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The mainstreaming of India’s Muslim population
By Ashraf Engineer exclusively for Dawn.com
Wednesday, 06 May, 2009 | 03:00 PM PST
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Zafar Sareshwala is a most unlikely supporter of Narendra Modi. Sareshwala, whose family has lived in Ahmedabad for generations – at least 300 years – was a victim of the Gujarat riots of 2002. The role of Modi, the state’s chief minister, in the riots has been hotly debated during the ongoing Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament) elections. Recently, India’s Supreme Court asked for a probe against him.
Forty-seven-year-old Sareshwala’s voice is steady as he recalls what happened: ‘We ran a brokerage firm in Ahmedabad. On February 27, 2002, after a train carrying kar sevaks (Hindu religious activists) was set alight, Muslims anticipated trouble and many fled. Several of our employees ran away, leaving our stock positions open. The carnage prevented us from returning to our offices for nine months. We lost 35 million rupees in a couple of minutes as the stock exchange squared up all our positions. Financially, we were destroyed.’
Yet, the pain never led Sareshwala or his family to turn their backs on India or Gujarat. Sareshwala had a UK residency, while his two brothers had Saudi Arabian and Canadian residencies, respectively. They could have chosen to settle abroad, ‘like many other Muslims who felt there was no future in Gujarat.’
But that was not to be. ‘Our place is in India. Wherever else we would go, we would remain second-class citizens,’ says Sareshwala.
His family returned to set up Parsoli Corporation Ltd., a brokerage and investments firm that went on to list on the Bombay Stock Exchange and is now very successful. Sareshwala is the firm’s managing director and chief executive officer.
Sareshwala believes it’s time Muslims – who comprise 13.4 per cent of India’s population – assert themselves as part of the national mainstream and its politics. As India goes to the polls, Sareshwala says, ‘Muslims’ victim-centric mentality must end.’ Indeed, he urges Muslims to be part of the fast-growing economy (although the downturn means that the heady highs of 9 per cent growth are behind us, the projected 6 per cent still makes India the second-fastest growing economy in the world).
The message is clear: Sareshwala won’t carry his faith into the polling booth.
‘I pray five times a day and sport a beard, but I will never vote for a candidate only because he is a Muslim — not even the most pious maulana,’ he asserts.
It’s a sentiment that’s echoed in distant Ajmer, home to the dargah that is the final resting place of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, one of India’s most revered saints.
Syed Shahnawaz Chishti, a 24-year-old priest at the dargah who traces his lineage to the saint himself, says his clan has resided in Ajmer for 900 years. ‘On May 7, when I vote, I want my MP to do good for everybody,’ he says. ‘For me, development is a priority; he should also focus on jobs and education.’
Chishti’s heritage is Sufi and he explains, ‘our tradition is that of loving all who come to this shrine, irrespective of their faith. Their security and convenience is our duty.’ The other ‘duty’ is to vote, he says., adding ‘I am an Indian in the polling booth. The fact that I am a Muslim won’t influence my choice.’
Various pre-poll surveys about voters’ priorities have echoed what Sareshwala and Chishti say: The economy comes first, followed by security.
Kamran Shaikh, a 35-year-old project engineer with the Bureau of Energy Efficiency in the Union Ministry of Power, recently became a father for the second time. For this Delhi resident, the communalism-secularism debate is not a top priority. Rising expenses affect him the most. ‘We are a middle-class family and it’s difficult to make ends meet,’ he says. ‘I want job security, a stable government.’
Mention the 2002 carnage in Gujarat that claimed over 1,000 lives and the more recent anti-Christian riots in Orissa state’s Kandhamal district, and Shaikh says they don’t weigh heavily on his mind. ‘Everyday issues take precedence,’ he reasons. ‘Also, after the November 26, 2008, attacks in Mumbai, people understand that not every Muslim can be viewed through the same lens. The key for Muslims, really, is how they perceive themselves — that is what affects others’ opinions.’
Shahid Latif, editor of the popular Mumbai-based Urdu daily Inquilab, explains there was never a religious-centric decision to be made in the election phases conducted so far. ‘Every segment does have its own issues, but the skew is clearly towards nationalistic aspirations,’ he says. Besides, ‘development is always secular.’
It’s a theme Sareshwala dwells on too. ‘If flyovers are built, will only one community use them? It’s not an election for a mosque or a madrassa, and Muslims must understand this distinction. Remember, if a government is good, it is good for everybody. The real issue is: Can [a new government] revive the economy?’
He underlines his point with the untold story of the Nano, the world’s cheapest car (introductory price of US$ 2,000) that has been developed by the Tata business group. ‘Did you know that, with the project moving to Gujarat, Muslims will be among the biggest beneficiaries? The plant will be located in Sanand village. The nearest villages, Virochan Nagar and Charori, are Muslim-dominated. The Ahmedabad locality closest to Sanand, Sarkhej Juhapura, has 300,000 to 500,000 Muslim residents. The project is expected to generate 20,000 jobs, directly and indirectly.’
He also argues that the days of engineered violence are over. ‘After 26/11, there were state elections in Rajasthan and Delhi. What happened to the parties who preached divisiveness? They lost.’
Significantly, Latif points out, a lot has been done for Muslims in the recent past. For instance, the Sachar Committee recommendations for the social uplift of minorities were tabled in Parliament and accepted. ‘Usually, such reports go into cold storage,’ says Latif.
Also, he says, communalism is a beast that roams the political jungle, not the mind of the common man. ‘In Gujarat, Hindus and Muslims are living side by side. In Mumbai, on July 11, 2006, there were blasts across the suburban train network. All communities are still travelling in the same trains with each other.’
Now, as the elections dominate public debate, Sareshwala says it’s time for a ‘jihad’ of the kind that he is waging — a social initiative to help students that he started with friends and relatives just after the riots that followed the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992-93. It was a small vocational guidance bureau that shut down after the 2002 riots, but which Sareshwala restarted when he returned in 2004. ‘I told the students’ parents to skip a meal a day if they had to, but ensure that their children studied for eight years after their undergraduate studies. This year, of the 80 Muslims that gave the Gujarat government service examinations, eight were selected. As a community, their proportion was the highest,’ he says, the pride evident in his tone.
So, says Sareshwala, whether it’s election time or not, empowerment is always the key issue. And it holds true not just for Muslims, but also for Hindus.
Ashraf Engineer is Associate Editor at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai. Hindustan Times has eight editions across India. He can be reached at [email protected]. He also writes a blog: Sleepless in Mumbai.
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