JOIN US'Muslims are entitled to full-fledged schools, not madarsas'
Apart from being a leading historian, Professor Emeritus of Aligarh Muslim University Irfan Habib is also an active member of the Left movement. He speaks to Shruba Mukherjee of the Deccan Herald on various issues ranging from Muslim politics to the Madarsa system of education. Excerpts:
How come the Muslims trust Kalyan Singh, who was once known as the “Mascot of Hindutva” in getting votes for them in Aligarh?
Whom should they trust? Manmohan Singh, Rajiv Gandhi, Narasimha Rao? And Kalyan Singh does not have that image of a villain like Advani or any RSS leader has. Singh, however, has never been identified with any communal riot. Initially the Muslims were not sure whether they should go for the BSP or for the Congress as keeping the BJP at bay was the utmost priority. But ever since Kalyan Singh started consolidating Lodha votes in favour of SP candidate Zafar Alam, the minority community now has a definite choice.
Moreover, Muslims still very highly think about Mulayam Singh because of his two initiatives. First, it goes to the credit of the SP government to recruit Muslim police constables in large numbers, even though the majority of them got sacked by the subsequent BSP government. Secondly, Mulayam Singh as chief minister had recruited several Urdu teachers in Hindi-medium schools. Muslims do remember these initiatives and are grateful to the party.
Why do you think Aligarh has never sent a Muslim to Parliament since 1957 when the Congress member Jamal Khwaja got elected from here?
A Muslim candidate was not able to get a vote from other communities. In the city only 30 per cent of the voters are Muslims and in the villages it is much less. The numbers are not favourable for them to win elections.
Do you think a Muslim vote bank exists?
It would not have existed if the Muslims were not targeted. The RSS created the fear of Muslim vote bank by targeting them. But look at the government also, where is the requisite affirmative action? What is the percentage of Muslim employees even in the Public Sector Units? government is indifferent to the plight of the Muslims. Even this so-called policy of strengthening the Madarsa system of education is a way of cheating the Muslims.
Why do you think so?
Muslims are entitled to full-fledged schools, not Madarsas. The government engages two teachers with minimum pay for Madarsas and claims that it has taken care of minority children. But the government is doing it with a purpose, as engaging Urdu teachers in full-fledged schools or setting up more schools in Muslim-dominated areas will be far more expensive than just doling out a few thousand rupees for the Madarsas. The government should not spend a single penny for the madarsas and let them be as they are. Instead there should be more schools where a Muslim boy can sit with his Hindu classmate and learn what every other child of his age is learning elsewhere. Only then this exclusion, this ghettoisation of the Muslims will come to an end.
Do you think that Muslim leaders have done their job in highlighting the issues of the community?
By its very designation, the term Muslim leadership is very unfortunate. It should be the people, not a handful of individuals raising issues and launching struggles. And why should only Muslim leaders raise issues relating to the community? Why are issues affecting the Muslims, education, employment and opportunity, should not be the concern of non-Muslims too? These are the issues of national importance and these should be supported by all.
Separate Muslim political parties would be all the more unfortunate. There have been attempts to set up political parties for Muslims, but such efforts have never succeeded. This shows the maturity of Muslim voters in this country.
Why have the Left parties failed to increase their presence in the cow belt or the Hindi heartland?
That is not the fault of the people of this region, it is our fault. The Left parties could not initiate effective movements here with which people could relate to. It is not that there is a dearth of issues here. Recently, from one factory here in UP about 1200 workers were dismissed. There are frequent reports of provident fund money not being paid, minimum wage rules blatantly violated, but have you seen any MP asking any questions in Parliament. When Suhasini Ali was a MP, she used to take up issues from the Hindi heartland, because she was from here. But after that other members are too busy with their constituencies and thus have no time to question the injustice to which people here are subjected to. The Left parties do not even have a publication in Hindi, which could have been an effective tool in shaping public opinion.