By: Dr. Mohammad Aleem, Chief News Editor, ICN Group
NEW DELHI: What makes people fool these days easily? This is the question which came in my mind after going through all the recent developments within the country and outside. Of late, at Patna in Bihar, a huge rally was organized, cleverly titled, Deen Bachao-Desh Bachao (Save Islam and save the country) by Imarat-e-Sharia, Bihar. It is headquartered in Patna since a long time. Earlier, its use was mainly to run some madrasas, technical colleges and institutions, but later on, turned successfully in a potent political identity along with its religious identity. Muslims of Bihar especially recognizes it as an effective voice within the community.
This organization came into focus and hot debate since its announcement about the rally. The timing of the rally was also very crucial and did speak a lot about its motive and objective. It came into my knowledge also that they collected a great amount of money from the naïve Muslims of Bihar. This rally was actively supported by the politically beleaguered leader, Nitish Kumar of JDU. Once this man was seen as a potential candidate for the strong position of PM, but with the passage of time, he quickly lost his sheen and shine. His party disintegrated after breaking of the alliance with the RJD over some petty issues. Some said that it was the pressure from the center and Modi that Nitish Kumar was forced to break the alliance which had helped him in consolidating his power in the state, even though, the strong current of Modi was sweeping the entire nation during the parliamentary and assembly elections. But what was the exact reason, only Nitish Kumar can tell.
Of late, as the rally ended, a young Urdu journalist, Khalid Barkatullah was awarded with the post of MLC. Although, it is not a big post with any credible power and influence, but it sent the signal quickly with the alarming speed among the people, especially, youth, that the whole drama of organizing the rally was just to fetch a post from the BJP and JDU government. He was the convener of the rally. It was also seen as a tool to strengthen the BJP and RSS by organizing such rally in the name of Islam. They know that whenever, Muslims try to unite themselves in the name of religion, it helps the right wing Hindu parties also to unite their own people. And it all is happening due to coming Lok Sabha election which is seen as a litmus test for the Modi government, which has spoken and promised a lot to the people, but without any substantial deliverance. It is also seen as an opportunity to divert the attention of the people from the raging voice against rapes in the country which is taking place on the regular interval without any fear of law. In most of the cases, a person of the ruling party was found involved in such heinous crimes.
Wali Rahmani, general secretary of Amarat-e-Sharia has no any solid credibility within the community. We know what he did in the past with the issue of the triple talaaq issue and the role he played from the platforms of the Muslim Personal Law board.
My argument is that all these boards and people have their own vested interest to serve. Had they acted faithfully, community would have not gone through such bad phase of life in India? These people have provided the opportunities to malign the image of Islam and the community to their enemies.
I urge my fellow brethren to raise their voice against such imposters forcefully. Make them accountable for their every act and deed. Ask them openly that where they get the money from and where they spend. Do they get audited their account by any credible agency annually and to whom they are accountable to?
It is a grave issue who is raping whom, and with what intention and with what motive. Have we moved ourselves back again in the partition days when Hindus and Muslims were very tactfully and shrewdly divided by the leaders of the both communities in the name of religion and identity. And during that time, more than a million people were brutally killed, and thousands and thousands young girls and women were raped and maimed. What was the grave situation of that time had been very intensely depicted in the literature of that time by the writers like Manto and Khushwant Singh and scores of others.
Are we repeating the same mistakes? Are our leaders making us fool again to divide and rule in the name of religion? Ponder over it.
