The Muslims in India today are no better than the untouchables of yesterday.

If I am be bold enough to utter a bitter truth I can say without fear of contradiction that If I belong to the untouchables of yesterday you are heading to become the untouchables of tomorrow That political reality you must bear in mind, not withstanding, any professions and wishful thinking to the contrary. B.Shyam Sunder Published by H.Shreyesker President Mool Bharati B.Shyam Sunder Memorial Society B.Shyam Sunder Marg . Gulbarga 585105 (Karnataka State ) e-mail: [email protected]

WHERE DO MUSLIMS STAND TODAY B. SHYAM SUNDER Friends, It is indeed a pleasure and privileges that I am given an opportunity to address this All India Muslim Convention. Indeed such a convention was necessary decade ago to guide the fortunes of a great political minority. But unfortunately, If you permit me to say,you have been torn into groups loyalties with the result that a common platform could not be formed. I suppose now as a body you have realised the political realities of the situation. The Muslims in India today are no better than the untouchables of yesterday. If I am be bold enough to utter a bitter truth I can say without fear of contradiction that If I belong to the untouchables of yesterday you are heading to become the untouchables of tomorrow That political reality you must bear in mind, not withstanding, any professions and wishful thinking to the contrary. WHERE do the Muslims stand today? When in spite of the Constitutional guarantees given to the untouchables, their representation in the services, public bodies, commerce and industries is not more than one percent, the Muslims have fared even worse. Even in Legislature and Parliament independents Muslim and untouchables are not allowed to come in only the camp followers enjoy benefits and privileges. This is done deliberately to keep up the force of secularism and democracy for international propaganda. The Muslims to-day have lost everything; even their history, in which they often glorify, is being rewritten with vengeance so that the coming generation could not cherish their past. The parallel of the untouchables would make my point clear. When the Aryans came to India the original inhabitants the Mool Bharatis lived a most prosperous and civilized life. They had their great past, which the hoards of Aryans erased out of history. The Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa civilizations is known only a to a few. Similarly your rich history and culture and monuments will also be erased out. If you are not already reduced to hewers of wood and drawers of water, as we have been reduced after a thousand years of domination, you too cannot escape that fate. Even life and security and honors are at a stake. Shankaracharya of Puri did not mince words when he said last year that Muslims Christian and Untouchables are no better than Cats and Dogs. The growing forces of Hindu revivalists in political and cultural grabs have not only thrown new challenges and new situations but have threatened our very existence. The law and order situation is complicated and baffled by the appearance of new semi-militant organisations owing overt or covert allegiance to this or that political party. In such a background, the choice before the Muslims is clear to. Linger on to old parties and ideologies, however recast, is to drift along old beaten paths. The problem before Muslims is not to capture political power (which is not possible under present political and electoral machinery) but to develop economic and industrial power. Both these aspects are co-related and form part of the working

class movements. The Muslims and Untouchable, barring notable exceptions, constitute industrial and manual workers. The majority of them comprise the bulk of the different workers unions or agricultural labour relying on their capitalist masters for their daily bread. We have, therefore, to attune ourselves to the new employer and employee relationship which is increasingly becoming co-operative affording effective participation at all levels. That is the real meaning of democracy and socialism. For both of us economic content is more important than religious bigotry. The latter has enveloped the masses of untouchable and Muslims into superstition and ignorance. There are Rasputins in the Muslim fold just as the Brahmin Priests are playing that role among the credulous untouchables. The Muslims organisations have not grasped this basic fact and in order to perpetrate their own leadership, both religious and political, are misguiding the Muslim masses either in the name of religion or culture not realising that neither can survive on empty stomachs. I speak to you as a friend of Muslims and one who was associated with their good cause during the last four decades The Muslims still are absorbed with their own salvation not realising that service to humanity or Huququllbad has precedence over Huqooqulla. This basic Islamic truth has been releged into the background. The socio-economic concept of Islam is essentially socialistic. The concept of Baitulmal is nothing but Nationalisation of means of production. But unfortunately even Muslims Rulers displayed more capitalist tendencies than Socialistic. If I May be permitted to mention a few Islamic figures I may say that Khalifa Omar Abuzer Ghafari and Abu Mohammed Abut Hazim lived not only like common worker but even advocated forceful expropriation of all excess wealth and hoarding in order to increase the standard of living of the poor and the needy people. The Quran prohibits hoarding, it enjoins upon all to live by the sweat of their labour (Akle-Halal); it proclaims social and racial equality and determines the superiority of one over the other not through race or colour, not through birth or Varna not through station in life, not through their Karma of the past birth but through individual good works translated into social services. When I compare the present Muslims Society with the yardstick of Quran, I find it no better than the capitalist Brahmanic exploitation. The masses of Muslims like the masses of untouchables are land less, jobless, homeless, living in absolute misery and poverty, while the wealthy among them work for their own interest and dreams for their own salvation. The Quran Specifically say, if I remind you And they ask thee whatever ought to spend (on the poor) say that which Is surplus above your reachable needs) How many of you spend your surpluses on the poor, how many of you feed the hungry, nurse the sick, help the needy and elevate the downtrodden? If that is not the basic message of Islam there is nothing that Islam has contributed. In the modern Context, Science and Technology have changed the face of the earth. The Westerners are landing on the moon and have already conquered space but the Muslims are still dependent and backward in the field of Science and Technology, They do not even encourage educational and Scientific research and passive fatalism still clings to their minds and imagination. They have forgotten the Quranic truth that Self-help is the best form of help In the modern parlance the secret of true liberty remains courage: we acquiesce in the loss of

freedom every time we are silent in the face of injustice. During these twenty-three years of freedom both of us have remained silent in the face of injustice and innumerable monstrosities. We are obsessed with a sense of being a minority, which in fact, is an erroneous belief. When seven percent Reddies, Twelve percent Lingayats and fifteen percent Marathas dominate overwhelming majorities in their respective regions, how can we sixteen crores untouchable and ten crores Muslims, three crores Christian and Sikhs be regard as a minority. If it is not perversity of democracy it is certainly a perversity of statistics. The fact of the matter is that we are not united and if have been able to consolidate our position. I have been struggling from the last two decades to form a minority Federation but even Muslims-Untouchables alliance has not yet been a reality. Out masters are too clever and even generous to allow us to become united. I realise the inherent difficulties in uniting ourselves. The ruling clique has no doubt captured the seats of power and industry, lands, and means of production, and is thwarting our way towards any progress. Even the administrative and judicial machinery is committed to the ruling clique Mr. M. C. Setalavad was constrained to remark at Ahmedabad in 1954. I am aware of a tendency in this country where judicial Independence appears to be subordinated to In a capitalist society money is power so we are powerless; but in a dynamic democracy and oppressed have always captured democratic machinery and seized power. Whycant we do that? Apart from money the Constitutional impediments are in our way. Article 325 and 329 are so devised that the delimitation of the constituencies can be a continuous process to defeat our candidates Plural-member constituencies is the only way-out to free democratic voting and to break up the vested interests. Towards that end both of us should divert our full energies from today. In this endeavor we shall have both the support and sympathies of all progressive parties in the country. But before we do that we have to create a common minority platform, a common minority organ, daily or weekly, our own press and, what is more, a spirit of comradeship without these ingredients our effort would be futile. We can not undermine the strength and shrewdness of our opponents but we must also develop faith and courage in ourselves. Without faith and courage we cannot exist. The untouchables have lost everything. They cannot call even their souls as their own. Their bodies have been bend and subjugated thousands of years ago. Even the infinitesimal few among the untouchables who are struggling to come up are being crushed every day by the brutal governmental and social machinery of the caste-Hindus. But there is still life in Muslims. Those who have survived the shocks and trails of the holocausts at Calcutta, Ahmedabad, Ranchi, Bhiwandi, Jabalpur and other places can still read the writing on the wall. If they are living in palaces or in safe shelters let them come out with their surpluses as the Quran enjoins, for the cause of the poor and the needy and develop a minority federation. Their underground cellars and their hoardings are no longer safe and there could be no better investment for them than to elevate the position of the poor and the have-nots.

An All-India Muslim Socialist party under enlightened leadership, works in coordination with All-India Schedule Caste Federation, with a joint economic and political programme, without losing their respective identities, would be a step in the right direction. We can also create a joint committee of action to guide our ideology and programme. My Muslim brethren need not be apprehensive of their religious freedom or their places of worship. There are inherent forces in our fold and every right thinking Indian would make them respect our religious susceptibility. The time has come to realise that services to humanity is the finest form of prayer. According to an authentic Tradition, a moment of contemplation is better than thousand nights of formal prayers. So gentlemen you better think contemplate and act.

B.Shyam Sunder