On 5 May 2019, bang in the middle of the Lok Sabha elections, PM Narendra Modi held a rally in Bhadohi, Uttar Pradesh, where he appealed to his “Muslim sisters” for votes. He wanted to be a benevolent brother who had taken it upon himself to give the same rights to Muslim women in India that have been given to “sisters” in other Muslim countries by making triple talaq null and void.
I appreciate Modi’s concern about Muslim “sisters” when it comes to the ‘way’ they get divorced. But what about those Muslim “sisters” who are happy with their husbands and are going about their daily lives, which come to a tragic halt when they get to know that their husbands have been beaten to death in the name of ‘gauraksha’ (cow protection), the very brand of ultra-Right Hindutva that the Modi wave rode on?
Go to a Muslim dominated area, like Bhadohi, and out comes Modi, the saviour of Muslim women. Go to a Hindu dominated area, like Nanded, and out comes the ‘Hindu Hriday Samrat’ who accuses Rahul Gandhi of being a wimp for contesting from a Muslim dominated area – Wayanad in Kerala – to win.
I’m sure Muslims would even fall for this double standard because double standards are all we’ve been dealt with. Be it Rajiv Gandhi trying to damage control the Shah Bano backlash with the Ram Janmabhoomi Shilanyas or Akhilesh Yadav having a Bollywood night in the aftermath of the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots.
It’s really a choice between the devil and the sea for Indian Muslims. Modi has not only nurtured but also encouraged ministers who have unabashedly spoken against Muslims. This anti-Muslim rhetoric in the BJP is glaring.
Take, for example, Karnataka’s blue-eyed boy Anant Kumar Hegde who has said that “polarising is the real democracy”. In 2016, he reportedly said that “as long as there is Islam in the world, there will be terrorism. Until we uproot Islam, we can’t remove terrorism.” Hegde is now a Union minister.
Has the BJP completely forgotten the ‘insaniyat (humanity)’ that Atal Bihari Vajpayee spoke of when he tried to tackle the Kashmir problem?
When Tathagata Roy, governor of Meghalaya and a senior leader of the BJP, wanted to boycott Kashmiris and Kashmiri products after the Pulwama attack, did PM Modi think about this ‘insaniyat’ towards Kashmiris?
Kashmiri vendors and traders were beaten up mercilessly in Lucknow and Patna. PM Modi’s silence then was louder and more effective than Tathagata Roy’s hate.
Also read: Are Muslims nationalists? What is their problem with Modi? 12 FAQs about Muslims answered
What about Raj Dharma?
Who can forget Atal Bihari Vajpayee reminding a fuming Narendra Modi, then Gujarat’s chief minister, of his “Raj Dharma” after the 2002 riots?
When Vinay Katiyar, Rajya Sabha MP and founding member of Bajrang Dal, questioned why Muslims live in India at all, did Modi think of his “Raj Dharma” oftreating citizens equally at all?
Bringing up Atal Bihari Vajpayee is also tricky, considering it immediately reminds a Muslim of “zameen ko samtal karna padega (we have to make the land even in Ayodhya),” soon after which the Babri Masjid was demolished.
But, it’s important to remind the current lot of the BJP that one can remain a Hindu hardliner and still be humane. Something BJP MLA T. Raja Singh doesn’t understand. He has on several occasions said that Rohingyas and Bangladeshis will be shot if they don’t leave, that those opposing the proposed Ram temple in Ayodhya will be beheaded while having even called for a ban on the Quran.
Also read: Why many Muslims in Gujarat publicly supported Modi’s BJP after 2002
Rewarding bigotry
During the last five years of the Modi government, Muslims have not only suffered physically (in mob lynchings), but psychologically as well. The trauma of humiliation and the fear of being reduced to a second-class citizen in India has weighed heavily on the Muslim psyche.
When BJP minister Giriraj Singh comments on Muslims producing too many children or when Union minister Anupriya Patel tweets that “Our own traitors have destroyed us otherwise have you ever heard of 100 crores (Hindus) getting scared of 20 crore mullahs (Muslims)?”, the Muslims of India look to PM Modi, not as the big brother, but perhaps the stepbrother.
Giriraj Singh is now the BJP candidate from Begusarai in Bihar. That’s rewarding bigotry. Pragya Singh Thakur, the Malegaon terror blast accused out on bail, is contesting the election from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh. How can you expect any Muslim to take Modi as their well-wisher who wishes for equality?
What’s more, the BJP has openly resorted to harassing Muslims if they don’t vote for them. Maneka Gandhi, just a few weeks ago, was seen harassing Muslims in a rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur. In a viral video, she’s seen telling Muslims that she is already winning the election but if Muslims don’t vote for her, they should not expect her to work for them because “dil khatta ho jayega (the heart will become sour)”.
The BJP is aware of the anti-Muslim rhetoric of its members and isn’t really bothered about it. That’s why Sambit Patra calling Muslims as ‘katmullahs (circumcised men)’ in news channels has become the new normal.
Also read: The journey of BJP’s Sambit Patra from a trained surgeon to a nasty TV star
No love lost
A lot of Muslims in Uttar Pradesh would tell you that they voted for Modi in the 2017 assembly election thinking that he will usher in “vikas” since Muslims saw no development either under the SP or the BSP government. However, when Ajay Singh Bisht was made the chief minister of the state, the image of PM Modi’s “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas” came crashing down.
Bisht, instead of allaying Muslims’ fears, proved them right by inventing concepts like ‘Love Jihad’ and ‘Anti-Romeo Squads’ through which his Hindu Yuva Vahini went about harassing young couples and divided the nation further on religious lines.
What’s worse? BJP netas justify this hate by talking about annihilating people who don’t love the country enough. Vikram Singh Saini, a BJP MLA, in January this year suggested in a matter-of-fact way that he would like to bomb people who say they feel unsafe in India.
India has seen acute social injustice when it comes to the Dalits and backward classes. Added to this, now, is a religious injustice where people are being vetted for citizenship according to the religion they profess. That’s the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill the Modi government wants to introduce where the only religious groups that become ineligible for citizenship are Muslims, Jews and atheists.
This isn’t equality.
It’s about time that PM Modi realises that Muslims have been demonised so thoroughly by his party that it’s an impossible feat to make Muslims trust him. None of his ministers propagating hate has been asked to resign. If anything, they have only risen in fame and power.
Modi’s Muslim “sisters” remain unconvinced.
The author is a political observer and writer.
Zainab seems to have pressed an uncomfortable nerve of the Modi ‘bhakts’ here with this hard hitting article, which will only make sense to those who believe in the idea of India as a secular and inclusive Republic. For the rest, it’s just another Muslim woman trying to unnecessarily target the magnificent Mr. Modi, who according to them, is infallible.
It’s ironic how the nationalists, who doubt & attack the other leaders with sharp tongues & intense malice over the drop of a hat, are extensively & conveniently forgiving towards major blunders committed regularly by the Modi Govt. The very same, unforgiving, self proclaimed ‘Desh Bhakt’ lot.
Is there no sense of justice or simply common sense remaining in today’s ‘aam aadmi’?.
Just one sentence, where Zainab points out so justifiably, asking Mr. Modi how ‘Triple talaq’ is not an emergency with Muslim women in their lives, as much as their husbands getting lynched, killed or psychologically disturbed with attacks over mere suspicions, by Modi supported ‘Gau rakshaks’.
It’s enough for a sane mind to see the ground reality versus the farce ‘Sabka saath sabka vikas’.
Leaving the Muslims dancing between the devil & the deep blue sea.
Don’t just read the article, plz understand the pain and the distress the citizens of India are facing in this fascist regime, if you have your heart in the right place that is.
Zainab has done a fabulous job capturing that pain in her words.
Nerdyknight
Article is really great I enjoyed each and every word. It goes direct to depth of the heart. I want to congratulate the writer…for his effort…thanks…
There certainly is some truth in the article. However muslims have chosen to be represented by mullah by choice and not by compulsion.
It is difficult even for a normal hindu to relate to muslims who on tv speak the language of Aurangzeb and Muhammad Gauri on television saying that Gazani, Gauri n Aurangzeb are their heros. Even celebrities naming their son Timur does not go well with non partisan hindus.
It is on muslims to look within and come out with ways to change the perception of people about them.
Directly or indirectly it is muslims who are responsible for 90% terrorism in world.
Muslims are unable to come out of their Modiphobia that has been injected into them by pseudo secular. I agree that statements being made by some BJP leaders are disgusting to Muslims, but congress PM Manmohan Singh made disguting comments to Hindus that they have only 2nd claim on resources of India. But muslims were happy then. It appears that muslims want to assert themselves but dont want hindus to assert themselves. Also if you diregard the statements, lynchings fall under state subject and the state govt should be questioned, instead PM Modi is being demonised. Muslims seem to have got used to pampering that they feel intimidated when hindus assert their identities. Our Gods may be different but we are all Indians. Congress implemented Cow protection laws but did not implement it. Muslims were happy then. When cow smuggling is being curbed the termites start coming our the woodwork abousing PM Modi of being a demon who eats muslims.
Please read article of Mr ayoob published in this same paper in today’s edition about Muslim. Very well balanced .
If Muslims are so secular why did they ask for pure Muslim Islamic Republic of Pakistan?
Also what happened to Hindu population of Pakistan? Why majority of Muslims voted for Pakistan but remained in India. The problem is there. Maulvis and Islamic Clerics all say Islam is a complete system that supersedes all nationalistic values, secular values and requires Muslims to bring others into their fold. It is incompatible with modern world. This is why you have a problem all over the world where Muslims just can’t get on with life but want to make demands of others. Like a bad child.
Muslim women are becoming widows because their husbands are murdered by gaurakshaks,which is okay with Modi.Muslim women becoming vidhwa is okay but she will be protected from becoming divorcee!
Your sweeping claims are highly exaggerated & there is no point in answering them here as they have been properly dealt with on many other forums. The election results themselves will prove that you are wrong & will be eye opener !
But you must answer one thing first. Did your parents had the fetish for men who invaded india? Why are you named after Alexander?
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First talk about suffering of Hindu women.
Very well explained..Masterpiece
sanjay the author. you will not complain the Bangladesh mamta appsessment only to muslim…KCR. appsessment.t to muslim only for 60 years British dog congress appsesment to muslim…lalu ..mulayam..mayawati to dalit. is this country to these who dont belive in constitution and I can get a msulim doesn’t belive in the state he stay where he doesn’t speak the language he is not a natuonlist
Uday, just consider my argument with a calm mind:
“Need for OVERT Muslim appeasement arose because of OVERT hatred for them displayed by Hindu Mahasabha and the RSS.”
The ONENESS of Hindus and Muslims was taken so much for granted that the word “secular” was introduced in the preamble to the Constitution much after 1950 – – by Indira Gandhi in 1975.
Yes, I would like to comment on one particular incident of appeasement. Rajiv Gandhi was most unfair and cruel in rejecting the Supreme Court verdict in the Shah Bano case. His act was a disgusting appeasement of Muslim MEN at the cost of Muslim WOMEN. (It was not appeasement at the cost of Hindus). That was because he didn’t have the courage of his mother; I’m sure if Indira Gandhi were alive and the PM, that landmark judgment would have come to stay.
Sanjiv, very well articulated. Thank you.
Uday, you may like to choose your words more carefully. Free unasked for advise from me, with an assumption that the debate in a civil society is about ideas and does not include name calling.
my view – we the Indians are far better people than Modi and company make us out to be. The hatred that Modi and company see, I have not experienced even once in my life. Be it from people of any faith. I am sure that there are millions like me.
Thanks for the compliment, Anil. Modi and Shah have displayed murderous hatred for the Muslims. It has left us completely aghast. In the process, they have also given themselves away, they may not realize it. We all have reasons to believe now, no matter what the past court verdicts say, that ALL the allegations of excesses against the Muslims in Gujarat of 2002 MUST BE CORRECT. No amount of barbarism can be put beyond these two Gujarati gentlemen. Many of those cases should be re-opened after 23 May.
Indeed, Sanjiv. Mr Modi seems to one of those beings who specialise in double speak and seem to believe that the people listening to them or observing their action are either idiots or can be bullied by hook or crook. I have never seen a man who can pretend to say and do completely different things on the same day. Demonetisation was one of the best examples of such behaviour. Everyone one new that demonetisation will lead to corruption – difference was that it will new set of people – people who are close to power. Mr Modi and the regime was feeding us all sorts of stories to say that it will remove corruption. Police, IT, politicians and babus all know who the corrupt in a given city are – a large number of them are in this group itself. We still here that I will remove corruption when you the corrupt prospering more than the hard-working everyday. I do believe that an average Indian is intelligent and mature (minus of course the trolls/bhakts of various kind), has seen through the mask and has and will vote to get rid of self-obsessed deceitful leaders. May God be with our great country and an average Indian!
Well said Mr Bhatia.
Why uniform Civil Code is not pursued! We are committed to it. Why ‘M’s keep opposing it citing Sharia ! These issues are affecting the society. Yesterday a Burqa clad man threw acid on a person in Ahmednagar city of Maharashtra, & eloped away. Education system & conduct in civil life must be in accordance with the consensus.
The only Raj-Dharm Modi ji is worried about these days is how to retain “the Raj”. That’s why he is asking for votes even from the least likely quarters. This is a well researched article in which the columnist has covered all the points of regret the Muslims feel towards Mr Modi. There is, in my opinion, not an iota of chance that he or anyone else in the BJP will succeed in winning a single Muslim vote. This party’s fate has been sealed.
Well said Mr Bhatia.
Don’t worry! He will return to power !
This blog is a typical outburst of a journalist who don’t like Modi. What is the purpose of this types of blogs except Modi bashing.
Modi is a public figure, nothing wrong in bashing him. Counter the arguments and facts contained in the article.
No mention of triple talak. I guess Muslim women suffer more from triple talak than your lofty and selective biases.