Would Muslims of India have been better off not separating ?

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A colleague the other day remarked that Pakistan should have stayed as India and should not have separated as Muslims in India have no problems whatsoever in India & that they are living peacefully and freely practice their faith. I then dug up the following events which proves that may not necessarily be true. The list would be never ending so i stopped after coming up with the following events. What happened, happened for the better. As in a marital relationship, sometimes, separation is good for both parties.

·         In November 2010, a Calcutta High Court banned the slaughter of cows. Calcutta is a city in West Bengal. And West Bengalis one of the states besides Kerala and North East where cow slaughter was unlawful until recently

·         Post Mumbai terror attacks, Dar ul Uloom India advised Muslims in India to avoid slaughtering cows on Eid ul Azha and this was supported by the all India Organizations of Imams and Mosques in order to maintain communal harmony

·         On 27 February 2002 at Godhra City in the state of Gujarat, the Sabarmati Express train was attacked by a large Muslim mob in a conspiracy. The attack prompted retaliatory massacres against Muslims and communal riots on a large scale, in which 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus were killed and 223 more people were reported missing. “Tehelka report” later revealed that the violence was possible because of the connivance of the state police as well as the Chief Minister Narendra Modi.



·         The demolition of Babri mosque in 1992 occurred after a religious ceremony turned violent and resulted in several months of inter communal rioting between India's Hindu and Muslim communities, causing the death of at least 2,000 people.


·         In Oct 2010, Shiv Sena called for the ban of Burqa

·         In Nov 2009 the U.N. human rights chief urged India to counter suspicion against its Muslim minority following the Mumbai attacks and warned the country's strict anti-terror measures threatened human rights.

·         In Mar 2010, in the Indian city of Hyderabad, a Hindu group replaced Muslim flags with Hindu ones on the streets during a festival. The Muslims had decorated the bazars with flags to celebrate Eid Miladun Nabi in the old city. Intense communal riots ensued.

 
·         In March 2009, a BJP election candidate from Utter Pradesh uttered Varun Gandhi uttered intense anti Muslim remarks in his campaigning at which BJP considered cancelling his candidacy but then ultimately defended him. Just shows the acute hatred for Muslims in the hearts of Hindus

  • Over the past couple of years, Muslim Bollywood stars such as Saif Ali Khan, Shabani Azmi and Emraan Hashmi have complained of being discriminated against in their pursuit of obtaining housing in posh localities. This housing apartheid has pushed the middle class Muslims to the margins of society in the ghethhos and slums.

Comments

  1. haris20 November 2011 at 20:22

    The incidents you have cited can be result of Muslims demanding a separate country for themselves, to an extend a self fulfilling prophecy. For example two brothers living together, lovingly, and a younger brother requesting a separate house out of skepticism that the older brother will always overpower him. After the house is separated the older brother will be left with a feeling of disgruntleness that how could he be viewed as a predator, and essentially ending up acting like one.
    Also let's not forget that these actions are more political than religious. Even after separation as a Muslim country we found other reasons to differentiate amongst ourself and continue the bloodshed in our own country, politicism requires separation on an ideology.
    Lastly you have ignored the theory of emergence, where sum of parts have to be valuated as a whole. If we were not separated the Indian Muslims would had been a mass of 500mn ppl, as opposed to 170mn, against the 850 mn Hindus, much harder to bully and manipulate. History is evident that minorities have ruled majorities through astute policies which eradicate skepticism. However the division has aggravated the situation to a point of no return. Also imagine the benefit to the lower class farmers etc, with free flowing waters, larger population base, free trade etc.
    Having said all of the above we have been blessed with a great country and now we should leave the past and make most of it.

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  2. Arij29 November 2011 at 08:05

    Haris..i get your point but such incidents happened before partition too..secondly, when a political dispute is between two parties each of which are different from the other due to religion, then Id call it a religious issue as its the different identity that giving rise to the differences..Lastly, in india the Muslims ad been caught in an socio-economic environment due to the collusion of the british (who dethroned the mughal empire) and the natives (who wanted to come to power for being a majority) which would have meant that social mobility and absolute freedom of living life how you wanted would have always been elusive..this is why a much greater 5 of muslims in india belong to the backward classes as opposed to , say , hindus..

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