Beyond Jinnah, Gandhi and Nehru : A History of Muslim Separatism In India – 2 (contd)
Rajiv Upadhyay
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (1817-1898)
By any yardstick Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was the most remarkable muslim personality of nineteenth century. His ancestors had served in courts of all mughal emperors from the time of Akbar . He had some lineage with prophet .He himself worked for Bahadurshah Zafar but left his job to join East India Company as clerk .In east India company he rose to the rank of judge in small cause court. He was totally loyal to British and even wrote a book ‘ The Loyal Muhammadan of India’.He like most muslims was deeply hurt by failure of 1857 revolt and the sad end of Bahadur Shah Zafar . He supported English and science education amongst muslims.
However he was totally against hindu supremacy . He wanted Urdu to be the national language and called hindi a language of vulgars while calling Urdu a language of the cultured people.Sir Syed advised the British to appoint Muslims to assist in administration, to prevent what he called ‘haramzadgi’ (a vulgar deed) such as the mutiny. He was the father of two nation theory and inspiration behind the formation of of Muslim League.
He opposed congress as he regarded it as a hindu organization although he supported it selectively like its demand for Indian share in civil services .
He opposed congress as he regarded it as a hindu organization although he supported it selectively like its demand for Indian share in civil services .
Deobandis
The parallet but opposite muslim reaction to defeat in 1857 was establishment of Madarsa at Deoband in 1866. Totally opposed to English bias of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan its objective was to restore Islamic glory by making muslims true followers of prophet .It did not oppose congress and often supported Gandh ji struggle for independence . Its political wing Jamate ulma hind opposed the demand of partition by Jinnah as it would lead to division of muslims of the subcontinent . It was not against hindus and muslims living together .Deoband is highly regarded internationally as a centre of learning on Islamic Theology , next only to Al Azhar Madarsa ( now university ) of Cairo.
However it was a Sunni institution inspired by Walliullah who had invited Abdali against Marathas. Its ideology eventually became the internatonal fountain head of muslim terrorist organisations like Lashkare Jhnghvi , Taliban and Indian SIMI .
Understanding the Economic and Political Backwardness of Muslims :
Just as Islam is spreading amongst blacks and other poorer sections in USA today , it drew its bulk of converts from SC, STs in India. In USA it is not the religion of ruling class and so has not attracted the equivalents of Rajputs and other higher class as it did in India .
Since religion has no factories, it cannot change the economic condition of its followers . So the
converts not only remained poor but became like Anglo Indians in Railway colonies . Anglo Indians accepted the English culture and acquired their mannerism totally . But neither the English nor Indians accepted them as their people . Finally most of the wealthy anglo Indians are moving to Australia .
Similarly converted muslims were never treated as equal by foreign origin muslims in India . But muslim rulers used them as ‘ Black slave drivers ‘ of America . This gave them a false sense of superiority over the brilliant slaves ( hindus) . But throughout the history , the military defeats not withstanding ,non converted hindus were always intellectually superior to converts and shall continue to be so in this century also ( just as west may scientifically remain ahead of others ).
Failure of 1857 mutiny ( ?) took away the fig leaf and triggered massive insecurity as muslims faced the stark reality of their all round backwardness and being of Turk or Afghan origin bestowed no advantage .
They first tried by siding with the ruling class of British ( Sir Syed ) and later blamed hindus for backwardness .
I am giving links of two excellent papers on the subject .
1. Yale university’s outstanding study on hindu muslim comparison in late nineteenth century .
2. Political and Economic conditions in 1857.
The Yale university paper is a very deep study and particularly educative to very serious students of the subject .
Sufis Saints and Barelwis
Wahabis and hardline Sunnis do not regard Sufi saints as pure followers of prophet .
Barelwis version of Islam includes worshipping mazars of sufi saints . They believe in jinnh , ruh etc which is not the mainline belief in pure islam .
But from hindu view point their is not much to choose . Sufi saints wanted to convert hindus to islam peacefully in Christian missionary style while sunnis did it by winning in wars .
Some of the sufi saints were tolerant to hindu Bhakti movment .
But many also regard them as muslim agents . For example a version regards Ajmer’s Moinuddin Chishti as a spy who settled Ajmer of all places in India , becaue it was the capital of Prithviraj Chauhan just as Rohingyas of all places have ben smuggled and settled in Jammu .
A British historian even discovered and quoted from a book by some ‘ Jawahari ‘ according to which Chishti after defeat of Prithviraj circumcised him and raped Rani Sanyogita in front of him .
I donot believe it . To me it looks a British attempt to make hindus hate muslims even more .
But truth also is that Sufis did not oppose atrocities on hindus or making minars of hindu skulls on coronation of new king .
With this understanding of history we are now ready for the final analysis of Iqbal & Jinnah and the recommendations on the future course for India
Partition : An Inevitable Result of the Forces of History .
In India , Pakistan and elsewhere, debate on partition often gets confused .
It does not recognise that partition was the natural result of the anti hindu forces of history unleashed by end of muslim power after the death of Aurangzeb as obvious in the call of Walliullah to Abdali to attack India to save Islam around 1756 !
It resurfaced in the efforts of Sir Syed Ahmad’s Urdu movement in which first he wanted Urdu to be the official language and later pledged unflinching loyalty to British but wanted official jobs for muslims . Indian Muslims though rendered helpless never lost the dream of restoring Islam’s lost glory in India ! Muslim separatism got the next shot in the Aligarh movement leaders ie Ali brothers formation of Muslim league in their Dacca’ conclave in 1906 .
Iqbal and Jinnah were only the tactical muslim war heads of the bigger forces created by the arrival of Gandhi on Indian political power scene in 1915 . Gandhi wanted congress to become a people oriented party rather than a party of a few lawyers .He got his first success in 1917 in Champaran ,Bihar and burst on the national scene . In 1918 he succeeded in farmers agitation in Kheda . He supported the Khilafat movement and consequently got the muslim support of its leaders Ali brothers and Deobandis in general . In 1919 when he launched the ‘Non Cooperation movement after Jallianwalla bagh , the whole nation rallied behind him . Its unexpected the huge success stunned British .
Jinnah and Tilak did not support Gandhi’s ‘Non Cooperation movement’ but unstoppable Gandhi rode to assume the presidentship of congress in 1920 .
The senior and relatively secular Jinnah sulked as Gandhi poached his muslim constituency by supporting Khilafat and winning support of the Deobandis .
But Gandhiji believed in universal franchise and did not support separate electorate and reserved constitution for Muslims or Ambedkarites . He is till date abused in Ambedkar Jayanti programmes . Jinnah had blackmailed ambitious congress into accepting one third seats for muslims in the 1916 Lucknow pact with Muslim League which were even more than the muslim share of population . The 1928 Nehru committee report rejected separate electorate for muslims . Jinnah dubbed it as a path to muslim slavery and issued his fourteen points demand which was propmptly rejected by Congress .
Frustrated Jinnah left India and settled in Britain around 1928 .
Meanwhile now unstoppable Gandhi stumped every one again by launching Dandi march in 1930.
Muslims now were now having a new leader Iqbal . His Sare Jahan Se Achchhaa ‘ and ‘Shikwa Jabawe Sihkwa ‘had made him win many hearts .In the competitive politics of 1930s he retotrted with demand for united North West as a separate ‘Muslim India With In Fedral India ‘. But Iqbal was a poet philosopher not a war General . Resurgent muslims were looking for a war General . Choice again fell on Jinnah who was made to return and join Indian politics again in 1934 .In 1937 elections Muslim league won 106 seats against 707 by congress which formed government in eight out of eleven states leaving Bengal ,Punjab and Sindh . NW went for Congress under Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan while Punjab was won by Sikander Hyat’s Unionist party which won 101 seats . Jinnah offered to share power with congress provided it accepted Jinnah’s right to nominate all muslim ministers . Congress considered itself to be the sole representative of all Indians and rejected Jinnah’s offer . Astute politician Jinnah tied up with Sikander Hyat in Jinnah Hyat pact . With this pact fate of united India was sealed .
Pakistan was ultimately formed in 1947 as Congress did not want to delay transfer of power by taking on Jinnah in streets after Direct Acton Day .
In an ultimate analysis from Sirhindi to Jinnah, muslims always wanted to remain distinct politically as well as religiously . If Gandhi and Nehru had recognized it and had continued the 1916 agreement partition would have not taken place . But such a weak and divided country was not worth having and muslim hindu competitive politics would have harmed the nascent nation making it ungovernable .
In my opinion Nehru Patel decision to accept partition and bow to Ambedkar’s demand of reservation was the only course available for attaining freedom . Hindus were eager to have their nation back after a thousand years of slavery .Providence has made Modi and BJP come back after hundred years of Gandhi’s return in 1915 . BJP now faces the task of making India great again in 2050 as it celebrates its hundred years of being a republic .
Sluggish economy , weak defence and fissiparous polity are again a challenge .
What lessons we can take from our history and what will be the new challenges in our journey to greatness in 2050 .
On Recovering The Lost Glory by 2050
, September 15, 2018 11:01 AM, rajiv upadhyay <rajiv_upadhyay2003@yahoo.com> wrote:
Our republic will celebrate its hundredth anniversary in 2050 . America became independent in 1776 , one hundred eighty four years before us . It celebrated its two hundredth anniversary of independence in 1976 ! What can be better than catching up with USA by 2050 as an economy as well as a matching military power enough to defend our self globally and to deter any foreign or local predatory forces trying to destroy us by Asymmetric wars or splitting us along our fault lines .
While if we continue with our present non ambitious and non adventurous economic policies, many reports are predicting that we will become the third largest economy by 2050 and will have same purchasing power per capita as USA today . A more progressive management of economy can take us past USA even . But in this post I am not discussing economy .
An equally big challenge will be managing our fault lines . Alexender , Ghauri , Babur and Abdali were all invited by local Indians to avenge perceived insults . They did not get rewarded but were blinded in hate .Ambhi was called a friend in February and traitor in July by Alexender .Jaichand died in a battle with Ghauri two years later and Varanasi was looted .Walliullah died with in a year of Panipat . Whether he regretted loot and plunder of India is not recorded. He is however not hated for his sedition on jihadi considerations, which should be a lesson . Marathas gave Delhi to Shuja ud daula over the claim of Jat Raja Surajmal . But finally Shujaudaulla joined Abdali on Islamic considerations . Clive bribing Mir Zaferwith throne is well known which lead to finally India coming under the British rule .
Finally the predictions of Huntington in Clash of Civilisation may come true as West aide by Joshuites may destroy challenges to its supremacy.
The Indian judicial system needs to be reformed and anti terrorist sedition laws need to be made stronger . Those who try to support likes of Sohrabbuddins must also be jailed . All over the Islamic world traitors are summarily executed . India will have to have two sets of laws ie Law abiding citizens getting all the civic protection and liberty but traitors must be dealt in a different fashion . SIMI , Lashkers , jihadis, Naxals will fall in this category . The acid test should be invoking foreign assistance , using foreign funds or killing or hurting innocent civilians .
Similarly likes of Arundhatis and Medhadhas seeking foreign support to their fissiparous agendas must be harshly dealt . Mushrooming Madarsas with foreign funding are another area of concern . Unemployment is a universal problem in India . But giving it a religious colour and exhorting jihad in Madrsas should attract serious penalties of sedition . Any religious education which promotes jihadi activities must be banned and harshly dealt .But communist type pro poor agitations with out violence should be spared as an inherent part of democracy .
Trials under these laws should be swift , standard of evidence required for preventive detention needs to be diluted . Listening devices , telephone tappings of suspicious institutions involved in sedition should be liberally done .We should learn from USA and Israel in protecting civic liberties without compromising on unity . Religious Convesions should be banned and foreign missionaries involved in conversions should be expelled.Foreign funds should be disallowed for religion based charities or activities .
Similarly a bigger problem will be our caste fault lines . Supporting ones caste based party or saving political power at any cost to country has become synonymous to patriotism .Mamtas , Mulayams and Azam Khans need to be checked and nipped in bud . Use of article 356 for dismissing state governments for anti national activities should be permissible as originally intended. Centre needs to be made stronger to protect the integrity and unity of country , as originally planned in constitution . The state subjects are adequate for meeting cultural needs of states.
Original education as available in 1950 should be restored . This ” ga ‘se gadha replacing ga se ganesh has to be rectified . Hindu rights to promote culture through education needs to be restored to 1950 level . The secondary school syllabus and books should be common .Religious education should be an optional subject .
Like Sati and widow remarriage amongst hindus , Imranas and Halalas should be voluntarily abhorred before law needs to intervene .
Ideally red lines should be drawn transparently with checks and balances with support of all concerned . While a Vajpayee could have done it . May be like GST Modi can repeat it in this regard too .
CIA and other agencies will now make India a target with renewd vigour . The ISRO case and death of our scientists in mysterious circumstance should be an eye opener .It is well known that even our PM Desai was compromised to CIA . Americans doubted that KGB was supporting Indira . CIA via Ford Foundation had a hand in Kejriwal’s rise . Saudis and Gaddafis have been supporting politicians in west as well as other countries.All these Mir Zafferian activities can only be controlled if we have hones leadership . Honest leaders should be supported rising above religion or caste lines .
An EU like combination in SAARC will come . But we have to be richer to give more to neighbours . China trying to sandwich us between Nepal , Pakistan and Bangladesh and giving nuclear weapons to Bangladesh is another dangerous possibility to guard against .
In short as we have more to defend we have to be prepared more for defence . If we can remain united our place as third largest country is assured in 2050 and it will be no mean achievement in hundred years proving Churchil wrong so decisively .
God bless India .
