Have Muslims Stood up for the Oppressed?

Have Muslims Stood up for the Oppressed?

If we don’t stand up for others, why should anyone stand up for us?

Muslims have to decide, believe and practice what Prophet Muhammad said, think for your brother what you want for yourselves? Was Prophet Muhammad’s scope of wisdom limited to a group of people or his kindness was for all humans beings?

I am proud of the pluralistic heritage of India. Over the last thousand years, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, and Jews have done everything to be a part of each other and yet have retained their identities. The society has developed a broad common culture to the shameful exclusion of Dalits and Adivasis, who are considered inferior humans; it is repulsive to think that such attitudes exist even now.

What did Muslims do? While I have many great examples to share, but most Muslims treated the Dalits in the same manner, as the ones they accuse of mistreating; the upper caste Hindus. 

A lot of work is done to correct thousands of years of DNA’d attitudes of the caste system; this disgusting practice needs to go. We are talking about human dignity and respect the God-given uniqueness of each one of us. Thanks to Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Ambedkar and thousands of Indians for taking up the issue to correct the wrongs of yesteryears.  My father was bold enough to break the norms and invited the Dalits in our home to share tea or a meal with us, and eating from the same utensils that we used. On my part, I fought vigorously at the street corner water taps to give equal access to the Dalits. Many of you have done that.

Who does not want to be treated equal and included? Equal treatment of fellow humans was one of the reasons why many Dalits converted to Islam. But joining Islam did not give them the good they were looking for, they are still outcast Muslims, and Muslims in India have their own version of prejudice, Pakistan has its own version and other nations have their own versions.  A few consider themselves superior to the others – Ashraf, Syed’s and from the family of the Prophet.

How is one superior to the other? Do these Muslims know that even if you were the daughter of the Prophet, you don’t have any advantages over others unless you personally earn your place through good deeds – that is serving others without any return? 

I hope and pray that Muslims get rid of their prejudices, treat all humans as equal (Prophet’s statement) and stand up for the rights of others. If you are an authentic Amin, you’ll earn the respect of fellow humans for the common good.

Elections are coming up, Muslims need to seriously talk with the individual legislators to consider representing all Indians and shelve narrow interests. They should represent all or none and not be sold to any interest groups.  Together Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, and Dalits can be relevant in restoring India to be a great nation again.   It is time for Muslims to make up for their short-comings of the past, and become a just people and stand up for the rights of others and when we do that, more and more people will come around and we can build an India that is good for all.

The following inspirational video is worth watching  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOJXFf4BXtc

What about Owaisi and MIM Party;

You may have your own opinion, but Owaisi is as divisive as some of the other parties. We don't necessarily need Muslims to represent Muslims, what we need is our elected officials to represent every Indian. Muslims and Dalits need to reach out to the individual candidates regardless of what party they belong to.  The extremists won't listen, but the majority wants justice and fairness, even among BJP.

Owaisi's divisiveness lost 17 seats where Muslims were running through other parties, he stuck his candidates and divided the Muslim vote. He is hell-bent on doing that again in Karnataka. He needs to be kicked out of Muslim politics.  If other parties are divisive, let them, let's us be builders of our Nation.

We simply cannot go wrong if we pursue policies for the well being of all Indians, even though we are suffering.

Related Article: Can a Muslim become Prime Minister of India? http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2012/05/can-muslim-indian-become-prime-minister.html

Mike Ghouse

re there any takeaways for Muslims from the Narendra Modi government?

We should never let things ride, good governance comes from critical analysis and democracy survives because of journalists. 

Thomas Jefferson made a strong statement about the role of the media in a democracy when he noted, “If it were left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” Describing the role of the press, George A. Krimsky, the former head of news for the Associated Press’ World Services and co-author of Hold the Press, writes, “In the wake of America’s successful revolution, it was decided there should indeed be government, but only if it were accountable to the people. The people, in turn, could only hold the government accountable if they knew what it was doing and could intercede as necessary, using their ballot, for example. This role of public ‘watchdog’ was thus assumed by a citizen press, and as a consequence, the government in the United States has been kept out of the news business.”

This author M Reyaz has done it right, we need more of this. It is time to hold the leadership and Mr. Modi accountable.

Mike Ghouse
www.MikeGhouse.net


Are there any takeaways for Muslims from the Narendra Modi government?

 Image for representational purposes only. RNA Research & Archives

Courtesy - DNA Analysis

As someone who has been very vocal in criticising the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) – I have been critical of the previous UPA government’s policies too – and Narendra Modi, I was particularly restrained (self-censorship, you may call it) since May 16, when the BJP, under Modi, won a convincing mandate to rule the country for next five years. In the last two weeks, I have been thinking of writing a ‘reconciliatory’ piece and urge the Muslim leadership to not make the ‘historical mistake’ and try to engage with the new government in power for the betterment of the community. 

As I sit to write this article, I am afraid there are not many positive takeaways from the new government, and if these are the signs of things to come, the situation really appears to be glum. 

As the new government takes shape, there are reports from Karnataka of how right-wing Hindu organisations are demanding a ban on the morning calls for prayer, and another group demanding a total ban on loudspeakers in mosques in Maharashtra. There were also reports of vandalism by jubilant mobs celebrating Modi’s victory in Bijapur. These were all small news and hence did not really catch the attention of the national media. 

But in the light of the chauvinistic government at the helm, at a time when you see the top-rung of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), including Sadhvi Rithambara, an accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case, and Indresh Kumar, alleged to be a co-conspirator in the Samjhauta train blast case, seated along with other seers and spiritual leaders during Modi’s inauguration, such news cannot be ignored. 

Modi’s gesture of inviting leaders of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries, particularly Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, was seen by many as an overture to reach out to Muslims, like his political mentor LK Advani who visited Jinnah’s grave to project himself as more inclusive, much to ire of the RSS. Sociologist Dipankar Gupta tweeted on May 26, “SAARC leaders were called to legitimise, and give cover to the invitation to Pakistan and send comforting, positive signals to Indian Muslims.”


In fact, in the first message issued by the new prime minister immediately after taking oath, he talked of “a strong, developed and inclusive India that actively engages with the global community to strengthen the cause of world peace and development”. But that is the most we heard in a cabinet that has the full imprint of the RSS. 

One of the first controversies surrounding the new government is the statement made by Minister of State Jitendra Singh on Jammu and Kashmir and Article 370. The BJP had given a ticket to veterinary surgeon Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, who was accused of participating in the mahapanchayat and giving a provocative speech that led to the Muzaffarnagar riots last year. He has now been made a minister and already the theory that he was framed has begun circulating, like so many others in the past. 

This is not the end, senior police officers accused of being involved in extrajudicial killings and false implications of Muslim youth are being reinstated in Rajasthan and Gujarat already as former Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief Ajit Doval is slated to be National Security Advisor (NSA) to Modi. 

The most surprising was Modi’s choice of Dr Najma Heptullah as the minority affairs minister. To be fair, Heptullah is a doctorate in cardiac anatomy from the University of Denver, and thus educationally most qualified among the cabinet ministers. But that is not why she has been appointed minister, or else she would have been given a meatier portfolio. She is the grand-niece of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and was in the Congress and the Rajya Sabha for a long time. She has always been a political nobody whom the Congress kept in the Upper House, where she later became deputy speaker.

In 2004, when several people were hoping for a comeback of the NDA government, she switched sides apparently after differences with Sonia Gandhi. She had said she had been “humiliated” by the Congress leadership that has “moved away from the ideology of Nehru, Azad, Patel and Gandhi”. One wonders if the party she chose follows their ideology, according to her. Heptullah has been made a minister to reward her decade of loyalty to the party, clearly overlooking two other more vocal Muslim faces, Shahnawaz Hussain, who lost the election, and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. 

In 2006, the then UPA government formed a new ministry of minority affairs that has been assigned the responsibility of implementing minority welfare schemes. Clearly, Heptullah got this portfolio because of her name and because she belongs to a ‘minority’ community. However, immediately after assuming charge, in her first statement as a minister, she says Muslims are numerically too large to be called a minority, a line often taken by the RSS and its associates, though the Constitution too declares Muslims a minority. 

According to the 2001 census (data of religion-based census of 2011 not yet out), Muslims comprise 13.4% of the total population while Hindus are over 80%, and the remaining communities together form just about 6% of India’s population. Compare this to the Tamils in Sri Lanka, where 11.2% of the total population are Sri Lankan Tamils while another 4.2% are Tamils of Indian origin. 74.9% of the people are Sinhalese while the rest comprise other smaller communities including Moors, Malays, etc. Thus, roughly 15.7% of the Sri Lankan population is a minority, for which not only Tamils but even the current PM expressed his concern and urged President Mahinda Rajapaksa to implement the autonomy in spirit. In Bangladesh, with 8.2% of the population, Hindus are the second biggest community, and the third largest in the world after India and Nepal.

Our PM’s heart bleeds for minorities in India’s neighbouring countries so much that he has announced they will get asylum to protect them from persecution. Yet, despite the riots and despite the 2006 Sachar committee report clearly stating that the lot of Muslims is worse than even the Dalits, their representation as a minority is in question.

Heptullah also said on her first day as minister that reservations were not the solution. One may argue on whether communities as a whole deserve reservations, or only the backward amongst them are in need, but what is interesting is that reservation is seen as appeasement only in context of Muslims, not for SC-STs, or OBCs or Kashmiri migrants or when Jats are included in the list of OBCs. 

Another concern has been that several scholarships programmes meant for minority students already appear to be facing a financial crunch, and there are fears they may be stopped altogether. Heptullah also said the PM’s 15 point programme need a revisit. Certainly they do, but in if she attempts to abolish it altogether in an attempt to create a “level playing field”, it will only result in the marginalisation of the minorities, the pet agenda of the RSS.

Now that the new government is here, one hopes that in the 100 days’ programme the ministry of minority affairs would lay out plans to bring the minorities at par with the rest of the population, and only then can there be a truly level playing field. 

M Reyaz is a Delhi-based journalist.He tweets at @journalistreyaz.

Paid News clouds India's election outcomes

George Bush practiced it as well, and the damned right wingers always have the money to blow be it in the United States, India or elsewhere. This is the greatest danger to democracy. Mike Ghouse

Critics say unregulated spending on India's elections is subverting the vote.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/04/paid-news-clouds-india-elections-2014416121619668302.html

Baba Umar Last updated: 21 Apr 2014 09:52

An estimated $5bn will be spent on India's ongoing elections, the most expensive polls in its history [AP]

Last week, India's Election Commission (EC) warned the country's media houses against telecasting or publishing exit polls "by showing them as opinion polls". The announcement came after English-language channel NDTV aired a survey showing nationalist opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies grabbing more than 272 of the 543 parliamentary seats in India's nine-phase national elections. The elections will end on May 12. "In order to maintain level playing field and to ensure free and fair elections, the Commission advises all print and electronic media not to resort to the type of practise as mentioned... which for all practical purpose mean publication of exit poll while claiming that the same is only an opinion poll," the EC said in its statement. NDTV's survey was preceded by an interview with BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on a Hindi channel, India TV. The interview drew the ire of critics, who claimed that India TV is biased in favour of the BJP. The TV station's director of news resigned the following day. India's ruling Congress party has sought stern action against what it alleged was "paid news" and a violation of the Election Commission's guidelines. "The phenomenon of paid news, without hyperbole, has resulted in an insidious subversion of the most fundamental of democratic ideals: the purity of the vote," Paranjoy Singh Thakurta, a journalist and author, told Al Jazeera. "The autonomy of the media is meant to facilitate greater accountability of public personalities and reduce corruption. But when the media itself indulges in corrupt practises, especially during election campaigns, it seriously undermines the processes and structures that are meant to uphold and strengthen democracy," he said. Costliest polls According to various estimates, political parties in the world's largest democracy are pumping about $5bn into vigorous campaigns to lure 814 million voters - a sum second only to the 2012 US presidential polls, in which more than $6bn was spent. According to the New Delhi-based Centre for Media Studies, which follows the election spending, a whopping $4.9bn (Rs 30,000 crore) is being spent on the elections, making it by far the most expensive electoral exercise in India's history. Feature: Poll spending set to boost Indian economy Advertising and media groups, the consumer goods sector and manufacturers of party flags and other campaign paraphernalia are benefiting from the huge spending, which is boosting India's struggling economy. In addition to proposing that "paid news" be made an electoral offence, the Election Commission has also monitored candidates' expenditures. There are caps on how much candidates can spend on campaigning, and the election body has also made it mandatory for political parties and individual candidates to track their expenses on advertising in social media, which will be accounted for in the candidates' total expenditure. Thakurta argues that much of paid news is, however, far less overt. "Subtle and not-so-subtle attempts are made to 'commission' journalists to write articles that favour a particular candidate or discredit his opponent. In the absence of real investigative powers with the Press Council of India (PCI), including powers to conduct search and seizure operations, it is extremely difficult (and often impossible) to track illegal transactions in cash or kind," said Thakurta, who was one of the members of a sub-committee formed by the PCI in 2009 to examine the paid news phenomenon. Media benefits Campaign advertisements in TV, print, radio, and on the internet could see $800m pumped into the advertising sector during India's election season, according to a report by the country's largest local media agency, Madison Media. "One of the major reason for 17 percent growth [in advertising sector] is [ongoing] Lok Sabha elections followed by five state elections [later]," said Sam Balsara, the chairman and managing director of Madison Media, which has been working with the BJP to help the party with media planning and buying for their campaign. Listening Post - Indian media: Choosing sides? "Besides, advertisement campaign on television will fuel rate hike, regional dailies will continue to grow, and phase three roll out of [FM] radio is expected to attract new local advertisers," added Balsara. The Communist Party of India (CPI) recently wrote to the Chief Election Commissioner to ban opinion polls, which it called "paid news", after an undercover operation conducted by a news channel exposed the manipulation of numbers by opinion poll firms. In the past few years, there have been numerous cases involving politicians and corporations spending big money for favourable press coverage. Election guidelines allow candidates to spend up to $116,102 (Rs 70 lakh) on campaigns, but the actual cost is thought to be much higher than the approved sum. To assure voters' support, Indian politicians often bribe voters with cash payouts rolled in newspapers, mobile phone recharges or sometimes alcohol. Election authorities have reportedly seized about $32m from politicians in the past three years during election-related raids. Last month, Election Commissioner HS Brahma said the big money involved in polls is creating an uneven playing field. "The biggest challenge to all of us today is the nexus between the politicians and crime - and secondly, the money power," he said. Corporate donations to politicians is not a new phenomenon. "This is a common practice. It is a quid pro quo deal," said Anil Verma of the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), which monitors election-related activities. In the past eight years, businesses have donated a total of $62m (Rs 378 crore), constituting 87 percent of political parties' contributions from known sources, according to an ADR report. "Also for contributions below $332 (Rs 20,000), the source does not have to be disclosed to tax authorities," Verma said. "This limit should be reduced so that source of any contribution is reflected in the candidate's affidavit to the election commission." He said corporate funding to politicians is a common practice around the world. "But what we are saying is it should be transparent. If it's opaque, there will be obviously doubts."

 

India's experiment with clean politics and preferred election outcome

Years ago, India ranked # 1 on the list of corrupt nations in the world, and today it is not. Despite the economic, social, cultural frictions we have, we are inherently a pluralistic democracy.

The General Elections are going to be held from April 7 through May 12, 2014, and we have several regional and national parties competing for the 543 Parliament seats. There are two major alliances of regional parties;  NDA - National Democratic Alliance with BJP as its anchor, and UPA- United Progressive Alliance with Congress as its anchor. There is a third front is emerging with regional parties and AAP.  It takes 272 Members to form a government.  Currently Congress holds 228 seats and BJP 137, all of this is likely to turn upside down.

Arvind Kejriwal leads a brand new Party called AAP -Aam Aadmi Party, and his party will be competing with two well organized established parties – Narendra Modi leads the BJP – Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian version Republicans) and Rahul Gandhi heads the INC- Indian National Congress (Democrat equivalent).

You may differ, but my personal choice is for no party to win the majority. A coalition government would be much better, as it compels them to be watching each other, decisions will be made by issue and not party line. It will also lend to greater debates on the issues. Unlike the US, if the coalition government does not perform, it can be brought down with a no confidence vote.

Arvind Kejriwal – no experience in governance, nor does he have an established system to carry the Party – the AAP; Aam Aadmi Party – common man’s party. But he is good for India. He wants to run a clean corruption free government. My worry is simply this –what if he is killed by the same party that killed Mahatma Gandhi, does he have an established system to carry the party forward without him? Is the manifesto written up?

Arvind is a good guy – at least corruption will be checked, but we need to make sure, he has systems in place to carry the business of governance.

The man leading the BJP plank is Narendra Modi, who needs lessons in history, biology, math and society, he is making blunders upon blunders. His popularity sounds like Ted Cruz's but not sure if it is managed or real. He is not an inclusive man and does not seem to believe in freedom. His state is one of the few where Christians, Dalits and Muslims are harassed, people do not have the freedom to choose their faith.

In the last two months he has worn over 25 different style hats in every town he visits, but refused to wear a hat given by Muslims – Under his watch nearly 1200 people were massacred while he did not stop the mayhem, 20,000 People are still living in wretched camps displaced by the massacres. To this day, he has not expressed remorse or regret for the deaths, just like George Bush has not done it yet. He promises prosperity and development, and is compared to Hitler, who promised and delivered prosperity to Germans at the cost of Jews and others, at the end nothing survived. If he does not care for social structure, all that development will not be sustainable.

Rahul Gandhi on the other hand represents the INC – it appears that he does not want to fight to win, nor does he have the experience. The only thing going for him is the party machinery which is well established. He lacks experience and does not have guts to run the largest government in the world.

Again, no one should be given a free hand, let there be a coalition government, let them learn to work with each other and deliver prosperity without hurting the social structure. A cohesive India is the way to go, a prosperous India without cohesiveness is doomed, the disparities may give birth to communism - to rip from the over night rich to give it to the depressed ones.

A COHESIVE INDIA

An Indian is an Indian is an Indian, period. We are Adivasis, Atheists, Bahá'ís, Bos, Buddhists, Christians, Dalits, Hindus, Jains, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Tribals, Zoroastrians and every possible grouping. We are Brown, Black, White, Yellow and green with envy and phir bhi dil hai Hindustani . Every Indian must be free to eat, drink, wear, speak or believe whatever he or she wants to believe, as long as others freedom is not robbed.

Each one of us is responsible for building a cohesive India, where no Indian has to live in apprehension, discomfort or fear of the other. Everyday, we need to ask ourselves, do my words, acts and thoughts mitigate conflicts and nurture goodwill? This is patriotism!

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• URL: http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2014/03/indias-experiment-with-clean-politics.html

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Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism, politics, peace, Islam, Israel, India, interfaith, and cohesion at work place. He is committed to building a Cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day at www.TheGhousediary.com. He believes in Standing up for others and a book with the same title is coming up. Mike has a strong presence on national and local TV, Radio and Print Media. He is a frequent guest on Sean Hannity show on Fox TV, and a commentator on national radio networks, he contributes weekly to the Texas Faith Column at Dallas Morning News; fortnightly at Huffington post; and several other periodicals across the world. His personal site www.MikeGhouse.net indexes all his work through many links.

Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi, you and I.

The purpose of writing this note is for us to be conscious of the fact that, we will be redefining a lot of things. 

We were formed as a Secular democracy; however, we have been an exemplary inclusive democracy. Politically, India has evolved into a two party system. Unlike the clear two dominant parties in the United States,  India coalesces regional and national parties into two major coalitions; the National Democratic Alliance with Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) as its anchor, and the United Progressive Alliance with Indian National Congress (INC) as the anchor.

Loyalty to our Nation.

For almost first half of post independent India, there was literally one party rule. If you were not with the Indian National Congress then you were less than loyal to the nation. Then came a period, where BJP ruled the nation and anyone who criticized the Government-in-essence-BJP, they were considered traitors or less than loyal to India, and it went both ways.

I hope we have come to a point where loyalty to the party will not be equated with loyalty to the nation. We need to remember that neither BJP nor Congress represents more than half of the nation now.  And we will go beyond our regional or religious affiliations in our discussions. It will be one Indian’s take against the other Indian’s take and we will do our best, for the sake of civility to not slap region or religion to it.  

Let me put it the way Jesus had explained– condemn the sin and not the sinner. i.e., you and I can disagree with our takes, but not dislike each other personally. The same great ideal is in Bhagvad Gita, Quran and other holy books; we just need to practice it. 

In simple words, I may not like your support for Rahul Gandhi or Narendra Modi, but I will not dislike you at all, and nor will I hold that against you. Can we do that?

The dirt that will be thrown at each other will be for political gains of the party you support. If Khalid Azam and Niranjan Patel disagree on something, it will be a civil dialogue and nothing personal. I would also hope that we have matured enough to discuss or challenge the facts, rather than just say – what do you expect from …?  

At Dallas Indians, a 1725 member forum, we have seen ups and downs, and I hope to see civility in our conversation. I am sure we can, after all, we the Indians claim to be a civil people. 

The forum is moderated to eliminate ads, and to keep the focus on the topic at hand instead of jumping around. To join the forum, simply send an email to DallasIndians-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

As a moderator of the forum, I want to assure you, that I am free from any prejudice towards any human, let alone a fellow Indian. Meaning, if I you see you in a party, my blood will not boil, nor will I lean over my friend and whisper bad things about you in his or her ears. My disagreement with you does not become the source of disliking you.

My book "Standing up for others" is being released by the end of this month. I simply ask you this - if any one on our forum, jumps on an individual's region or religion, we all need to speak up. We are all Indians and nothing but Indians.

Jai Hind

Mike Ghouse for India
http://www.MikeGhouseforIndia.Blogspot.com 

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Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism, politics, peace, Islam, Israel, India, interfaith, and cohesion at work place. He is committed to building a Cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day at www.TheGhousediary.com. He believes in Standing up for others and a book with the same title is coming up. Mike has a strong presence on national and local TV, Radio and Print Media. He is a frequent guest onSean Hannity show on Fox TV, and a commentator on national radio networks, he contributes weekly to the Texas Faith Column at Dallas Morning News; fortnightly at Huffington post; and several other periodicals across the world. His personal site www.MikeGhouse.net indexes all his work through many links.