Gargi rawat Ansari, Sreenivas Jain and many other Liberals were blaming the recent April 10, 2022 violence and stone pelting on peaceful happy Ramnavmi processions, on Hindus taking out processions in ‘Muslim Areas’ and in front of Mosques. They were lamenting that DJs were playing ‘Baccha baccha bolega Jai Sri Ram’ in front of Mosques. Muhammed Zubair, a self-styled fact checking Twitter handle put out a short video terming women, toddlers and infants dancing to Ram Bhajans as hate spreading and provocative. The video in fact, showed people dancing in joyful abandon, while it showed the people standing in the mosque balcony as aggressive and angry. The processions that were pelted with stones had women, children, toddlers, infants, but the victims have been dehumanised to the narrative of ‘they deserved it’!

Why is the narrative of ‘Muslim Areas’ so Dangerous?

Let us go back to the 14 points of Jinnah, which were rejected by Nehru as ‘ridiculous’ and became the bedrock on which partition was demanded and achieved.

The Fourteen Points

1. The form of the future constitution should be federal, with the residuary powers vested in the provinces.

2. All provinces must be given equal Autonomy.

3. All legislatures in the country and other elected bodies shall be constituted on the definite principle of adequate and effective representation of minorities in every province without reducing the majority in any province to a minority or even equality.

4. In the Central Legislature, Muslim representation shall not be less than one-third

5. Representation of communal groups shall continue to be by means of the separate electorate at present it shall be open to any community, at any time, to abandon its separate electorate in favor of joint electorate.

6. Any territorial distribution that might at any time be necessary shall not in any way affect the Muslim majority in Punjab, Bengal and NWFP provinces.

7. Full religious liberty shall be guaranteed to all communities.

8. No bill or resolution shall be passed in any legislature if three-fourths of the members of any community in that body oppose the bill.

9. Sindh should be separated from the Bombay to a province.

10. Reforms should be introduced in the NWFP and Balochistan on the same footings as in the other provinces.

11. Muslims should be given an adequate share in all services, having due regard to the requirement of efficiency.

12. The Constitution should embody adequate safeguards for the protection of Muslim culture, education, language, religion and personal laws, as well as for Muslim charitable institutions.

13. One-third representation shall be given to Muslims in both central and provincial cabinets.

14. No change will be made in the constitution without the consent of the provinces.

A part of the 14 points reads like the Constitution of the Islamic republic of Pakistan.

If we analyse the first 2 demands, the dangerous nature of Rahul Gandhi’s speech in parliament questioning the unitary structure of India becomes apparent. Dr. B. R Ambedkar, very wisely, turned India into a union of states, not a federation, with centre being the power that held the unitary structure together.

The demand for separate electorate for muslims, their representation in central government, not tinkering with territories to change Muslim demographics etc are just what ‘Muslim areas’ represent. The presumption seems that the writ of constitution does not run in areas which are adjoining mosques or have Muslim majority. The areas are ‘No go Areas’ for non-Muslims. It also implies that if any religious activity that runs counter to Islam is carried out, it is but fair to get retribution.

This narrative is very dangerous to the very unity and social structure of Bharat. In majority of areas, processions and Ram Navmi celebrations went on peacefully, but in certain areas, designated by Left Liberals as ‘Muslim Areas’, there was stone pelting and violence.

Horrors of partition that Hindus faced were again blamed on Hindus. Reactions to Muslims during wide spread riots was blamed on violence by fleeing Hindus in east and west Pakistan. The same narrative was used to justify invasion of Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistani army and Tribals. The invasion resulted in wide spread murders, rapes and conversions of Hindus and Sikhs in Mirpur, Muzzafarabad, Gilgit, Skardu and Kashmir valley. Again, this was blamed on Hindus killing Muslims and again the victims were dehumanised.

The Genocide of Kashmiri Hindus was rationalised as an uprising of suppressed Muslims (95% population) against Kashmiri Hindu (5%) because they were cornering all benefits. This was a lie as in post 1947 Jammu Kashmir, state employment was not given to Kashmiri Hindus as a policy of Sheikh Abdullah. Hindus were not given admission in Srinagar colleges. The nominations of Hindu candidates of Praja parishad were cancelled. The lone seat of Habbakadal, won by a Kashmiri Hindu, was delimited to prevent a recurrence of the same, yet the 1989-1990 genocide was normalised. Kashmir Valley was a ‘Muslim area’ where the rule was to leave, convert or die / Hindu women to be given to Muslims.

Every year, on Ashura, Muharram processions pass peacefully through ‘Hindu areas’. It is when they enter ‘Muslim areas’ that they are attacked. So, who is ‘Zaleel’ here? Rana Ayyub termed Hindus dancing in Gay Abandon to Sri Ram Bhajans as Zaleel, as they were in front of a Mosque!

The fact that Muslim area became an instant trend on Twitter is testimony to the fact that Indian citizens will not take attempts to divide India into communal zones laying down.

This narrative is very dangerous and needs to be countered.

Title image credit: Hindu Post