The new Prime Minister took oath of the Office
raising hopes and expectations in the minds of the common man. The ruling party
is supported by the traditional conservative forces who want India become a true Hindu State.
The philosophies ruling the Political Parties
have direct impact on the lives of the downtrodden and socially deprived
sections of the society. When these philosophies are governed by the religious
myths and policies, the results are usually unforeseen. The implementation of
such Policies is governed by the socially acceptable and widely practiced
written constitutions of the country. If we find new kinds of rightist
extremism it is basically due to the mutually divert viewpoints of how a
country is governed vis a vis how it is being governed.
The point of consideration here is how well is
the Ministry of Minorities Affairs (MMA
) being managed by the present Government of India. Even when the Minister of MMA has a rich background of education , Parliamentary
democracies and a World wide experience in Governance and has some exemplary
work to her credit when it comes to empowerment of women in India. However,
as a Minister of Minorities Affairs she faces three major challenges .
First is how to bridge the widening gap of
indifference between the Muslim Minorities and the Governments.
Muslims are the major among the religious minorities in India. Muslims
have built upon the Minority status through the Religious Schools called Madarsa
with Urdu, Arabic and Persian cultural and linguistic background. These
institutions are usually managed by religious scholars and philanthropists who
are sometimes not governed by any group/ NGOs/ Trusts / Religious bodies. These
Madarsas shape the Muslim psyche with the basic education in Islam
provided to children who generally come from poorer and destitute sections of
Muslim communities. These Heads of the Religious Institutions have major
difficulty in striking a level of common understanding with the local
governments and the rules and regulations related to their Institutions. They
do not want “interferences” in their Institutions by the State machinery. Since
she comes from the sophisticated class of Muslims, it is a challenge for her to
communicate with these religious heads of Muslim Institutions. It becomes more
difficult when these Institutions are dominated by Male, Sharia and not
dependent on Government funds.
The concept of veil (Purdah) for women in
general, Haram and halal of the Government Funding and the
rejection on the money given by non-Muslims make the participation of such
religious Institution for the Minister.
Secondly, the Minority status of Muslims is
challenged repeatedly by the social organisations working , in tandem, with the
ruling political parties.
The concept of who is “Hindu” is one such myth generated time
and again to question the existence of Muslims in India. I agree that this is a
Secular country with a name of India
, that is Bharat than why is this not respected by the majority residing here?
The Minister faces the challenge of how should Muslims be looked at ?
The poor
allocation of Budgetary-funds to her Ministry,
rescheduling of previous Government’s Schemes by giving them to other
Ministries and no full- time engagements with the Minorities of India makes the
Ministry of Minority Affairs outdated and slowly , redundant. Same is the
situation with the most of the Commission for Minorities, The Wakf
Board and the Boards made for promotion of Urdu language at the State level
where the political persons are elected / nominated by the ruling Political
parties to push forward their agenda of mainly suppressing minorities.
Thirdly, and more importantly, where , how and when will she
generate jobs for the Unemployed Muslim Youth ?
Her Ministry faces
an uphill task of generating goodwill among the MNCs, homegrown big
Industrialists and potential job-givers and also creates more number of jobs in
the Government sector. We have not seen much change after Sachchar Committee’s recommendations to provide more number of jobs
for the Muslims. I do not expect there would be a noticeable shift from what
UPA2 has done and what this Government will do. She also faces an imminent
challenge of how to wean the youths away from the attraction of Armed struggle
under the banners of ISIL / IS , as is being seen in the Gulf.
These can only be achieved by a pro-active
Minister not an aloof-personality, cocooned in her own little world, bound by
imaginary “Hindi” belief-system.
Tagged : #Islam , #Sachchar ; #India, #Muslim ,
#UPA ; #NDA , #India , #Gulf, #Minorities , #haram , #Sharia, #Halal,
