The Maya Statement and a Few Ramblings

Mayawati the SC/ST Queen Incarnate says that the Nuclear Deal is anti-Muslim!!!! Helloooooo!!! Where do our politicians get such ideas in the first place? Now we all know why she has uttered this bit of nonsense but she needs to put some semblance of logic on the statement. Does she want the Muslim people to believe that the nuclear deal is a weapon of genocide or something, which the Indian State is going to use on the Muslims of India? Now another thing! Does she seriously think that an educated Muslim is going to believe that clap trap. Now here is the nail on the head. ‘Educated, Sensible, All Embracing Muslims”; the political class think that they are a hard breed to find. It’s actually a sad fact of India today that politicians think that the community will buy almost anything.

Politicians have identified the Muslim community as being somebody who is slow on the uptake and wants very little reason to feel threatened. They play on the insecurities of the common Muslim to make such statements that even an idiot would point out as idiotic. But the chances are that someone somewhere might just come out on the streets because of this one statement. God forbid, if the nuclear deal is divided along communal lines.

Do I, as a citizen of India, think that the Muslim community is stupid enough to fall prey to the new political shenanigan? No, its not! However, I think there is a tendency of some intelligent people to exert their own sense of importance and it is these people who foment all the trouble. In the name of Islam, they perpetrate hatred and violence that comes at a great cost to their own community, forget other communities.

When I was in Delhi, my favourite train, to and fro, for Baroda was the Gujarat Sampark Kranti Express, largely because I was and still am a last minute ticket booker and this train used to welcome me with open arms. Now more often than not, the majority of my co-passengers were Muslims from Ahemdabad, who were going to Delhi or coming from Delhi, and beyond for business purposes. They wore the traditional white kurta pajama, more often than not wore the traditional skull cap (I don’t know what it’s called) and had curly beards. For a long time, I avoided chatting with these people, as I was quite circumspect about how they would react to my overtures for an informal chat. However, one day, I decided to give it a go, and started a conversation with them. Imagine to my surprise that the people very friendly and though they looked rustic, were quite knowledgeable about their own area of expertise. Time passed quickly, there was laughter over shared jokes, and an easy camaraderie was established. For a pseudo-intellectual, and a person who had learnt to be apprehensive of these people courtesy terrorism, the conversation was an eye-opener for me.

Yes, these people were not as educated as I was, but these people were definitely not stupid and they had hopes and aspirations like me. They wanted to offer their families a good life and were willing to work hard for it. But our politicians do not want these people to lead normal lives. They want to isolate these people in a way such that other communities look at them with suspicion and apprehension. It serves their purpose to do so. Now bear in mind that I am not talking about the educated Muslims here, but those that are not a part of the mainstream society; the ones with the beard and the skull cap and the kurta-pyajamas. They are no different from us.

They are as much a part of India as we are and as such will definitely understand that the Nuclear Deal is not anti-Muslim, but pro-India. The problem herein is that if a Muslim leader comes out against the deal saying for some illogical reason that it’s against Muslims then we would tag him and all the gullible people supporting him, as anti-Indians. So by that logic by what epithet do we honour the comrades – Your guess is as good as mine. For me, a cleric who openly rants against the government of India is far better than the Left, who under the guise of economic mumbo jumbo are consistently selling India short. For What Purpose, do we even dare to ask? God save India from Communists they are even worse than terrorists. For one they are better placed to harm India’s interest than the terrorists are. They have power without responsibility and accountability; and that as we all know is the recipe for disaster.

Here’s hoping that the deal does go through. Here’s hoping that politicians stop using the Muslim Card to suit their personal interests. Here’s hoping that the Communists just shut up and let the Government do its job. Here’s hoping that Mumbai does not suffer as it does in every monsoon. But, who are we fooling after all. This is India. Need I say more?