Author: Zia Haq
Publication: Hindustan Times
Date: November 4, 2008
URL: http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=IndiaSectionPage&id=e55106fe-ff68-4441-a2c9-b596b1488190&
As another general election approaches, the
politics of Muslim disenchantment is playing out fascinatingly.
In Delhi, a coalition of Muslim organisations
called the Coordination Committee of Indian Muslims (CCIM), formed to protest
the Batla House shootout on September 19, is now scrambling for political
space, trying to attract Muslim support from across the country and become
a hub around which parties opposed to both the BJP and the Congress can coalesce.
The coalition includes the Jamaat-e-Islami
Hind, an avowedly 'Islamist' outfit, whose objective, at least theoretically,
has been the creation of a Dar ul Islam or just Islamic state. How can it
come together with mainstream parties, including the CPI and the CPM? In earlier
times, its extreme ideology had kept it away from even the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind,
a more centrist Muslim organisation.
Now there are whispers within the Jamaat that
it should draw inspirations from its Bangladeshi counterpart, which amended
its constitution to enter electoral politics.
"I am not sure if the Jamaat can offer
a credible political option for Muslims. But its activist attitude seems to
be in a positive direction in promoting its image," says Arshi Khan,
reader, political science, Aligarh Muslim University.
And how come mainstream parties are responding
to the Jamaat-e-Islami's overtures? "If the Jamaat is changing its ideas
and working towards constitutional compliance in view of newer realities,
we must recognise that change," said Atul Kumar Anjaan, CPI national
secretary.
Unlike Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, its counterpart
in India has been less intertwined with harsh fundamentalist forces like the
Taliban. "It may not be nationalist in cultural terms, but it is not
anti-national," said Khan.
By harping on Muslim disillusionment, the
Jamaat has so far been able to paper over its differences with other organisations,
including other Muslim ones.
Once you talk about harassment of Muslims,
which Muslim can criticise you? But for how long?
