April 2004 Number 28 Muslims in Hindu Nationalist India A Conversation with Asghar Ali Engineer and Paul R. Brass At a seminar held at the Ethics and Public Policy Center on answers. In the face of the growing political power of January 20, 2004, two experts on religious conflict in South Hindu nationalism over the last twenty-five years, are Asia discussed the possible impact of increasing religious Muslims an increasingly hard-pressed minority? What militancy—both Hindu and Muslim—on the Indian demo- are their political options, given the increasingly limited cratic state. The speakers were the Indian scholar and choice between a dominant Hindu nationalist BJP, which activist Asghar Ali Engineer and the American scholar of swept three of four major state elections in December Indian politics Paul R. Brassass. Their remarks in the edited and seems poised to win national elections this spring, transcript that follows lead to a lively discussion with other and a Congress Party in disarray? participants. Moderator Timothy Samuel Shah is a fellow at The Gujarat violence of 2002 is but the starkest in- the Ethics and Public Policy Center specializing in South Asia. dicator of a precarious situation. And recent terrorist The seminar co-sponsor was INFEMIT, a network of Third bombings in Mumbai may suggest how a few Indian World theologians and activists led by Vinay Samuel, and fund- Muslims are responding to this precarious situation. ing was generously provided by Fieldstead and Company. Some reports suggest that the bombings were carried out by something called the Gujarat Muslim Revenge Timothy Shah: India, being a great and diverse country, Force. Yet while all this has been going on, Muslim- is one of those places where no matter what the ques- majority Kashmir has seen great progress towards peace tion, almost every answer is correct. Is India a country of and stability. terrible poverty? Yes. Is India a country of enormous wealth As we attempt to find the elusive truth about the and amazing economic growth and dynamism? Yes. political situation of India’s 130 million Muslims and what Is India the world’s largest democracy, with an as- it might mean for India’s secular democratic future, we tonishing record of political freedom and stability amidst have outstanding help from our two speakers. The first great challenges? Yes. Is India a country in which serious is Asghar Ali Engineer, who in over forty years of ex- and disabling political and social inequities effectively dis- haustive field work has investigated and documented enfranchise whole segments of the population? Yes. nearly every communal riot in post-independence India. Does India have an impressive record of maintain- He has written about Indian Muslims and Indian com- ing an essentially secular politics in a highly religious munalism in countless articles and in forty-five books. society? Yes. Has it seen the growth of powerful and ex- Dr. Engineer is currently the director of two organiza- tremist forms of religious nationalism? Yes. tions in Mumbai: the Centre for the Study of Society and As these paradoxes characterize India as a whole, Secularism, and the Institute of Islamic Studies. so they characterize Indian Islam in particular. Do India’s Muslims—numbering 122.6 million according to one es- ASGHAR ALI ENGINEER timate—constitute the second largest Muslim population lthough communal violence has assumed a lot of in the world? Yes. Are they a large and distinguished pres- A significance in the last few years, the subject is ence in Indian history, culture, and politics? Yes. Do Mus- nothing new to post-independence India. We have been lims enjoy more civil and political freedoms in India than experiencing major communal riots since the first major in many Muslim-majority countries? Yes. riot in Jamshedpur in 1961. (Pre-independence India also But there are other questions that may demand other saw a lot of communal violence, but my own investiga- An Occasional Publication of the Ethics and Public Policy Center Center Conversations tions started with 1961.) In the 1960s we used to see Then came the case of Shah Bano, a Muslim woman around one communal riot a day, so more than 300 riots who went to court to demand financial support from her every year. ex-husband. The Muslim leadership adopted a very The rioting increased in intensity in the 1980s; ma- wrong stance on that issue. Although Islamic shari’a is jor communal riots occurred in Moradabad (1980), by no means rigid on this issue, these leaders made the Biharsharif (1981), Baroda and Meerut (1982), Nelli, case that to give maintenance for more than three Assam, where 4,000 people were killed (1983), Bombay months is a sin, a violation of divine law. The Qu’ran and Bhiwandi (1984), anti-Sikh riots in Delhi and other nowhere prescribes three months of iddat, the “waiting places (1984), Ahmedabad (1985), Meerut again (1987), period” between pronunciation and finalization of di- Bhagalpur (1989). In 1990 there were 300 riots when vorce, as the period L. K. Advani, then home minister and currently the deputy of maintenance. It “The Hindu masses are by and prime minister, rode his rath yatra (his travel chariot) only says to make across the country inciting Hindu activism. Riots occurred provision for Mus- large peaceful and secular. in Bombay in 1992 and 1993. Then came Gujarat 2002— lim divorcees, and They want to live in peace and not a communal riot but communal carnage, in which that is obligatory for harmony, but occasionally they more than 2,000 people were most brutally killed. pious Muslims. But can be incited, and communal So communal violence has been with us for a long to advance its own time, thanks in part to right-wing parties like the Jana political agenda, the violence takes place.” Sangh, which renamed Muslim leadership “The BJP officially adopted itself the BJP (Bharatiya used the slogan “Islam in danger” and brought Muslim Janata Party) in the masses into the streets. This of course created more secularism as its policy but then 1980s. The BJP officially anger in the minds of Hindus. became more violent. It also adopted secularism as Rajiv Gandhi, who was prime minister at that time, adopted a slogan that only its policy but then be- was very wrongly advised to change the law, overturn- came more violent. In ing the Supreme Court judgment so that Muslim women Hindus can be truly secular.” the early 1980s the BJP would be governed by newly enacted legislation specific put a question mark on to the Muslim community. This action had a very ad- Indian secularism by calling it “pseudo-secularism,” verse impact on the Hindu mind and gave the BJP proof meaning that Indian secularism is Western in origin and of appeasement. is based on the “appeasement” of Muslims. So it is not And then the BJP unearthed a new issue: Ram- real secularism but pseudo-secularism. The BJP also janmabhoomi–Babri Masjid. As I said, when Mr. Advani adopted a slogan that only Hindus can be truly secular; took his “chariot journey,” traveling in a rath mounted no other religious group can be truly secular. on a modern Toyota, 300 riots took place. He went around And so a new debate started in Indian politics in the India and incited Hindus to rebuild the Ram- early 1980s about minority appeasement. The BJP, janmabhoomi (“Ram’s birthplace”) temple on the site of through its propaganda, popularized this myth, and the Babri mosque. In all the riots from the 1980s onwards, middle-class educated Hindus started repeating the one of the powerful causes was Ram-janmabhoomi– charge that Muslims are being appeased in India. And Babri Masjid. what was the example given? That Muslims are allowed The BJP rode to power on this Ram-janmabhoomi to marry four wives. It is a great privilege given to Mus- rath. The party had never received more than 11 percent lims—as if Muslim women were not part of the Muslim of the votes in parliamentary elections, but it got 29 per- community. It is a privilege for Muslim men only. cent in 1999. Yet it could not come to power on its own, The BJP kept on saying that Muslims are being ap- a sign of the strength of Indian secularism. The Hindu peased, even though the condition of Muslims is miser- masses are by and large peaceful and secular. They want able economically and educationally; they are on a par to live in peace and harmony, but occasionally they can with what we call “Dalits,” the low-caste Hindus. Many be incited, and communal violence takes place. So the indices even show that Muslims are falling below the Babri Masjid was demolished, and the BJP came to power scheduled castes, because scheduled castes have reser- in an alliance with secular parties known as the Indian vations through which their members can get jobs, and National Democratic Alliance. Muslims don’t have reservations. Nonetheless, the BJP Most of the states were ruled by Congress Party gov- went on emphasizing that Muslims were being appeased, ernments and remained somewhat peaceful. Gujarat was creating more and more anger in the minds of middle- the only state where the BJP was in power by itself, with- class Hindus. out an alliance. And because the BJP came to power there 2 Muslims in Hindu Nationalist India by itself, the kind of carnage seen in 2002 became pos- publicly on TV that they will repeat the Gujarat “experi- sible. In a coalition government, they are constrained ment” in other states. And what was this experiment? by their secular partners.