Professor Mohammad Sajjad teaches history at the Centre of Advanced Study in History, Aligarh Muslim University. You can e-mail the author at Sajjad.history@gmail.com
'The BJP politics of appropriating icons from its ideological adversaries could only be a desperate attempt to extend the Jat-Muslim divide in Uttar Pradesh. Why this desperation when it can comfortably get votes on the plank of economic development?'
While the row over allowing women into the AMU library has been wrongly portrayed, it does not mean gender biases are non-existent in AMU. The campus does have its own shares of all kinds of cultural and ideological prejudices prevalent in the world outside. The AMU campus is not a segregated island, says Mohammad Sajjad.
The 'secularists'are more adept at the politics of intense and alarmingly exaggerated fear-mongering, as this kind of politics provides easy votes of Muslims without making them answerable for the concrete issues of poverty, unemployment, lawlessness, and of basic needs like roads, electricity, etc, which is exactly how Nitish Kumar was defeated in the elections, says Mohammad Sajjad.
'It is precisely because of the apprehensions about Lalu's revival that the upper castes have started re-thinking their electoral preferences. Out of confusion, they are simply deciding to vote for winnable candidates from their respective castes of any of the three parties -- the BJP, JD-U or RJD. This is what has considerably neutralised the NaMo wave in Bihar and resulted in Nitin Gadkari's remark that "Caste is in the DNA of Biharis". This is why Giriraj Singh, the BJP candidate from Nawada, made provocative statements,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
'Why do sections of Muslims seem to prefer Lalu and Mulayam who symbolise wilful neglect of governance and development? In this election, secularism is less at stake. What is more at stake is the degenerative, cynical, opportunistic, and discredit-worthy misuse of secularism by the non-BJP leaders and their social constituencies,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
India's secular democracy remains mortgaged to rabid communal politics. Quite clearly, the bloodshed by the religious communities is absolutely political. Even non-BJP political formations have their own Narendra Modis, says Mohammad Sajjad.
Muslim youth are neither meant for being indoctrinated and hired by any destructive foreign agency like the ISI, nor are they meant for being fired by their own security agencies, says Mohammad Sajjad.
The urge of democratisation among the Muslim communities remains unaddressed by these emerging Muslim outfits. Do they wish to pursue the emotive identity politics of religious exclusivism which may degenerate into the politics of religious reaction, asks Mohammad Sajjad.
'People's expectations are so high that they won't wait for long. They won't tolerate any delay in pushing ahead development work at the fastest possible pace.'
'Mere communal-secular binary of political rhetoric will hardly help the Congress to attract enough votes to get power.'
The community constitutes about 16.5 percent of the total electorate. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, aware of the figure, has been vocal in his opposition to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi campaigning in the state... For all its backward mien, Bihar has a very high political consciousness and a reason for the paradox is politics is the sole arbiter of fate in this state. And Muslims are no exception.
The military-bureaucratic dominance is a menacing reality in Pakistan, as a result of which the nation is unable to build a vibrant democracy.
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