Muslims of India Part-3 : How Could Hindu-Muslim Divide be Narrowed?

(This part of the article follows thearticles of the previous months "Muslims of India part-1",https://thecounterviews.com/articles/muslims-of-india-part1-what-is-hindu-muslin-divide/; and "Muslims of India part-2", https://thecounterviews.com/articles/muslims-of-india-part-2-why-the-hindu-muslim-distrust-and-gap/)

Science says if you know what is the problem and Why it is, there would be a solution…BUT…that is in Physical Science. Hindu Muslim issue is a Social Problem and therefore, it may not adhere to those principles of science. There are further issues in that the political masters may not be keen to resolve it because Hindu-Muslim problems keep many a political agendas going and alive. They have kept this issue under wrap for 75 yrs of independent India. Earlier people were not even permitted to voice their concerns on Hindu-Muslim enmities and issues whether that pertained to Muslim’s population proliferation 150% of Hindu, changing religious demography of India at the cost of Hindu, proliferating radical and Jihadi organisations in India, genocidal intent of Muslims of Kashmir and so on…and worst of all, the Hindu awakening in India with which the pseudo-secular and left-leaning polity and their leadership are very uncomfortable with. Thanks to the current Modi Govt that people are freely able to voice the numerous issues related to it, whether on social, digital or print media. This magazine thanks Modi govt to publish opinion on this matter in the various issues of this magazine: -

• Muslims of India : Part 1 & 2: What & Why is the divide about? The Counterviews; Issue 4:02.
• Social Darwinism, Islam And Kashmir-1990 & Now; Why Are Opposition Politicians, Islamists and Pseudo-Secularists So Averse to RSS? The Counterviews; Issue 3:11.
• O Women! Thy Shall Remain Subservient In Islam Or Else…; The Counterviews; Issue 3:09.
• Islamic hate, Intolerance, Bigotry & Fascism and Global Caliphate. The Counterviews; Issue 3:07.
• New ‘Islamo-Fascism’ in the world; Combating ‘Love Jihad’ in India; Why stop a Muslim from praying at a Temple? The Counterviews; Issue 2:19.
• Islam and the many Ayodhyas of the world; Are the Jihadists the Beasts? Are the Muslims above law? The Counterviews; Issue 2:16.
• The Uighur Model of Islamic Radicalism & Jihad; The Counterviews; Issue 2:14.
• West Bengal and its Muslims: Why Hindu see them red? Hinduphobia in Telinipara, West Bengal; The Counterviews; Issue 2:11.
• Muslim factors in spread of Corona in India; Muslims in India : Then and Now; The Counterviews; Issue 2:08
• The Truth of Islam as faith and Muslims as citizen; The Counterviews; Issue 2:07.
• Hindu-Muslim Riots in India: Only Modi can resolve it, The Counterviews; Issue 2:06.

Let us first recollect the broader reasons of the Hindu-Muslim divides in India (as published in the previous issue 4:02 of this magazine) as to why it has taken such ugly proportions in the last few years. Thereafter, an attempt will be made to formulate the means to bridge the gap.

Arrogance of adhering to Medieval wrong-doings. Muslims of India will have to understand the sensitivities of Indian people who had undergone many genocides in the hands of cruel Medieval Muslim rulers. They have left very deep scars that the modern Indian Muslims try to refresh every now and then when they show allegiances to them. Atrocities of Bin Qasim, Tughlaq, Khilji, Babur, Tipu and many others need to be put to past. When some handful of Indian Muslims threaten to commit genocides of Hindu, it refreshes the Islamic intent of the recent years whether against Kashmiri Pandits, Godhra, in Middle-East, against Yezidis…worst on-going genocide of Hindu-Sikh in Pak/Afghanistan/Bangladesh. This rhetoric must stop in India because we have suffered a lot. The same is true for Hindus to because they too indulged in Muslim killing while retaliating Godhra killing. It is also essential that Indian Muslims are responsive to Hindu sensibilities of hurt sentiments through vandelised Kashi and Mathura temples which are revered ones, like those of Meccah for Muslims. It’s lost glories must be restored.

Arrogance of Communal Colour. There is no doubt that Muslims are separate religions having different customs. However, communal expression of attires, offering Namaz in public places and loudspeakers chanting Azan at deafening volumes if the neighborhood are uncomfortable, are uncalled for. Similarly, loudspeakers chanting from temples where Muslims are in substantial numbers and having objections to, must be discouraged. Union Govt may do good to enact a suitable law to prevent any untoward happenings in this regard in the future. Similarly, Hindus trying to sport saffron attire with a view to tease them, must stop.

Diverse and Opposing ideologies; Hateful Islam vs Peace-loving Hindu. The religious ideologies of people are primarily contained in their temples, prayers and attitude towards others. Where Hinduism has a concept of ‘विश्वेदेवाः’, rendering respect to all religions and faiths is inclusive, Islam is hateful and inimical to worshiping of other Gods of Hindu, Jews, Christians or Zorostrians mentions in Quran. For Muslims to be co-living with others in non-Islamic nations, Quranic verses against the believers of other religions, polytheists or the worshippers of idols, must be deleted. All respective govts in the world should mandate the deletion of those hateful expressions of verses in Quran.

Expansionist and Intolerant faith. Genocidal approach by Mohamed and later Islamic Caliphate in anarchic Arabia of 7th century and later into Christian and Jew population was condemnable and that too, just to expand Islam because he personally hated others. His genocide committed against Parsis in 651-52 CE was to the extent that only a handful of them could survive after fleeing to Bombay and Gujrat. Radical and Jihadi Muslims of the world somewhat believe their Mullahs who misinterpret Quran on the pretext of a few verses in Quran (mentioned below) and ask them to continue fighting till global Islamic caliphate is established. This is something which has put Islam at odds with most other religions and faiths the world over, trying to reign supreme over all others. This must end.

Hinduism following peaceful coexistence, being taken for granted. Muslims of India have been living with Hindu for over a millennium. They have found that Hindu are docile, peace-loving and accommodative hence, taken for granted. That could be the reason for their courage to burn Hindu pilgrims alive in Godhra that resulted in Hindu anger anti-Muslim violence. That was the starting point for the largely sleeping Hindu to wake-up. We know Islam spreads hate and intolerance and are largely inimical to all other religions and faiths. They stock explosives, arms and ammunition in their mosques to commit jihad. Hence, Hindu or all other religions in the world must unite among themselves to be strong and be prepared to fight Islamic genocide if at all initiated by them. All govts in the world must remain alert to such possibilities of Islamic nefarious intents. The radicals and jihadists must not take others for granted. A stronger Hindu/Christian as group will be a strong deterrent and discourage them from indulgence.

Hindu-Muslim Riots. All our freedom fighters who would have agreed to the partition to get rid of a persistent Hindu-Muslim animosity of the centuries, must be hanging their heads in shame with the continuing Hindu-Muslim riots even after having agreed to the partitioned of our motherland for the benefit of Muslims’ Pakistan. Surely appeasement policies and pseudo-secularism of Congress and some others created a strong ‘Muslim Vote-Bank’ politics in India. Modi Govt is the first to have broken those shackles. They abolished ‘3-talaq’,‘abrogated constitutional articles 370 & 35A’, amended the citizenship act to facilitate citizenship to the Hindu/Sikh/Buddhist/Christian migrants who had to flee Pakistan/Afghanistan/Bangladesh to escape religious persecution and genocide. Today, mosques in NDA ruled states are giving-up radical teachings. A tough stance of security forces against Islamic terrorists are dissuading parents from giving their children for jihad.

Riots involving Muslims whether Hindu-Muslim, Muslim-Sikh, Muslim-Parsis or Muslim-Christian constitute almost >95% of which Hindu-Muslim riots constitute >75%. In India, this is nothing to do with BJP, RSS, Narendra Modi or the new Hindu awakening & activism. The statistics reveal that >1400 small & big communal riots have taken place in India since independence, >75% under Congress rules, the party claiming champion of secularism (or rather pseudo-secularism). The reasons for the riots have been varied…mostly some very silly and trivial actions on part of the either communities mentioned earlier (Muslims of India part-2); most being linked to Ramjanmbhumi-Babri Masjid disputes. Some riots started with obstruction of the religious processions of each other. Most riots took place in UP followed by Gujarat, Karnataka, West Bengal and Bihar. Of late, Kerala is becoming the fertile breeding ground for the jihadi outfits like PFI and SDPI with foreign inflow of funds.

Ever since the radical Islam caused 9/11 attack on the US soil, lot many jihadi activities started the world over. Islamic extremism & terrorism have become a talk of town. Internet makes it possible for cross boarder dis-information campaigns and terror activities. Following US actions on Iraq, ISIS raised its ugly head. Their call of Global Caliphate have made radical Muslim groups indulgent in terrorism. Accordingly, suspicion against Muslims have grown all over the world. Many Indian Muslims opine their support to Islamic extremists & terrorists, against our Armed Forces and our national interests. This is just not right for a cordial coexistence.

How could the Issues of Hindu-Muslim divide be resolved / ameliorated?

Muslims as well as Hindus of India will have to mend their ways, with some give & take. Their leaders and clerics must understand the basic reasons of discords. PM Narendra Modi has the charishma to prevail over the situations and this is very much in national interest. If he wants to resolve it, he should seek assistance from the acceptable and moderate faces among different religions as well as from representatives from organisations like VHP, RSS, AIMPLB and Muslim women from all parts of India…may be initially on regional basis, followed by on national platform. The group must find out all the irritants of discords in the inter-religious relations. They should suggest redressing the issues on two lines… one that can be resolved with relatively ease, must be implemented at the earliest; and those which have deep-rooted misgivings that will take years to resolve.

Issues that could be handled with relative ease

Medieval Wrong doings.Make the learned representatives of both communities realise that the present day Muslims had no hand in the wrong doings and atrocities of the medieval period. The few radical Muslims who try to show allegiance to the cruel rulers must desist from it. It only fuels anger among Hindus who have several scars of those period. What took place nearly a millennium back, cannot be undone and India is no longer under Islamic rule. The text books in the schools and colleges must make a mention of this. The few of the highly revered partially destroyed temples like Kashi-Vishwanath and Krishna Janmbhumi should cordially be handed over to the Hindus.

Religious Conversions. The next most frequent discord is on the religious conversions. Secularism gives right to preach and practice one’s religion. Conversions cannot be one sided.If Islam has freedom to convert others, it must allow Muslims also to be converted to others if they so desire. Presently Muslims converting to other religions are issued death threats. Some discussion & deliberation may be initiated in the national interest to allow or not to allow conversions. If un-agreeable, conversion must be banned.

Fear of life in Muslim majority areas. Muslims of India must alleviate Hindu anxiety and fear, at times causing them to flee. This must be done with immediate effect. The two community leaders must be aware of the reasons. They must hold periodical talks and resolve it amicably. It is a common feel that Muslims, anti-social elements and extremists behave like mobs and start causing fear in Hindu minority. Muslims must take example from the cordial living of Muslims in Hindu majority areas and adopt similar accommodative living.

Some deep-rooted issues causing the flare-up of the sentiments, need a gradual redressal as there is no immediate step that can be taken by either community. These include the followings:-

Prevent Changing religious demography. The Muslim proliferation is making the Hindu very apprehensive about their status within India itself. This is the only nation where Hindu originated and live with total religious freedom. By now, they have already become minority in 12 districts of India and are on verge of it in another three. Hence, appropriate steps must be taken to reverse this trend of changing religious demography of India which was partitioned for the cause of Muslims. After the next census, this issue will become a major irritant in Hindu-Muslim relations. The main reasons are just three…firstly a 150% decadal growth rate of the Muslims, secondly the conversions & so called love jihad and thirdly the illegal migrant Muslims from across the international borders (approx 5 Cr). It must be debated and settled once for all.

Diverse and Opposing ideologies. There is no doubt that Quran is inimical to the believers of other faiths. Modi Govt may approach Supreme Court to constitute a high power inter-religious team of scholars and respected religious figures, to go deep in to the teachings of religious scriptures and indicate which all texts/verses have potential to fuel hatred/intolerance. Those verses may be removed / amended under the supervision of the SC.

Removal or re-defining of Jihad. The Indian religions of Hindu, Bouddh & Jain have no provision of religious violence against other religions as Jihad proposes. There are various ways of interpretation of the word. However, the bottom-line is that the world over there are Jihadi violence. Jihad says once Muslim land, cannot be ruled by others but if other religion develops the same ethos, then there will be no Muslim land in the world as Islam came only after 622 AD. There were other religions & faiths prevailing in all nations before Islam came. If those religions start mounting something like jihad for their land, humanity will die. Hence, Jihad needs to be redefined esp in Indian Context.

Global Expansionism of Islamic Caliphate. This is a recent phenomenon and not many Muslims of India are convinced with it. Any notion of India being made to Islamic Caliphate must be dispelled among both communities. The Prevention of Change in Religious Demography of India will reassure Hindu Community that they will not become minority in own nation.

Islam Above Nation. A text/verse in the Islamic scriptures must be added that places the motherland and nationalism above religion and this must be taught to all children in their schools. This inclusion should nullify any verse in Quran/Hadith that places Islam above nation.

Shri Narendra Modi, the beloved PM of India has justly put a slogan of “Sabka sath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas”. Time has come when this slogan needs to be put in to action in a democratic way, with inclusive participation of all communities. If this effort of Hindu-Muslim amity succeeds, which many of us believe it will, India will again become a Golden bird of the world, an example of exemplary interfaith amity, cordiality. And living.