Mr.Bisvas unfair to Muslims

Submitted by Vijay (United Kingdom), May 27, 2006 at 17:44

Statements like "English will liberate muslims from islamic-arabic fascism and imperialism" are over the top, as they say. Mr.Bisvas also assumes there is an 'essential' Muslim who is is only loyal to "islamic-arabic imperialism aqnd ethno-fascism". This is plain wrong as muslims in any country as capable of nationalism as anybody else.

While it is true that there was much havoc and destructions with Hindu cultrual life during the period of Islamic ascendency, those days are gone , never to come back. While I am angry with the destuction of Hindu monuments by Islamic imperialists in India, the problems bequethed by history ought to be dealt with more sensitively so that we are free of the burden of history. In this context , it is useful to remember that "Muslim problem",if such a thing a exists, is different for western countries than it is for a country like India. In western countries, Muslims have immigrated in large numbers for the last 3 decades mainly for economic reasons and the Western preception (and solutions) of "Islamic" problem is different from that of countries and the problem is one of integration of Muslims in the western legal-political institutions. . In India, Muslims have been around for more than 1000 years and hence as 'native' as any indian.

Maulana Abul kalam Azad was an Indian national Congress leader, who rejected a seperate country for Muslims as demanded by Jinnah, the driving force behind Pakistan, and in 1948 he gave this speech

"I am a Muslim and profoundly conscious of that fact that I have inherited Islam's glorious tradition of the last thirteen hundred years. I am not prepared to lose even a small part of that legacy. The history and teachings of Islam, its art and letters, its cultural and civilization are part of my wealth and it is my duty to cherish and guard them... But, with all these feelings, I have another equally deep realization born out of my life's experience, which is strengthened and not hindered by the Islamic spirit. I am equally proud of the fact that I am an Indian, an essential part of the indivisible unity of Indian nationhood, a vital factor in its total makeup, without which this noble edifice will remain incomplete. I can never give up this sincere claim..."

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