Re: Why Muslim women were mutilated in Gujarat
- the only people you are willing to admit 'chose' Pakistan are then the middle-class that moved westward. Since the 'poor illiterate muslims' of whether Punjab, Sindh, Kerala or UP could not 'chose' because they can't afford to move, that would imply only a minority of people living in Pakistan actually chose to do so!
I don't think anyone would dispute the idea that the educated elites were primary force in the Pakistan Movement (or the Indian independence movement for that matter).
- you have also made it clear that at least 'some' muslims have rejected Pakistan
Nor do I think anyone would dispute the existence of the likes of Abdul Kalam Azad, Zakir Hussain, etc. It's pretty clear they were a minority among the Muslim political establishment though.
- since only the 'poor illiterate muslims' remained in India according to you, you have also clarified that it is not Indian or Hindu atrocity that has resulted in the average muslim in India being less well of than the average Hindu Jain Parsi or Christian but that they had a rotten deal handed to them by the Brits and the Moghul rulers preceding!
No doubt, the mass exodus of the Muslim upper and middle classes contributed to the backwardness of the average Indian Muslim.
That doesn't change the fact that Muslims have faced significant discrimination in post-independence India, of the fact that they have been victims of periodic atrocities at the hands of the majority communities...and these have also played their own role in maintaining the backwardness of the Indian Muslim community as a whole.
Also, where did I say anything about the Mughals?
Of course we have learnt to overlook minor details such as Kerala which you cite, happens to be on the top of literacy rates in the sub-continent, not just India.
At the time of Partition (which is what we're discussing, BTW), most Keralites were illiterate too.
Or that the 'impoverished apolitical massess' of muslims you refer to used to turn up in thousands to Mahathma Gandhi's meetings - it had to be the poor illiterate masses because according to you there were only a "handful of compliant muslims in Congress"!
Really? Do you have any exit polls to prove that Muslims were showing up en masse at Gandhi's rallies?
Even if that is the case, I don't consider that adequate evidence that they were active supporters of the Congress. Jinnah never failed to draw immense crowds of Muslims at his rallies across what is now India. I suspect many of the attendees never migrated to Pakistan either.