This note is about the phenomenon of ‘victim-hood’ and ‘fear’ amongst Indian Muslims and the need for groups such as the Indian Muslims for Progress And Reform (IMPAR).
There is also much to be said about Hindus, Sikhs etc. on this topic, but let us focus on one thing at a time.
Phobias are counterproductive:
Very few of us realize that when we give in to our fears, anxieties and phobias, we give up whatever power to improve ourselves that we had. Such thoughts, expectedly, lead to a feeling of helplessness. However, in some cases, counter-intuitively, they can also lead to random violence.
This violence is a reaction – as if something inside us is trying to fight our feeling of frustration born of powerlessness and irrationally insisting, regardless of the nagging doubts in our minds, that we are still powerful. We also hope that such violence will convey to others that we still have power. ‘We will show them’ is the underlying narrative playing in such minds.
Does this violence restore our sense of power? If it did, we would not keep seeing such violence again and again. That we see this happening is proof that such violence is just an outburst – a temporary outlet at best – and our fears keep nagging inside us, often ably fed by some Hindu and Muslim leaders.
The Discourse:
During the anti-CAA riots in Delhi, I saw two kinds of messages from influential Muslims on twitter. These people have hundreds of thousands of followers who liked their tweets and / or re-tweeted these. The messages essentially said:
1. Indian Muslims are being victimized. In support of their contention, these tweeters cited videos of some extremist Hindus. They also repeatedly highlighted cases of ‘lynching’ of Muslim men by Hindus.
2. The Fear is gone: Once the violence started, one very respected Muslim lady gleefully tweeted: ‘One good thing has happened. Ab dar nikal gaya’ – the fear is gone.
Were either of the above statements true and did they deserve to get the exposure that they did? Also, what were the consequences?
Firstly, are Indian Muslims being victimized? Yes, some Hindus tend to view Muslims as ‘the Other’. However, this feeling is mutual. Many Muslims, too, view Hindus as ‘the Other’. Neither should feel victimized because of this.
Yes, there have been some dismaying incidents of Muslims getting killed by Hindu mobs. Then, there have also been incidents of Hindus being killed by Muslims. Those purveying the discourse of victimhood of Muslims choose to ignore the latter and exaggerate the former. When someone points this out he is accused of ‘whataboutery’.
Secondly, was it a ‘good thing’ that Muslims became violent? No, as we see from the consequences, it did not improve the image of Indian Muslims. It only made them appear to be violence-prone and irresponsible.
Did their violence at least remove their ‘fear’? No it did not, otherwise we would have read tweets about how Indian Muslims have become more empowered now. Instead, we again read tweets about how Indian Muslims are being victimized. The see-saw has moved to its previous position, perhaps till the next round of violence.
Consequences:
The above has consequences for the mindset of both Hindus and Muslims. In both cases, these consequences are not good for their own communities and for India. However, as we are discussing the Muslim mindset here, let us focus on that.
When leaders of the Muslim community keep pointing fingers at others, they forget to remember that change, if any, must come from inside. No one outside their community can help change the lot of Indian Muslims. When the mind keeps repeating, “we are disadvantaged because we are being victimized by the Hindus / Government etc.’ it gives an excuse to the mind to feel that others are responsible and that others should do something to improve things. “There’s nothing we can do to improve our lot. We are victims’ become the theme to which such a mind dances.
This is like a healthy man who is convinced that he cannot stand and has become confined to his wheelchair. His leaders do not encourage him to stand and keep telling him repeatedly that he is an invalid because Hindus have made him so. He believes his leaders and never tries to stand.
Another parallel is the elephant that has been tied with a small rope when young. He tried to break it but could not. Even when he grows old and strong, the same small rope keeps holding him captive. He can uproot huge trees but he cannot break free of this small rope to do so.
This wheel chair and rope are made of the discourse of victimhood and amongst Indian Muslims.
Indian Muslims can do amazing things and have done so:
Fortunately, there are some Muslims who do not believe their leaders. They are free of the wheel chair and the rope. They not only stand up but soar high above the general population, even if they grew up under trying circumstances.
Bharat Ratna APJ Abdul Kalam is just one such example. Azim Hashim Premji, the Chairman of Wipro, Yusuf Hamied, the Chairman of CIPLA and Mohammad Arif Khan are some of the others. Then there are so many artistes – Madhubala, A.R. Rahman, Mohammad Rafi, Ustad Alla Rakha Quereshi, Ustad Zakir Hussain, the long list of famous Muslim actors, sportspersons like Sania Mirza and so many others who have made India proud. Let us not forget brave soldiers like Abdul Hamid PVC and others, who have laid down their lives for India.
These people did not wallow in their ‘victimhood’. They felt the same spark inside themselves as their illustrious Hindu compatriots and they made their lives equally luminous. If they could do this, others can, too.
Two disappointing real life cases:
Some years back I started a program to identify and nurture underprivileged high IQ children. We call them Mensa Dhruv Scholars. Those who have an IQ of 130 or above are selected through a standardized IQ test. They are then nurtured and supported till they graduate.
We conducted this test in very poor quality schools, including some roadside ones. We have discovered a number of very gifted children who are Muslims.
These scholars – both Hindu and Muslim – come from underprivileged backgrounds and are the first generation learners. We find that the Muslim scholars perform as well as their Hindu classmates and sometimes even better than most. Their behavior in school is that of a typical student. Some of them work part-time to help their families. They discuss their career plans and hopes and ambitions with us like any other student. I have not heard them commenting that anyone is a victim.
I have mentioned the above to point out the following:
1. Genius can be found everywhere, even in the slums and in people of any religion. We found that the percentage of high IQ Muslim children was the same amongst Hindu and Muslim candidates. These gifted Muslim children can achieve the same high life goals as their gifted Hindu classmates if their mind is not paralyzed by the wrong discourse.
2. There have been two noteworthy exceptions. It is instructive to see where the blame lies. Let us call them Amin and Rukshana. As it happened, both placed in the 99+ percentile in our standardized IQ test. This implies a genius level IQ of above 145 on the Cattell scale.
Amin was studying in an Ashram school in Rishikesh where we have 24 other scholars. He started hanging out with some undesirable children from his neighborhood. He was caught with drugs twice near the school and was cautioned and let off after I intervened. I spoke to him and he promised not to repeat this. I spoke to his father, too, and informed him of how Amin is wasting his genius. He promised that Amin will improve. Unfortunately, when he was found involved in an illegal activity inside his school again, the school decided to remove him.
I spoke to Amin’s father and explained what had happened to him. The father’s first response was, “We are Muslims and the Ashram school does not like Amin”. I pointed out that there are many other Muslim students studying there, including Amin’s younger brother. I also told him that such an attitude will spoil his life and that of his sons. The school give Amin a good transfer certificate and he has got admission in another school. We hope he improves but he has lost the mentoring and special care we take of our scholars.
The second case, of Rukshana, is even a sadder one. She was studying in a roadside school in Gurgaon when we identified her as a high IQ student. We transferred her to a good English Medium CBSE school. She coped well and her results were satisfactory. After somewhat more than one year we found that she had stopped coming to school. Phone calls to her parents went unanswered. One of her friends told us that her parents had withdrawn her from the school as boys and girls study together here.
Two cases of wasted genius. They are victims but only of their own parents. Aman could have been disciplined by his father if the father was not busy blaming the school. Rukhsana would have been going to university this year like her other fellow scholars had her parents been more progressive in their thinking.
A hope:
In Varanasi, we have 50 Mensa Dhruv Scholars. Ten of these high IQ children are Muslims out of which 7 are girls. All these are amazing children. If they can grow up and develop like others, they can change their families and communities. However, if anyone starts drumming into them that they are victims and that they can never do well in India where they are discriminated against, that they will always be second class citizens, and so on, they will either give up or become radicalized. Apart from this, if any of these girls is married off prematurely or withdrawn from her school, her genius will be wasted.
IMPAR:
There is so much that the Muslim community can do if their approach is constructively inward looking. That is why I am encouraged by initiatives such as Indian Muslims for Progress and Reform (IMPAR)
As the founders of IMPAR point out – Lack of modern education, an orthodox mindset and a perceived sense of insecurity has kept Indian Muslims out of the mainstream for a long time. They plan to work within the community to encourage a modern, scientific, nationalistic and forward-looking outlook towards life amongst Indian Muslims.
I hope IMPAR can succeed more effectively than some Muslim thought leaders who are working on an opposite discourse that has kept the Indian Muslims where they are despite having immense potential.
A cautionary tale:
I would like to end with an incident from Swami Vivekananda’s life:
One morning in Sarnath, Swami Vivekanand was passing through a place where there was a large tank of water on one side and a high wall on the other. Here, he was surrounded by a troop of monkeys. They were not allowing him to pass and there was no other way. As he tried to walk past them, they howled and shrieked and clutched his legs and feet.
He began to run. However, the faster he ran, the bolder the monkeys became. They even attempted to bite him. Suddenly, he heard an old man call out to him: ‘Face the brutes!’.
The words brought him to his senses. He stopped running and turned to boldly face the monkeys. When he did that, they fell back and fled!
Conclusion:
Our fears are like these monkeys. They clutch at us and try to hold us back. If we behave like helpless people, they will win. However, if we face them, we can be rid of them.
I would like to tell Muslim leaders:
Stop feeding and encouraging these imaginary monkeys.
And, to our Indian Muslims, I would like to say:
Face your monkeys. Be Bold, Be Strong, Be Heroes.
Kishore Asthana
Kishore.athana@gmail.com
Sanity+Balance 