Around 40% to 50% of Indian Population comes under “depressed class”, “deprived community” or Other Backward Class (OBC), Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST). Vishwanath Pratap Singh, the 8th Prime Minister of the Republic of India implemented the recommendations of the Mandal Commission which suggested that a fixed quota of all jobs in the public sector be reserved for members of the historically disadvantaged so-called Other BackwardClasses. This decision led to widespread protests among the youth in urban areas in North India. This was way back in 1990, couple of years after Babri Masjid was demolished by 150,000 activists, comprising of various organizations, during a planned ceremony on December 6, 1992 despite a commitment to the Indian Supreme Court that the mosque would not be harmed. This incident was followed by riots all over India and Bombay Bomb Blasts in which several thousands innocents lost their life. Communal riots were not new to India, it used to happen in Mughal and British era too, but blasts were something new at that time.
44 years before this incident, another great tragedy occurred when the champion of non-violence Mahatma Gandhi, was shot three times at close range with a Beretta semi-automatic pistol, he died on the spot at the age of 78. Next year he had plans to travel to Pakistan which was divided from India a year ago at the time of Independence from British Empire. Pakistan’s founder Mohd. Ali Jinnah walked away with his piece of cake creating a whole new chapter of variance in the Indian Sub-Continent. In undivided India, Muslim strength laid about 100 million. Partition split up the Muslim people, confining them to the three isolated regions. After Partition, Muslims numbered 25 million in Western Pakistan (Pakistan), 35 million to 40 million in India, and the rest in Eastern Pakistan (Bangladesh). A single undivided community has been broken into three fragments, each faced with its own problems. Aftermaths of partition are well known; more than 10 million people were displaced in this pre-independence dispute between Indian National Congress and Muslim League or in a larger term the Hindu-Muslim conflict.
The conflict can be traced back to more than 1000 years ago when 17-year-old Arab chieftain named Muhammad bin Qasim in his third expedition defeated Raja Dahir, the last Hindu ruler of Sindh and parts of Punjab in modern day Pakistan. The conquest of Sindh and Punjab began the Islamic era in South Asia and today Muslim population is more in this region in comparison to Arab states. This was the part of Muslim conquests (632–732) also referred to as the Islamic conquests, Jihad, or Arab conquests, began after the death of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him). Umayyad Caliphates saw a century of rapid expansion of Muslim power well beyond the Arabian Peninsula in the form of a vast Muslim Empire with an area of influence that stretched from northwest India, across central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, southern Italy, and the Iberian Peninsula, to the Pyrenees. This was followed by Crusades and hundreds of years of rivalry between Muslims, Jews and Christians, which continues till date.
The modern era saw the rise of three powerful Muslim empires: the Ottoman Empire of the Middle East and Europe, the Safavid Empire of Persia and Central Asia, and the Mughal Empire of India; along with their contest and fall to the rise of the colonial powers of Europe. The Mughal Empire declined in 1707 after the death of Aurangzeb and was officially abolished by the British after the First war of Indian Independence in 1857. The Safavid Empire ended with the death of its last ruler Ismail III in 1760. The last surviving Muslim empire, the Ottoman Empire, collapsed in 1918 in the aftermath of World War I. On March 3, 1924, the institution of the Caliphate was constitutionally abolished by the then Turkish President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk as part of his reforms.
The fate of Muslim domination of more than 1000 years was somehow similar to the Roman Empire at the time of rise of the Church. Like Greek Empire, established by Alexander the Great, vanished in 300 years, which was conquered by him in just 13 years. Akin to British Empire, at its height it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. At the peak of its power, it was often said that “the sun never sets on the British Empire” because its span across the globe ensured that the sun was always shining on at least one of its numerous territories.
If we want to fight for what went wrong in history then there will be no end to the conflict. We have to remember it was a ‘Jungle Law’ at that time, who uses to win, wrote the history. Now, we are living in a much free and civilized world. We cannot afford to get accustomed to historical errors; we have to learn lessons from previous mistakes.
In Lebanon, a Christian Orthodox goes to a doctor of his own cast, a Sunni Muslim searches for a lawyer from his community, a Shia Muslim votes for a candidate of his sect. Women in Saudi Arabia cannot participate in sports activities, drive car and go for shopping alone. Before, entering in Iran every woman has to wear a head scarf. Israel forgets Holocaust when they massacre Palestinians, Taliban is showing its cruelty on Muslims and other minorities in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Russians slaughtered Chechens, China is tormenting Tibetans and considers Nobel Prize winner Dalai Lama a national threat. In Zimbabwe, Black majority is hostile towards their white countrymen, Western Nations are banning the use of veil by Muslim women and turban for Sikhs, America and Britain are making stringent laws as they don’t want any more immigrants, Indian Students are facing racial problems in Australia.
Why an American or a British citizen gets a Visa on arrival in Middle East and other nationalities have to apply for a visa? Why only Asians are frisked at European and American Airports? Why a Muslim boy cannot keep beard and a Muslim girl cannot wear a veil in school? How long we’ll follow the policy of discrimination against weaker section of the society?
Coming back to India, one of the greatest Emperors, Ashoka the Great (304 BC – 232 BC) converted to Buddhism after the scene of carnage he witnessed in Kalinga war and gave the message of peace and harmony in Central Asia. As a King, he was a pioneer of propagating Ahimsa – the Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain philosophy of revering all life and refraining from harm to any living thing. The founder of Buddhism, Siddhartha Gautama or Buddha (563 BC to 483 BC) himself a born Hindu Brahmin, questioned caste system and containment of spiritual knowledge to upper caste only. This revolutionary thought took more than 2500 years before equal opportunity was given to all in the form of democracy to Indians.
The country cannot be appreciated only on economic growth; social development is part of the overall development. Indian society is part of Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Jews, etc. India is a secular democracy with a promise of religious freedom in our constitution and we cannot impose identity of the majority section of the society on others. If we take out veil of a Muslim girl today then tomorrow they will ask for a Sikh’s turban, a Jain’s beliefs, a Nun’s veil, a Parsi’s wish for Tower of Silence, a Hindu’s rituals, a Man’s Moustache, a girl’s Dupatta, a brother’s Rakhi, a worshiper’s faith and an honest man’s honesty. We don’t want India to be like China, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Russia, Zimbabwe, Lebanon, Australia, etc. and make anyone deprived of their social and religious rights.
India is a land of peace, harmony, freedom, knowledge and spirituality. Collectively, we have to work together for social development of the deprived classes. Our main enemy is poverty, corruption, terrorism, illiteracy, unemployment, child labour, dowry, etc. We should not forget that still half of our population is below the poverty line.
As they say that History repeats itself. Do we really want History to repeat itself once again?
“Delusion arises from anger. The mind is bewildered by delusion. Reasoning is destroyed when the mind is bewildered. One falls down when reasoning is destroyed.” – Bhagwad Gita
Source:
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
The Last Mughal by William Dalrymple
The Wonder That was India – Volume II by S.A.A. Rizvi
Memorandum submitted by Muslim leaders of India to UN Representative: 14 August 1951
Sachar Committee report
SC/ST Population
Article in Time Magazine – Today’s Nun Has A Veil–And A Blog
The Greek Empire
CIA – The World Fact Book
World Population Estimate
Wikipedia: Reservation in India, Gautama Buddha, Ashoka the Great, British Empire, Muslim conquests, Crusades, Muhammad bin Qasim, Raja Dahir, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Babri Mosque and Tower of Silence.