There is something peculiar about human beings as an individual and this would apply to nations and also communities as well.
When one fails to distinguish between what you need and what you have to accept, there is a risk of hurting your friends and neighbours and also yourself. Apparently this is happening to Muslims in Central Asia and South Asia these days including in India.
A section of Muslims are rejoicing the glorious moment of the radical Taliban in India where they often face onslaught of Hindu radicalism.
Bollywood actor Naseeruddin Shah in a video message in social media warned: “Even as the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan is a cause for concern for the whole world, celebrations of the barbarians by some sections of Indian Muslims is no less dangerous".
But there is a reverse jingoism unleashed even among Hindus in India. Some call it the rise of a macho Hindu against the fundamentalism of Muslims.
That's the real danger part. In the last fortnight there have been latent and overt 'social changes' affecting both Hindus and Muslims in the multi-religious and multi-linguist India. It is no longer confined to individual opinion as the polarisation mood has penetrated into institutions.
"It is certainly a matter of concern that now polarisation mood following developments in Afghanistan have entered educational institutions such as the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and also Muslim society through clerics who are opposing co-education. These are part of Taliban ideologies," says Naushad Hussain in Guwahati in northeast India.
His references are primarily to two developments. First, a number of Muslim clerics have endorsed Taliban takeover and in a jubilant mood announced that co-education ought to be opposed.
A senior socialist, Samajwadi Party, lawmaker Shafiqur Rehman Burq said - “When India was under British rule, our country fought for freedom. Now the Taliban wants to free their country and run it”. This has resulted in penal action by BJP-run Uttar Pradesh police.
Secondly, the JNU in the national capital decided to introduce a new optional course, "Counter Terrorism, Asymmetric Conflicts and Strategies for Cooperation Among Major Powers", for its engineering students.
This would not have evoked reactions had the announcement come at least a month back. The issue is timing. Marxist leader Brinda Karat said "....The Government is only trying to the Hindutva model of history. The Government of India is only pushing its own understanding on students".
The objective of the course to have an in-depth understanding on the challenges emanating from terrorism to India's national security and how India can get equipped with the adequate responses in the case of any eventuality, JNU Vice Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar said in a statement.
"The way things have unfolded in India's neighbourhood is proving highly detrimental to India's national security," he stated, obviously linking the decision of India's premier varsity to developments in Afghanistan.
There has been enthusiastic response to the JNU decision by student bodies and others owing allegiance to the ruling BJP government and the Hindutva-fountainhead RSS.
Justifying the decision of the university, senior BJP leader Seshadri Chari says: "Counter-terrorism requires use of advanced technology to gather information, collect intelligence inputs, analyse and use appropriate technical solutions in the best possible manner. An engineer entrusted with such a task is expected to have basic knowledge of the objectives of terror outfits". (in an article The Print)
On the other hand, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, an influential pressure group and Muslim body, has said that there should be separate schools for girls and boys. Jamiat also asked non-Muslims to not send their daughters to co-ed schools or colleges to "keep them away from immorality and misbehaviour".
Things do not end with these.
The government of India is also faced with a predicament vis-s-vis recent developments in Afghanistan.
On August 31 within hours US forces departed, India's envoy to Qatar, Deepak Mittal, met a top Afghan official Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai and also made the interaction public for the first time.
This has triggered debate whether trying to toe a pragmatic line whether India is inching towards establishing a formal relation with Taliban.
This is all the more interesting because the Modi government has always held Taliban an outright terror organisation nor it ever sought to take a softer line towards the debate around 'good Taliban' or 'bad Taliban'.
The intellectual fallout of Taliban takeover and related developments too could not be ignored.
A group of 12 public leaders including former diplomats and former ministers from various parties including a Congress leader have said the Modi government should have deeper engagement with Taliban.
The signatories to the 'appeal' include Sudheendra Kulkarni (columnist), Julio Reberio (former cop), Najeeb Jung (former Lt. Governor of Delhi). Saeed Naqvi (writer), former diplomat K C Singh, Gandhian Sandeep Pandey, former MPs Majeed Memon and Shahid Siddiqui and three former union ministers Yashwant Sinha, Natwar Singh and Mani Shankar Aiyar (Congress leader).
They say: "No country in the region should be excluded from, nor isolate itself from collaborative efforts to bring peace in Afghanistan and promote national reconciliation".
However, Hindu hardliners are opposed to such deeper engagements with the Taliban.
Asserting that the Taliban are not the ones to be influenced positively by Gandhian philosophy, a retired army officer, G D Bakshi said, "You want to spin Charkha to Taliban, please try it".
'Charkha' - spinning yard - is a symbol of Gandhian philosophy.
In the ultimate, it seems the big take away from these showdowns is while the Taliban is showing its smartness and new genius for its own reinvention, there is confusion all around - especially in pluralist India which often tries to draw a pragmatic line between reality and idealism of democracy and upholding human right principles.
ends
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| Indo-US friendship: A 'failed' venture in Afghanistan |
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