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Introduction: Muslim Indians have taken note of the jubilation in the sangh parivar at the projection of Kalam as a Ram Bhakta. That explains the eloquent silence among Muslims: there’s no euphoria nor even cheers. No reputed Muslim organisation, no institution of eminence, no community leader of significance has welcomed his nomination
The nomination of Dr A P J Abdul Kalam for the highest post of the Indian Republic raises many questions. Some are being openly asked; some are being whispered and others remain unarticulated in the dark recesses of the mind.
That Kalam is an eminent scientist and a distinguished technocrat is universally accepted. In public perception, he’s the father of the nuclear bomb and of missiles. His simplicity, modesty, commitment and integrity are beyond question. But are these qualities of head and heart taken together with his bundle of achievements adequate for the Presidency? Can he unravel the intricacies of the Constitution and comprehend the complications of national politics and complexities of a plural society?
Politically, Kalam is a blank page, a babe in the woods. He has never shown any interest in politics nor has he any experience of international diplomacy. In his public pronouncements, such as they are, he has only reiterated the universally accepted dictum that technology is development.
Kalam’s philosophy of development is shallow and flat. With all his technological achievements and management skills, his intellectual horizon is limited. His political sagacity and social concern remain to be tested. At this stage he can only be termed as inadequate. But he promises to learn.
The first question is, why was Kalam chosen by Prime Minister Vajpayee? He played his cards very well and shot quite a few birds with one stone. First and foremost, in view of the genocide in Gujarat and the blatant callousness towards the victims displayed by ‘‘Chhota Sardar’’ Narendra Modi, Vajpayee urgently needed to make a gesture which would not only cover up Gujarat’s horrendous record but also camouflage his party’s basic anti-Muslim ideology and politics.
Perhaps, Vajpayee is even more far-sighted. The choice is actually to cover up the many Gujarats the sangh parivar may be planning to stage all over the country in their bid for power. For this, the parivar needs a pliable President who would listen to the prime minister respectfully, have no views of his own, and sign on the dotted line.
Secondly, in one masterstroke, Vajpayee has depoliticised the presidency and militarised the polity. He has projected a person who is essentially apolitical but whose personal philosophy endorses the RSS’s militaristic vision of India.
A consistent line of the sangh parivar’s propaganda has been that by virtue of its size, population and history, India has the right to be recognised by the neighbours in the global village as the supreme arbiter of regional affairs. It is indeed the Bomb and the Missile which have endeared Kalam to the rightist lobby. That lobby is now in power and has nominated him. The Sangh Parivar has now found an exceptionally committed conductor for its orchestra of jingoism and chauvinism.
Finally, Vajpayee wanted to confuse and divide the secular opposition. In that he has succeeded but he has also placated the Sangh Parivar and thus restored the inner harmony between the Raja and the Dharmaguru.
Since the credit for suggesting the name of Kalam is being claimed by TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu, the nomination has also cemented the shaky structure of the NDA.
The second question, why did the Congress chose to become the BJP’s camp follower and supported the nomination?
If Vajpayee’s motive was to deceive the world, the Congress’s motive was to please the Muslims. It is said that senior Congress leaders advised Sonia Gandhi that for electoral reasons, it had no option but to support a Muslim candidate. But the Congress had the option of fielding a more adequate Muslim or non-Muslim candidate and exposing the game of the Sangh Parivar.
The Congress hasn’t, it appears, updated its knowledge of the Muslim mind. It doesn’t realise that Muslim Indians have matured. They have seen through form without substance, rhetoric without meaning, embrace without sincerity.
Religious minorities are no longer satisfied with physical protection; in fact they are getting used to carnages and take them in their stride. They demand a share of power, of the fruits of development and the benefits of welfare. They want due representation in the political and administrative structure. Their level of consciousness has risen.
Secularism can no longer be played by the old rules of the game. Now, the position is that the foremost secular party is supporting the candidate of the Sangh Parivar and that too without any gratitude from the candidate. The first proposer and the subsequent supporter can never be equal in the eyes of the people.
Muslim Indians fully understand the Sangh Parivar’s game.
They have taken note of the jubilation in that quarter and the projection of Kalam as a Ram Bhakta, as a role model for the Muslim Indians, and as a ‘‘nationalist, patriotic Muslim’’—as if the entire community was anti-national or unpatriotic.
They are, therefore, clear in their mind that Vajpayee has nominated not an Indian Muslim, or even a Muslim Indian, but a ‘Mohammadi Hindu’, to use the phrase coined by Murli Manohar Joshi.
This explains the eloquent and resounding silence on Muslim streets. There is no euphoria, but one does not even hear any cheers. No Muslim organisation of repute, no Muslim institution of eminence, no community leader of significance has come out to welcome the nomination.
But it is not at all surprising because Kalam appears to have deliberately avoided associating himself with any Muslim cause, or even sharing the agony of the community at any moment of distress even at the humanist level.
That he is not a practising Muslim is understandable. That is a matter between him and the Creator. The fact is, Kalam does not connect himself with the community despite the fact of his birth in a Muslim family. This is a serious and unforgivable lacuna.
A senior Congress leader C K Jaffer Sharief indeed advised Kalam after he was nominated by the BJP that in view of the Gujarat carnage, he should refuse its nomination. But that was before his party took the plunge and decided to nominate him!
Grateful as Kalam is likely to be to the sangh parivar, he has already isolated himself from the secular mainstream and closetted himself with the Muslim- baiters. One wishes that once elected, he shall not behave as a creation of the sangh parivar but emerge as the President of all Indians, as the conscience of the people and as the custodian of the Constitution, who upholds the principles of equality and justice and is committed to democracy, secularism and sarvodaya.
(The writer is convener of the Babri
Masjid Coordination Committee)
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