"Muslims should not be treated as different people…consider them your own," Prime Minister Narendra Modi had told party workers in southern state of Kerala during a national executive meet in 2016.
On August 14, 2021, he announced that henceforth the day (Aug 14) will be celebrated each year as the Partition Horror Remembrance Day. What has really changed in these five years?
Nothing much would be a skeptical way of downplaying the same. But there is gross politics in the entire scenario.
Modi's politics - generally the rise - and antagonism toward Muslims have been going parallel to each other. The 2016 statement, according to his detractors was perhaps only a lip service.
May be Modi then (2016) wanted to keep a safe distance from hardliners as his party workers were going full steam against 'conversion' and cow slaughter.
An attempted moderate face suited the image makeover of a Prime Minister of a country that has third largest Muslim population in the world.
Here comes the crux. India was partitioned in 1947 when Muslims decided to have a nation of their own. Thus Pakistan was born on August 14, 1947; - a day before India's independence on August the fifteenth.
It goes without saying a large section of Hindus still harbour a serious complaint against Muslims for the omissions and commissions of 1940s (that is division of India).
To the champions of Hindutva politics - the RSS and the BJP - Muslim bashing is a norm that fetches them votes.
One point that gets ignored in the entire debate is that a large number of Muslims had decided to stay back reposing faith on Hindu brethren and in India's age old civilisational strength of communal amity.
Indian Muslims have been generally patriotic and even stayed away from dreaded terror groups such as the Islamic State.
It is not without good reason that few years back, Muslim League leader E. T. Mohammed Basheer, "The Muslim army personnel have fought wars against Pakistan and attained martyrdom. But the tag of partition has remained especially in northern India".
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| Basheer |
To the political class, Muslim-bashing is a good road map to polarisation and that ultimately fetches votes.
In democracy, all that matters is votes. And it is these mandate of the so called commoners, faceless Indians including thousands of Hindu men and women and also educated lot, that Modi became India's Prime Minister in 2014.
Yet again, he got a renewed mandate in 2019.
Thus, when the Prime Minister made the announcement of the Partition Horror Remembrance Day, his detractors said Modi was again playing up a game directing his tirade towards Muslims.
"The Government of India declares 14th August as the Partition Horrors Remembrance Day to remind the present and future generations of Indians of the pain and suffering faced by the people of India during the partition," a federal Home Ministry notification said.
A former Minister and Congress lawmaker, Jairam Ramesh said, the Prime Minister's announcement about the Partition day is a matter of "doublespeak and hypocrisy".
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"He (Modi) offers platitudes while he and the toxic ecosystem he has nurtured do everything to polarise and divide, to spread venom and hate, and to use fear and intimidation as instruments of grabbing power and derailing governance," Ramesh tweeted.
Others agree that there is a lot of politics in Modi's announcement.
"Since 2014 when Modi came to power, I am yet to come across any initiative that unites the citizens. This announcement of the Prime Minister will only further create distance and unwanted gap between Hindus and Muslims," Delhi-based Christian leader A C Michael told UCA News.
The BJP cadres 'hatred' for Christians is notorious and evident in the several cases of attack on missionary activities.
Others also seem to endorse these views. Vidyarthi Kumar, a political analyst said, "If Modi is sincere about development and flowering of Indian democracy, he should not be doing these. Indian democracy is strictly pluralism and secularism. But talking about Partition and pains of riots after 74 years of independence
is revisiting the gory days of confrontation and adding insult to injuries. It is a sheer communal ploy".
Is the Prime Minister then reigniting the passions which remained latent for years?
There are reasons, his image of an "antagonist" toward Muslims has actually helped Modi endear himself to the voters.
He gained popularity among the polarised electorate in his native state of Gujarat, and later at the national level.
Modi has built up his image as a true nationalist, but importantly it is as a 'Hindu'; and this suit his voters.
The general Indian public have always looked at Modi as a hardliner. His Gujarati voters had rewarded him giving a landslide win in 2002 in Gujarat in elections held immediately after months of anti-Muslim mayhem.
This is exemplified in a tweet on August 14, shortly after Modi made the announcement.
"Partition is something we cannot forget. While Muslims migrated to Pakistan , we received the heads and blood stained corpses. The 60+ years of Nehruvian (India's first Prime Minister) policies was taking India to another Partition," went a missive in the social media.
This school of thought are actually large in numbers and they decide the electoral results ultimately. This section also believes that Hindus in India have been victims of 'minority appeasement' of Congress and communists.
A few years back, Congress veteran A K Antony while analysing the causes of Congress's defeat had said a large number of voters take as 'anti-Hindu'.
A section of BJP leaders say opposing the idea of Partition Remembrance Day is instead politically motivated.
In 2016, PM Modi did reach out to Muslims when he urged BJP workers not to treat Muslims as separate from themselves. When we brought the new law to ban instant Talaq, it was aimed to helping thousand of Muslims, they say adding the Modi government has focused always on inclusive development.
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| Muslim Mom with her son |
However, there is no effective explanation why rake up Partition only to inject 'distrust' in 2021.
After all, about 75 per cent of the people living are born after 1947 and most of the youngsters even do not know about Partition.
But from the BJP's point of view, there is another reason to justify the Prime
Minister's announcement. In fact, they say the timing is perfect.
"Modi's message is vital today as on August 14-15, 2021 because, the western world should not presume Afghanistan as a nation in isolation specially when one has to deal with Islamic extremism. The birth of Pakistan was also result of that fanaticism.
The moot point is - if you want to handle Afghanistan differently it is imperative that all neighbours of Afghanistan are 'studied' with all their complexities,"
says a key BJP leader but on the condition of anonymity.
It is of course, true Pakistan when born to accommodate Indian Muslims had pledged pluralism and secularism.
But instead last 74 years, its story has been marred by rabid Islamisation and
worse its role in fight against terrorism has been questioned even by the western world.
Of all things, Hillary Clinton as the US Secretary of State had accused Pakistan of keeping 'snakes' in the backyards in reference to terror elements.
Amid the ongoing conflicts with Talibans, the Afghanistan government has repeatedly slammed Pakistan for backing the insurgents.
However, is an incumbent PM justified in raking up the wounds of 1947 ?
Indian Muslims have had issues with governance in India and with their Hindu brothers, but overwhelmingly they have not been part of the global jehad.
By the end of 2016, India, with the third largest Muslim population in the world, had contributed only a paltry 90-100 members to the Islamic State.
In April 2017, India's Junior Home Minster Hansraj Ahir has told parliament that IS had tried to spread across 11 states and 75 people were arrested.
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| Voters: Faceless but most powerful lot |
What's behind India's 'Partition Horrors Remembrance Day'?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is accused of hypocrisy after saying the pain of partition in 1947 can never be forgotten.
(UCAN story)
“Muslims should not be treated as different people … consider them your own,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told party workers at a national executive meeting in the southern state of Kerala in 2016.
Five years down the line, he announced on the eve of India’s Independence Day that Aug. 14 will be now observed as “Partition Horrors Remembrance Day” to commemorate the sacrifices of millions who were displaced or who lost their lives during the partition of the subcontinent after the British finally left in 1947, creating a Hindu-majority India and a Muslim-majority Pakistan.
“Partition’s pains can never be forgotten,” Modi tweeted even as his detractors pointed out his “doublespeak and hypocrisy.”
“He [Modi] offers platitudes while he and the toxic ecosystem he has nurtured do everything to polarize and divide, to spread venom and hate, and to use fear and intimidation as instruments of grabbing power and derailing governance,” opposition lawmaker Jairam Ramesh of the Congress said in a tweet.
Others agreed. “Since 2014 when Modi came to power, I am yet to come across any initiative that unites the citizens. This announcement of the prime minister will only further create distance and the unwanted gap between Hindus and Muslims,” Delhi-based Christian leader A.C. Michael told UCA News.
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| Train to nghtmare |
Vidyarthi Kumar, a political analyst, said talking about partition after 74 years was “a sheer communal ploy.”
Modi’s rise in Indian politics has been in parallel with increased antagonism toward Muslims in the country. The 2016 statement at a party workers’ meet in Kerala was merely to project a moderate face to the world. After all, Modi is the prime minister of a country that has the third-largest Muslim population in the world.
Despite partition, many Muslims decided to remain in India, placing their faith in India’s age-old civilization strength of maintaining communal amity.
But many Hindus still harbor a serious grouse against Muslims for the division of India. Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its sister organizations championing Hindu identity question the patriotism of Muslims.
It is not without good reason that Muslim League leader E.T. Mohammed Basheer said: “Muslim army personnel have fought wars against Pakistan and attained martyrdom. But the tag of partition has remained, especially in northern India."
Muslim bashing has fetched votes for the prime minister and his party in the past. Modi’s anti-Muslim rhetoric since the 2002 riots in Gujarat has endeared himself to the majority's voters.
Social media posts from supporters and members of the ruling establishment also sought to target what the BJP calls the “Muslim appeasement politics” of opposition parties, particularly Congress.
“Partition is something we cannot forget. While Muslims migrated to Pakistan, we received the heads and bloodstained corpses. The 60-plus years of Nehruvian [referring to India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru] policies was taking India to another partition,” said one post on social media.
This group believes that Hindus are still being victimized in India and minority communities like Muslims and Christians continue to pose a threat to the nation’s unity.
But there could be another reason behind the Indian prime minister’s announcement, which comes against the backdrop of the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan and the takeover of the Taliban, raising old specters in the region.
The birth of Pakistan was a result of Islamic fanaticism. Its founders swore by pluralism and secularism but the last 74 years of its existence have been marred by rabid Islamization.
Hillary Clinton as US secretary of state accused Pakistan of keeping "snakes" in the backyard. Afghan governments repeatedly slammed Pakistan for backing insurgents. So, Modi was merely reminding the world of the regional complexities, explained a key BJP leader on condition of anonymity.
ends
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