"The only institution where Indian Muslims exceeded their percentage of the population were Indian jails! As for the judiciary, there were only one or two Muslims among the 30 justices of the supreme court of India.
Statistics from 1978 to 2016 showed the number of Muslims in the Indian Administrative Service was around four to five per cent, although Indian Muslims were 14.5pc of India’s population. In the Indian Police Service Muslims were a mere 2 to 2.5pc," goes an article in Pakistani newspaper penned by a former Pakistani diplomat -
Ashraf Jehangir Qazi.
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| Qazi, also a former envoy to India |
In fact Qazi served as Pak envoy to the US, India and China and was also head of UN missions in Iraq and Sudan. He was in India during Atal Bihari Vajpayee period and I had interacted with him more than once. As sidelights we can refer here to 1999 episode when Qazi's daughter and eminent writer Khushwant Singh hit headlines for a while.
"The controversy over the grandfatherly peck that noted author Khushwant Singh planted on the cheek of the daughter of Pakistan High Commissioner Ashraf Jehangir Qazi is not just irrelevant, unnecessary and downright silly, it is symptomatic of a sick attitude.
As Khushwant Singh himself pointed out, his friendship with the Qazi family goes back at least a generation. If his harmless greeting has resulted in leading Pakistan to “lower its head in shame”, as a section of the Pakistan press seems to make out, all that can be said is that the country’s self-esteem seems to be an extremely fragile construct," - Indian Express reported on Sept 29, 1999
As such the above reference is not linked to this blog. Qazi has based his writing on a lecture delivered by French scholar Christophe Jaffrelot, an authority on India’s Muslims, on ‘The Plight of Minorities under Modi’s India’ at the Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad.
Well, Qazi says, "He (Jaffrelot) painted a sombre picture".
Take samples:
"Since 1947, India’s “democracy” had evolved through the Gandhi/Nehru phase of “conservative democracy”, to a post-Mandal more inclusive democracy, to today’s BJP-dominated “ethnic democracy”. This ethnic democracy had evolved from Savarkar’s Hindu rashtra (Hindu state) to Modi’s Hindu raj (Hindu rule.) Accordingly, India’s Muslims had been marginalised institutionally, economically, and educationally."
The write up says - statistics from 1978 to 2016 showed the number of Muslims in the Indian Administrative Service was around four to five per cent, although Indian Muslims were 14.5pc of India’s population. In the Indian Police Service Muslims were a mere 2 to 2.5pc.
The article also says: "Politically, the ruling BJP which won two landslide electoral victories in a row did not have a single Muslim in parliament. After the BJP defeated the Samajwadi Party in UP the Muslim percentage in its assembly went from 17pc to 6pc.
It has been a similar story in the other states of India. West Bengal and Kerala have been partial exceptions. Despite the rise of the BJP in the south it does not rule in any of its five states and accordingly the Muslims are relatively better represented in their assemblies".
(Incidentally, both Kerala and West Bengal have been onetime communist-strongholds and Kerala is even now being ruled by Marxists. And in West Bengal, in every sense perhaps, the incumbent Trinamool regime is more left than the Leftists including in blatant Muslim appeasement. Even control of Hindu temple administration is with Muslims at times and civil and police administration generally thrive in echoing Mamata Banerjee's anti-Hindu political line.
Yet again, and not quite incidentally, Bengali and Kerala Muslims have less to do with Urdu language than their respective mother tongue. The creation of Bangladesh itself was guided more by love for Bangla language. - blogger)
Qazi's article also says:
"Secular democratic inclusivity could no longer compete with Hindutva exclusiveness and majoritarianism as a vote-getter. The Congress party was adjusting to this political reality. (Modi’s India has indeed realised the fears of Abul Kalam Azad that the partition of India would reduce India’s Muslims to below the status of Shudras!)".
(Well some of the observations in the write up can be challenged and debated. Some statistics do not reflect the manner Indian Muslims are being treated. It's a fact of the matter that what has harmed Muslims more is the Muslim appeasement as parties less sincere and honest and 'corrupt parties wedded to family/dynastic rules' have generally used Muslims as voter garnering tools.
It's a fact under PM Narendra Modi, while Muslim population is 14.2%, as many as 31.3% of homes under Awas Yojana, 33% of funds under Kisan Samman Nidhi, and 36% beneficiaries under Mudra Yojana, have been Muslims.
There are also schemes such as the Pradhanmantri Shadi-Shagun Scheme, exclusively for Muslim girls who complete their graduation before marriage.
But Qazi has been truthful and has analysed certain things objectively. - blogger)
He wrote:
"Tragically, as a failing state, Pakistan has forfeited the possibility of having a globally influential voice. Accordingly, discussing India’s dismal minority rights record becomes an act of self-indulgence aimed at placating domestic public opinion rather than doing anything about it.
Sincerity in this regard would require Pakistan to first address its own minority rights situation in accordance with the Holy Quran, the Constitution of Pakistan, and the International Human Rights Charter. As for minorities in Pakistan, we should honestly ascertain the relevant facts from our religious minorities such as Hindus and Christians; ethnic minorities such as the Hazaras, Baloch, Brahui, Chitralis, Pakhtun, Sindhis, etc; and political parties that represent a massive majority of Pakistanis who want democracy, instead of any praetorian hybrid system which is thoroughly unconstitutional.
We should also consult reports of the Pakistan Human Rights Commission and the UN’s international human rights organisations to know our ranking among nations on minority rights.
In 1972, the International Commission of Jurists stated “there is a strong prima facie case that particular acts of genocide were committed against the Hindus” — who were our East Pakistan compatriots in 1971. Shamefully, there have been no proper investigations, apologies or criminal prosecutions.
In these circumstances, merely discussing minority rights in an ‘enemy’ country is no measure of our concern for human rights," says Qazi.
Notably -- from blogger -
** Muslim themselves are increasingly realising that more than the traditional 'Hindutva forces' - RSS and BJP - what has harmed them more in Muslim appeasement.
** The Sachar committee revealed the poorer conditions Muslims have been under so called 'sickular' forces either in UP/Bihar cow-belt states or even in West Bengal then under the communists for long.
*** 'The Economist' reported recently-- "Mindful of the criticism India often draws, especially for Mr Modi’s Muslim-bashing and creeping authoritarianism, Ms Sharma and other pro-Modi pundits insist that India’s behaviour and its problems are no worse than any other country’s.
A report on the recent riots in France on Ms Sharma’s show included a claim that the French interior ministry was intending to suspend the internet in an attempt to curb violence. “And thank God it’s in Europe! If it was elsewhere it would have been a human-rights violation,” she sneered."
** Now try to look at 'Muslim mass playing the game' too well !!
The high percentage of education in the society and middle-class sophistication vis-a-vis an inherent attempt to discredit Hindu rituals and practices and pandering to Muslims pushed by Left liberals could be a reality in south India.
Karnataka and Telangana prove the argument. The upswing in Congress seats in the just concluded Telangana and earlier in Karnataka polls is a testimony to polarisation among Muslim voters. This pattern was visible in 2021 in West Bengal especially in the southern parts of the state wherein the pattern also contributed to decimation of the communists themselves.
Muslims constitute over 13 percent of the population in Karnataka and they are decisive in at least 40 assembly segments. Muslims have a stronger presence in Gulbarga, Bidar, Bijapur, Raichur and Dharwad regions of northern Karnataka.
In the 2018-2023 assembly, Congress was the only party with as many as seven Muslim legislators in Karnataka. Between JD(S) and Congress, the outfit of Deve Gowda family was dumped by Muslim voters in this year's polls and even the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), a pro-Muslim outfit, could not make much penetration.
There was strategic voting and in many places civil society groups played full-time politics and even decided which candidates should be fielded.
The JD(S) was made a sacrificial goat like CPI(M) and Congress itself voluntarily suffered in West Bengal in 2021 to help Mamata Banerjee. In Telangana, Muslims have abandoned BRS and hence Mamata Banerjee and Akhilesh Yadav are jittery about Congress 'regaining grounds' among Muslims.
That the Congress is a pro-Muslim party at least from the point of view of Muslims is a foregone conclusion.
Hence there was a surge in Congress vote share and upswings in the number of seats in Telangana and Karnataka even as Muslims did not get much from the same old Congress in Madhya Pradesh.
“In Azadi ka Amrit Kaal, we have chosen ‘saturation’. We have focused on how every beneficiary (of social schemes) can receive 100% benefit without disruption – this is true secularism. This is true social justice,’’ PM Narendra Modi said in Rajya Sabha in February, adding that when there is discrimination and favouritism, corruption creeps in.
The Prime Minister said, his government’s mantra of Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas intends to ensure that rights of the people should reach them without any hindrance. He lashed out at Congress, alleging that its regime wasted six decades of the country when even small countries touched the heights of success.
Amid Opposition members sloganeering against him while the speech was on, Mr Modi said: “Desh dekh raha hai, ek akela kitno ko bhari padh raha hai (the country is watching how one person outweighs so many).”
Perhaps, even the outside world is keeping an eye as the BJP seems to have embarked on a journey to touch 400 plus figures in 2024.
ends
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