Modi-fied Diwali

This Diwali was very special. The pollution levels in our cities shot up to unprecedented levels. It was expected to be about four to five times higher than normal. Instead pollution levels in Delhi were nine times higher. It defied the entreaties of sensible folk and environment-friendly slogans about celebrating the festival of lights with lights — not firecrackers that envelope us in poisonous smoke.

The day after Diwali, the Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM) in the very important capital’s very important air stood at an alarming 531 mg per cubic metre. Chennai and Bengaluru had pretty dreadful air quality too, with RSPM 320 and 239 mg per cubic metre respectively. Clearly, ostentatious display of Hindu festivities takes preference over health and environment issues in today’s increasingly Hinduised India.

Wise of our Prime Minister to skip the fumes and go breathe in Kashmir on Diwali. So what if the Hindu festival was not particularly important in Muslim-majority Kashmir? There were Hindus there too. Just because they were less than 2 per cent of Kashmir’s population did not make their festival irrelevant! Sure, more than 97 per cent of Kashmir’s people were Muslims, but they were Indian, were they not? And as Indians, were they not supposed to be delighted that the Indian Prime Minister had come all the way from Delhi to spend Diwali with them, however irrelevant the festival may be to the locals? Were they not happy that the PM remembered them even before the forthcoming state elections were announced?

After all, we pride ourselves on our pluralism. Why did the Prime Minister not send out Id greetings to Indian Muslims — even though Muslims comprise less than 14 per cent of our population? Did he not host grand Iftar parties during Ramzan?

Excuse me? You say he did not? Come on, of course he did! Every Prime Minister since Indira Gandhi — and perhaps all chief ministers, not to mention a plethora of Central ministers of all hues — has Iftar parties! That’s an old tradition — keeps Muslims happy while they are systematically deprived of education, healthcare, justice and such stuff. No, you insist. You are sure. Well.

Actually, stopping sarkari Iftar parties is a brilliant step towards national integration. Why waste money on lavish parties when it can be put to better use like in development schemes? You say Narendra Modi and practically all his ministers skipped President Pranab Mukherjee’s Iftar dinner too. You say the PM had never ever hosted an Iftar party in Gujarat in his 13 years as chief minister. Are you sure? Well, never mind. He did send out Id greetings. So what if he wears all kinds of topis but refuses to wear a Muslim skull cap. He loves and respects Indian Muslims.

Remember what the PM said in his CNN interview with Fareed Zakaria? When asked about the Al Qaeda’s announcement regarding creating a base in India, the PM declared: “If anyone thinks Indian Muslims will dance to their tune, they are delusional. Indian Muslims will live for India. They will die for India. They will not want anything bad for India.” What a proud moment — your chest instantly swells to 56 inches!

Sure enough, the remark ricocheted around the saffron power grid. “Muslims must accept this challenge,” said the RSS. “They must prove it…” Yes, that is a bit odd. This burden of responsibility is on the 180 million Muslims in India. Our earlier PM Manmohan Singh took pride in the fact that though India had one of the largest Muslim populations, not one Indian Muslim was a member of the Al Qaeda.

The Shiv Sena, still a partner of the BJP at the time, didn’t remember that. “By taking the guarantee of patriotism of Muslims, Mr Modi has initiated a new wave,” said an editorial in Saamna, the party organ. And went on to dream big. “All problems will be solved, once Indian Muslims accept India as their motherland. Vande Mataram will be the national song for them too and they can breathe easy under the Uniform Civil Code. All obstacles in building the Ram temple will be cleared and communal work from madrasas will be stopped.”

I know, there is a leap of logic there. But holding the PM responsible for it would be wrong. A lot of people blame him for the sins of Gujarat. That is so unfair! The PM is above all that. Judge him by what he does now. Not by what he may or may not have done in a past avatar.

Besides, the Indian Muslim is used to preferential treatment. Whenever there is a terror attack Muslims are picked up, tortured and branded a terrorist. They are routinely deprived of their rights. They are treated as outsiders — never mind that their roots are centuries deep in Indian soil. They are economically and socially disempowered. They have to constantly prove their allegiance to India — whether it is an India-Pakistan cricket match or a terror attack. If they fall in love with a Hindu, it is love jihad. If they run schools for Muslim girls and boys, they are suspected of training terrorists. Many such madrasas in Bengal are being forced to close down after the Bardhaman blasts that apparently unearthed a host of terror manufacturing hubs funded by Bangladeshi terrorists.

Muslims — like other disempowered Indians — do not always get a fair trial, and when it is necessary to soothe the masses, they may be quickly hanged in secret — like Afzal Guru was.
It is a wonder that even after all this, the Indian Muslim remains untouched by “Islamic terror”. But we are doing our best to change that. To stop the slide, we need to be more sensitive towards the Indian Muslim.

The media needs to be more objective, and wise. For a culture of suspicion about Indian Muslims pushes us into the danger zone. The sharp polarisation between religious communities is almost complete, the alienation of the Indian Muslim is reaching perfection, there is a limit to what the Indian citizen can take. We have to stop eating away at the very pillar of pluralism that keeps our democracy safe from home-grown terror.

The writer is editor of The Little Magazine.

She can be contacted at: sen@littlemag.com