New Delhi: Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut's statement advocating the disenfranchisement of Muslims in India comes as no shock to me. And just as I have moved the National Commission for Minorities and Election Commission of India to act against his hate speech BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj, who advocated Hindu women to have four children, has now supported the Shiv Sena MP's contention! This isn't the first time something like this has been advocated and as has been suggested in the Saamna editorial itself, late Bal Thackeray, known for his anti-minority rabble rousing had given this 'solution' too. It requires no rocket science to know that such a demand is not only unconstitutional and violative of Article 25 that guarantees the fundamental freedom to practice one's religion but also violative of the civil rights granted to every citizen of India therein- the right to one vote for all- irrespective of one's caste, creed, religion and class. India is also a party to International Conventions of the United Nations wherein we have committed ourselves to the safeguarding of civil and political rights of all our people, especially the minority community.
Sanjay Raut's ridiculous statement is only a re-hashed version of what Bal Thackeray and BJP's Dr. Subramanian Swamy have said earlier too. In 2011, in his piece for DNA, Swamy had called for 'disenfranchisement of Indian Muslims'. Back then a case of hate speech under 153A, 153B, 295A and 505 had been made out and he continues to be out on bail in the case filed by me. The logic underlying the statement continues to remain flawed, weak and self defeating.
Sanjay Raut argues that the backwardness of Muslims in India shows that 'vote-bank politics' of the kind Owaisi and their party, the AIMIM indulges in is counter productive for Muslims and hence they must be debarred from voting! By that logic, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and many other states have tremendous amounts of poverty, especially amongst the SC, STs and various Hindu communities too. Poverty and deprivation, in that sense is an equaliser! So by Sanjay Raut's skewed logic should their voting rights be taken away too? And if Sanjay Raut and Shiv Sena are so concerned about Muslim welfare would the question not be asked of them too? What did the Shiv Sena do when it held positions of power in the state of Maharashtra and at various local bodies? What did it do to even ameliorate the problems faced by its core constituent-the Marathas who are now demanding to be included in the OBC category for reservations? By Shiv Sena's faulty logic, Marathas have regressed and now seek reservations so obviously their leaders have only exploited them in the name of Shivaji and Marathi Manoos! How are they any different from Owaisi? How about taking away their voting rights?
Shiv Sena probably needs to understand this- the vote is the only real sense of power and control that citizens have over their destinies. Can Sanjay Raut give me examples of states where people do better without having a right to vote? I wonder why the Indian right wing, which has a rabid hatred for everything Muslim and leftist otherwise, loves to take pages out of the book of fanatical and regressive regimes of Gaddafi, Assad in the Middle East and China and North Korea! Do you need any more proof of how similar fanatics on all sides sound?
Muslims who have been living in Hyderabad where the Owaisi's have been ruling with an iron fist since decades have little to cheer about. They are backward on every index- educational, economic, social and health. There are multiple allegations of corruption and grabbing of Muslim Waqf properties worth thousands of crores in Hyderabad, meant for poor Muslim's welfare. Similar allegations exist against Sena leaders vis-a-vis mill lands in Mumbai. Big malls have been built on mill lands with thousands of mill workers left jobless and Sena leaders have benefitted. On the other hand, AIMIM leaders have allegedly helped in breaking down Masjids in Hyderabad and parceled the land for commercial interests. Land where a school or hospital could have been built for a community that badly needs it. Just 4 per cent Muslims above age of 20 years are graduates!
The language spoken by both, Sena and Owaisi, is also eerily similar. Shiv Sena attacks minorities and we all remember even the force-feeding incident where a Sena MP stuffed a roti into the mouth of a Muslim staffer observing Ramzan fasts. And then we have Akbaruddin and Asaduddin Owaisi who have denigrated Hindu Gods, challenged them to violence and made vitriolic statements that have no basis in Islam. Both show little respect for people's fundamental rights to worship and pursue one's faith.
The manner in which both these right-wing forces feed off each other betrays a sense of them being hand in glove. In the last assembly elections, the AIMIM was crucial in splitting the minority vote and helped the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance. During the trust vote it was reported how AIMIM allowed the Devendra Fadnavis government to survive by abstaining rather than voting against it. So much for their 'committed fight against Hindutva forces'. Today, the Owaisi brothers provide a counter-narrative of hate to the agenda of the BJP and Shiv Sena. Their reactionary politics allows the polarisation on communal lines- between Hindus and Muslims- reach a zenith. CDs of Owaisi's hate speech were circulated in thousands in Jammu prior to the J&K polls by BJP sympathetic groups. We all know the results. A mandate that was split along communal lines emerged in the valley.
Today, it is necessary that the eloquent the PM speaks out and acts against his ally the Shiv Sena and his own MP Sakshi Maharaj, for their unconstitutional hate speech. The attacks on the churches, the series of hate speeches by BJP, its ministers like Sadhvi Jyoti and Giriraj Singh and its leaders, raise a question mark on whether he can stand up to his promise of 'sabka sath, sabka vikas' or whether it was only a pre-poll gimmick and a mask for a covert communal agenda.
It is also time for people, minority and majority, to see through this 'noora kushti' or 'match fixing' between the hardliners of both sides represented by the Sangh Parivar/Shiv Sena and some in the BJP and the Owaisis on the other side. Both are harmful for the nation and bring little change for the constituencies whose cause they seek to espouse. All they do, is propagate hate and that is an agenda our country can ill-afford.
(Disclaimer: Shezhad Poonawalla is a Congress supporter and lawyer. Views are personal and not that of CNN-IBN/IBNLIVE)
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