will see APJ Abdul Kalam’s quotes frequently. Some of the quotes cited include “If you fail, never give up because FAIL means “First Attempt In Learning” and “All ofus do not have equal talent. But, all of us have an equalopportunity to develop our talents.” Perhaps the mostpopular one would be “I am not handsome but I can give myhand to someone who needs help…Because beauty isrequired in the heart, not in face…”
Where would the Indian Facebook pages be if it weren’t forthese quotes? But apart from the quotes, APJ Abdul Kalam,the former President of India, is known for his contributionsto missile technology. Can you imagine such a thinghappening in today’s India? Far from being entrusted withthe responsibility of developing India’s nuclear missiles, hewould have been branded as a “Jihadi” who would sellIndia’s nuclear secrets to Pakistan and other parts of theworld as part of a larger “Islamic conspiracy” to take over theworld.
Facebook users may share Abdul Kalam’s inspirationalquotes. However, in today’s India, his legacy andcontribution, particularly to India’s nuclear defencecapabilities, are overshadowed. Unfortunately, the narrativethat India’s Muslims are troublemaking stone pelters andbudding Jihadists has taken root.
In reality, in the so-called “New India,” Muslims are in gravedanger. They are accused of being “traitors” who ought to beshot. Do you remember the slogan “Desh ke gaddaron ko,Goli Maaro Saalon ko” which propelled several small timepoliticians into popularity? One junior minister, who took tothe streets shouting these slogans, got promoted to the rankof a cabinet Minister in the government.
Muslims are being harassed on a daily basis. They are not allowed to their identity inpublic, not allowed to do and not allowed to worship in their areas. Theyare constantly being
hounded and provoked. They–evensmall children and differently abled people–are being calledJihadis. Their homes and shops are being vandalised and destroyed . Certainly, the Muslims ofthis country do not seem to have the “equal opportunity”APJ Abdul Kalam often talked about.
Had Abdul Kalam been a young boy in “New India,” hisidentity alone would have prevented him from getting aneducation. He would have struggled to find a job or a home.In today’s scenario, would we have been able to encouragethe “Missile Man of India” who enhanced our militarycapabilities?
APJ Abdul Kalam is not the only Indian Muslim whocontributed enormously to India’s progress. Over thedecades, Millions of Indian Muslims, from all walks of life –from arts, education and entertainment to computing andpharmacueticals–worked hard to make the country what it istoday. Take, for instance, the person who inspired Abdul Kalam’s name–Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad.
The Maulana worked hard as a poet, journalist and writer.Unlike Savarkar, who begged the British for Mercy, theMaulana took part in the Freedom Movement. Anhonourable member of the Indian National Congress (INC),he was the first Education Minister of India. A staunchopponent of partition, Azad worked hard to protect peoplesuffering from its aftermath. Later, he founded the JamiaMilia in Delhi, which gave birth to the Jamia Milia IslamiaUniversity in Aligarh. Today, it is one of the best universitiesin the country.
Azad believed that there would, one day, be an India wherethe Hindus and Muslims would co-exist in harmony. Thoughthe country moved far from the violence and bloodshed ofthe 1940s, the “New India,” led by radical Hindu extremistpoliticians, is unfortunately being pulled back into the darkages. New India, sadly, is polarised and ugly.
The likes of Maulana Abdul Kalam would not be able to startan institution or become education minister today. A case inpoint: only a small percentage–a mere
4.3 percent of India’s parliamentarians– areMuslims, as opposed to the 7.3 per cent that existed back in1977.
Speaking at the Delhi Muslim Convention in , Maulana AbdulKalam said: “take the pledge that this country is ours, thatwe belong to it and that fundamental decisions of its destinywill remain incomplete till we participate in them. There isno place for either cowardice or frenzy.” Today, IndianMuslims are forced to cower in fear in the very country thathe told them they belong to.
When India was newly created, a Pakistani scholar IHQureshi said that Indian Muslims would not exist over thenext century. “What the Muslim community got out ofindependence and partition was a sense of insecurity,frustration and uncertainty…in a hundred years, perhaps ina shorter time, the Muslim people may cease to exist inIndia.” In the “New India,” more than the reality Azadimagined, the reality Qureshi imagined seems to be gainingtraction. Given the prediction of Muslim genocide in the country,would it be possible that there won’t be any Muslimscelebrating India’s 100 Independence Day?
Maung Zarni, a researcher at Genocide DocumentationCentre in Cambodia said: “I believe that India is not only onthe brink but is already in the process of an unfoldinggenocide…The killers portray vulnerable populations as asecurity threat to their religion. When this dehumanisationbegins, the country is already deep in the genocidal processeven though the killings may not have started.”
What is happening right now in India is a matter of greatconcern. Deliberate manufacturing of hatred is bad politics.It’s bad for the economy. It threatens the internal securityand stability of the country. Such provocation isunnecessary.
Be it in Science or Arts, Muslims (and, indeed, people from all faiths,regardless of their religious beliefs) have contributed to thecountry in many ways. The contributions Muslims havemade to this country, in a plethora of fields, ought to becelebrated.
AzimPremji, the founder of Wipro, for instance, hascontributed enormously to the country. He has created jobsand contributed enormously to the economy. He took overWipro, a cooking oil company owned by his family, and built it as as a global softwarebehemoth. Today Wipro is one of the leading softwarecompanies in the world. He has created jobs for millions ofIndians. Furthermore, he has shared a significant part of hiswealth for philanthropic causes.
If Azim Premji was shunned, hounded and harassed forbeing a Muslim–as an average Muslim is harassed today–would he have been able to create the wealth and the jobs inthis country? Would he have felt the affinity he felt as anIndian citizen?
Many ordinary Muslim families have entrepreneurs in theirhomes. Restricting them will inevitably restrict the nation’sprogress.
But we live in a different India today. India’s democracy hasbeen hijacked by “mass murderers,” who masquerade as thenation’s “chowkidars.” Aided by fake news and algorithmscoded by global media giants, they deliberately manufacturehate, dehumanise and vilify an entire community forpolitical gains. They have no qualms in provoking people onthe basis of religion.
These political entrepreneurs, “merchants of death,” whileseeking power and glory for themselves, are trying to negateand destroy the contributions of millions of people whochoose to follow a different faith. The contributions ofmillions of Muslims come to a nought when the government,run by Hindu fanatics, arrives at a Muslim area with abulldozer. These attacks on Indian Muslims would, in the long run, only kill the minds that could have taken thecountry to greater heights.
This article first appeared on madrascourier.com