EDITORIAL

It is indeed tragic that non-issues and non-events come to attract the eyes and the ears when it comes to issues pertaining to Indian Muslims. That the Jamiatul Ulema e Hind is torn into two factions is no secret. Nor is it unknown that the uncle-nephew squabble has spawned into an all out game of one-upmanship in which the two are outstooping each other into hijacking the anti-terrorism bandwagon. It is also widely recognized that hundred of thousands of clerics in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are keen to be roped in on either side of the battle lines like mute foot soldiers unaware of the larger games being played in the Indo-Gangetic states where huge Muslim vote carries a premium. Looked from this prism, all the noises made at the Deoband conclave of the Jamiat boil down to one-point agenda : how to reassert Jamiat's validity with a seemingly resurgent Congress in Uttar Pradesh under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi.

Jamiatul Ulema e Hind has become a handmaiden of the Madani family that controls the internationally known Islamic seminary of Darul Uloom at Deoband. The family has become adept in playing deception and fraud upon a vast body of Muslims through the network of Deobandi affiliated madrassas and clerics. The ultimate benefit will accrue to the family with either continued guarantee of a Rajya Sabha nomination in future or a couple of Congress tickets for its acolytes. Nothing beyond that. Possibly the clout will also be exercised in near future to stall the otherwise useful move to constitute a Central madrassa board. The board has become a necessity in order to introduce modernization in outdated curriculum and reforms and discipline in the management of these institutions.

All moves of the presiding cleric Mahmood Madani would now need to be watched in this context. Undoubtedly, the Jamiat as a body of ulema was founded by a set of pious visionaries. Their contributions to the freedom struggle and opposition to the creation of Pakistan too is undeniable. But it seems to have overmilked the credit over the last six decades, all for the benefit of a single family, a single Rajya Sabha seat being central to the expected largesse from the powers that be. All the Jamiat's public posturings have clearly fallen into a pattern dictated by lure and loss of such benefits. Mahmood's predecessor, Maulvi Asad Madani launched the Mulk o Millat Bachao Tehrik way back in late 70s during the reign of Prime Minister Charan Singh. New incumbents rewarded him with a nomination to the hallowed Upper House of the Parliament. A blinking signal from the Congress bosses has often been enough to see the Madanis either in action or out of it. No wonder then why disenchantment has been brewing in pockets like Assam and Azamgarh where splinters led by conscientious clerics have begun to walk out of the beaten track.

Nothing that the clerical establishments in Delhi pronounces or acts out would serve as a recipe for the vast body of Muslims. Their thoroughly corrupt leadership could just fool around with naïve followers. Media spaces and time slots are anyway, up for sale as has been proved by the recent polls in Maharashtra. Muslims will need to inevitably tear the façade erected by these vested interests and see the reality of an emergent India and the changing world beyond. Unless modern education, civil society values and awareness of the realities that surround the community are perceived in totality, clerics and hackneyed dogmas peddled out by the clerics will continue to hoodwink the masses. And they will continue to dish out entertainment for the onlookers. Are we listening?

Karnataka Government and Police must be commended for speedy and effective rebuttal of the myth of 'Love Jihad' cooked up by a section of the media in the coastal districts of the State. The Karnataka CID informed the Karnataka High Court on November 15 that there was no evidence to prove that any organized group like 'Love Jihad' was behind luring girls away from one community.
The communal media had chosen to interpret some stray cases of marriages between Hindu girls and Muslim boys as an organized campaign to lure, marry and convert Hindu women by Muslim fundamentalists in Mangalore and surrounding areas. No issue that puts Muslims under official scanner and public scrutiny has been spared by the communalists in the region during the last decade to whip up popular sentiments and trigger the fuse for communal violence. Their bag of tricks and stratagems is simply inexhaustible.

But the larger issue of patriarchy must never be lost sight of while debunking the myth of 'Love Jihad'. And it applies to all communities and defenders of the 'honour' of communities. Patriarchy builds the identity of community on the body of women, they being the creators of human beings. Hatred of the other community is built on the theory that women are the property of men and therefore should conform to the faith and social customs dictated by them. Their independence in matters of choice of spouse is therefore frowned upon. Intercaste or intercommunity marriages are thereby interpreted as 'loss of women' to the community, hence the need for protection against the 'women grabbers'. Several communities among Muslims in Mewat region of Haryana, and in countries like Pakistan and Jordan indulge in 'Honour killing' of girls for marrying men from other communities or tribes. In no case the duly recognized marriages between two individuals should be interpreted as 'defilement of women'.