by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
But a sudden and unexpected decision last week, of welcoming M. J. Akbar, perhaps India's best known active journalist, into BJP and appointing him as the party's chief media interface, opens up a range of possibilities. It is as early as the Jan Sangh days that the saffron party has tried to secure a bridgehead to the community that has always treated it as enemy, and certainly not without reason. BJP occasionally flaunted some Muslims in top posts, like the late Sikander Bakht in the Janata Party cabinet of Morarji Desai It runs a "Minority Morcha" coxprising a few Muslim leaders without mass base or acceptability in their own community. Nor do they have the intellectual stature to seriously engage in political discourse concerning religious pluralism and its challenges.
Akbar, however, comes from an altogether different background. It is the sphere of journalism and discursive writing, in which he excelled early on—as the founder-editor of Sunday and The Telegraph, the first a pioneering investigative magazine and the other one regarded as India's first modern newspaper. His books about India's communal disharmony are trend-setters.
From the positions taken by 63-year-old Akbar on public issues in his writings, if not his own life story, it is obvious that he adheres to a secular faith based on equality among religions. It is altogether different from the traditional Congress approach of placating the community's leaders with cushy postings but pursuing policies that can only push the hoi polloi into ghettoes. There is not much difference between the thought processes of Arif Mohammed Khan and M. J. Akbar. However, as a member of Rajiv Gandhi's cabinet a decade before joining BJP, Arif had tried to win the battle against his community leaders' medieval mindset. Besides Rajiv himself ditched him on the Shah Bano case for the fear of losing Muslim votes. It is possible that a new generation of Indian Muslims will be more receptive to the call to shun their unproductive exclusive rights and instead struggle to gain more equality as citizens.
But a big "if" will hang on Modi's thinking even if he assumes power. Most of Modi's critics pronounce that his persistent refusal to expiate for the 2002 riots is the product of a divisive politics at its core as the non-apology is calculated to consolidate his majority 'vote bank'. But, after appointment of Akbar, it seems possible that Modi has the vision of a new deal for the Muslim minorities of India.
THE NEW STORY
So little is known about Narendra Modi and his views on
issues that transcend the boundaries of Gujarat,
and touch upon national and international affairs, that all speculation about
how he'll steer policy if he is elected to the top office rests on events that
are long past or opinions that could well be prejudiced.
Nor has Modi, in his
long barnstorming, given any real hint as to how he'll deal with real issues,
be they internal or external, or even the issue of faith when it intersects the
territory of governance.But a sudden and unexpected decision last week, of welcoming M. J. Akbar, perhaps India's best known active journalist, into BJP and appointing him as the party's chief media interface, opens up a range of possibilities. It is as early as the Jan Sangh days that the saffron party has tried to secure a bridgehead to the community that has always treated it as enemy, and certainly not without reason. BJP occasionally flaunted some Muslims in top posts, like the late Sikander Bakht in the Janata Party cabinet of Morarji Desai It runs a "Minority Morcha" coxprising a few Muslim leaders without mass base or acceptability in their own community. Nor do they have the intellectual stature to seriously engage in political discourse concerning religious pluralism and its challenges.
Akbar, however, comes from an altogether different background. It is the sphere of journalism and discursive writing, in which he excelled early on—as the founder-editor of Sunday and The Telegraph, the first a pioneering investigative magazine and the other one regarded as India's first modern newspaper. His books about India's communal disharmony are trend-setters.
His teen-age autobiography, Blood Brothers, apart from
its literary value, is a gripping first-hand account of communal bloodbath in
post-Independence India,
that too seen from the other (minorities') side of the picket fence. Akbar's CV
makes him stand at even more variance from BJP's resident Muslims by the fact
that twenty-five years ago he'd served Rajiv Gandhi, the last prime minister
from the Gandhi-Nehru dynasty, also as his spokesman.
It sure is a puzzling, if not bizarre, reversal of role. But more than presenting Akbar as an aging writer too ready to accept a glamorous job that comes with car having a red beacon light ("lalbatti" as AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal scornfully calls it) on top, it shows an eagerness on the part of Modi, carefully hidden from public view so far, to find a reliable envoy to the largest minority community. During NDA rule, Arif Mohammed Khan, a liberal Muslim leader educated at Aligarh Muslim University, who had sought to reform Muslim personal law, joined the BJP during Vajpayee regime but soon left the party saying he had been given "no work". The question is: has Modi thought of "work" for Akbar? If so, what can it be?
It sure is a puzzling, if not bizarre, reversal of role. But more than presenting Akbar as an aging writer too ready to accept a glamorous job that comes with car having a red beacon light ("lalbatti" as AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal scornfully calls it) on top, it shows an eagerness on the part of Modi, carefully hidden from public view so far, to find a reliable envoy to the largest minority community. During NDA rule, Arif Mohammed Khan, a liberal Muslim leader educated at Aligarh Muslim University, who had sought to reform Muslim personal law, joined the BJP during Vajpayee regime but soon left the party saying he had been given "no work". The question is: has Modi thought of "work" for Akbar? If so, what can it be?
From the positions taken by 63-year-old Akbar on public issues in his writings, if not his own life story, it is obvious that he adheres to a secular faith based on equality among religions. It is altogether different from the traditional Congress approach of placating the community's leaders with cushy postings but pursuing policies that can only push the hoi polloi into ghettoes. There is not much difference between the thought processes of Arif Mohammed Khan and M. J. Akbar. However, as a member of Rajiv Gandhi's cabinet a decade before joining BJP, Arif had tried to win the battle against his community leaders' medieval mindset. Besides Rajiv himself ditched him on the Shah Bano case for the fear of losing Muslim votes. It is possible that a new generation of Indian Muslims will be more receptive to the call to shun their unproductive exclusive rights and instead struggle to gain more equality as citizens.
But a big "if" will hang on Modi's thinking even if he assumes power. Most of Modi's critics pronounce that his persistent refusal to expiate for the 2002 riots is the product of a divisive politics at its core as the non-apology is calculated to consolidate his majority 'vote bank'. But, after appointment of Akbar, it seems possible that Modi has the vision of a new deal for the Muslim minorities of India.
To feel
the contours of what a redefined secularism can offer, it is necessary to trace
the roots of the present ambiguities about it to the Constituent Assembly debates
in the post-partition years. During the debates, while a religious framework
was favoured by some—H. V. Kamath demanded inclusion of the phrase "in the
name of god" in the preamble to the Constitution in the making and his
motion was defeated—there was another section led by rationalist thinkers like
M, R. Masani and K. T. Shah who wanted the state to be firmly separated from
religion of all kinds, much as it was in France. But in course of the three
years of the Assembly's deliberations, the no concern for religion view failed
to sustain under constant pressure of zealots of various description. It
was substituted by a rather unique view of respect
for all religions.
It may be recalled that Rajiv Gandhi took charge of
the government in a political exigency and limiting religious discrimination
was probably not on his initial agenda. It is to Arif’s credit that he tried to
reshape his community’s position though his effort came ahead of its time and
had to be aborted. It will be difficult for Akbar to pick up the thread as he
is perceived as too Westernized to make much impact with the mullahs. But the
effort is very likely to find resonance with a completely new breed of Muslims
who would like to move on in life as other Indians, freed from all identity
tags, including religious. And it will have a new traction if Modi turns out to
be more secular than ever suspected by honing a state that has no concern for
religion, and prefers its citizens to keep their gods confined to their homes,
if they must.
It seems possible that Modi
has the vision of a new deal
and M J Akbar its catalyst
(The author is national
editor of Lokmat group
at Delhi)
