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POLITICAL DIARY
Freebies Galore, Forget Money
PYAARE MUSALMAN, YOUR WISH, MY
COMMAND
By Poonam I Kaushish
New Delhi, March 03, 2008
It was a perfect electoral cake. Rolled out by Finance
Minister Chidambaram to the strains of ‘Vote Congress.’ Iced
with luscious lip-smacking freebies galore for one and all.
From the aam aadmi to the debt-ridden kisan to the top tax
payer. A feel-good budget that has bitten the ballot. To cream
the electorate at the hustings!
Indeed, his 2008-09 ‘please-one-and-all’ budget has much to
crow about. It has injected a much-needed dose to the
suicide-prone farmers wherein debts worth Rs 60,000 crore have
been promised to be waived off, it offers substantial tax
relief to the middle class, welfare lollipops for workers in
the unorganized sector, increased subsidies for houses under
the Indira Awaz Yojana, special measures for Scs/STs, new deal
for senior citizens and women et al.
However, the budget has a dangerous sub-text which has been
lost in the euphoria of the goodies. The slew of schemes for
the minorities is a pointer that minorityism has replaced
cronyism as the tour de force of the budget. Take a 360 degree
turn anywhere and minority appeasement hits you in the face.
All in the garb of improving their quality of life (sic) which
translates into “please give me your vote.” Never mind that it
holds out dangerous portends for India’s unity and national
security.
How else should one react to the Finance Minister’s latest
bonanza for the minorities. Starting with the piece de
resistance, a multi-sectoral development plan for 90 minority
districts at a cost of Rs.3,780 crore, Rs 80-crore earmarked
for a pre-matric scholarships and over Rs 45 crore for
modernizing madrassa education. The corpus for the Maulana
Azad Education Foundation has been hiked by Rs.60 crore and
544 new bank branches (256 this year and 288 next year) will
be opened in the minority districts to facilitate bank credit
for them and Rs.75 crore more for the National Minorities
Development and Finance Corporation..
Statistically speaking none can deny that a large section of
the Muslims need a better quality of life. Data collated by
various commissions bring out the fact that socio-economic
indicators for Muslims were below those for OBCs in many
cases. About 59 per cent were illiterate, only 10 per cent
went to school and a mere eight per cent opted for higher
education. Worse, even as they were vastly under-represented
in official jobs, they were grossly over-represented in
India's prison population. None can also deny that the
Government has a special responsibility to provide job
opportunities, education and upliftment of the minorities and
the backward classes.
No doubt, the Grand Dame of Indian politics perceives its
Finance Minister’s lollipops as it’s cash card to regain its
long-lost glory. But the crucial question is: Does poverty
have any religion? What has religion got to do with the
Government’s strategy for inclusive growth? Does
‘inclusiveness of Muslims’ mean at the cost of other groups?
Is it in the interest of maintaining the social fabric of the
nation? Will it help the cause of taking the Indian people
together on the path of development?"
More. How does it better the lot of the mass of Muslims, if a
few persons get jobs? When does minorityism supercede equality
assured by our Constitution? Are quotas based on religion and
community, the answer for maintaining India’s social fabric?
And more important, it’s crucial harmony? Is the Muslim
identity distinct from that of the Indian?
Given the level of dishonesty, populism and irresponsibility
which increasingly governs our political system, these
exclusive measures announced are an invitation to disaster.
Clearly, the move is fraught with dangerous implications for
the unity of the country. Tragically, so blinded are our
politicians in their quest for power that none can see the
Frankenstein they recklessly continue to create. By giving
legitimacy to a communal quota, religious bigotry at its most
ferocious could end up in carving once more a blood-stained
path across our country. Clearly, this could sow the poisonous
seeds for a new communal movement and separate electorates
inspired by the two-nation theory that tragically led to
India’s partition.
Importantly, if reservation based on castes is bad, budgeting
on communal basis is horrendous. Ominous reasoning is being
appendaged. It would bring the Muslims into the mainstream.
Ensure harmony between the majority and the minority
communities. It would prevent Muslims from being exploited any
more as vote-banks by the so-called secular parties.
Recall, Nehru increasingly bent over-backwards to woo the
Muslim vote, which constituted 12 to 15 per cent of the total
Congress vote, the largest single block it received in the
first few general elections. Thus, Muslim appeasement was no
longer viewed as luxury but as a matter of life and death. To
be manipulated and held hostage as was done by the British
colonial masters to block freedom.
Once economically pampered, the next demand would be that the
Muslims alone should decide who would represent them. Bluntly,
leading to a most dangerous and blood-thirsty monster of
separate Muslim electorate. Clearly, this could sow the seeds
for a new communal movement inspired by the disastrous
two-nation theory that led to India’s partition and the
creation of Pakistan, thanks to the diabolical communal award
by the British Raj which provided for the Hindus to vote for
the Hindus and the Muslims for the Muslims.
So caught up are all in their blandishments for the increasing
Muslim vote-bank (36.76 per cent growth during 1991-2001) to
suit their petty parochial ends that they fail to see the
Frankenstein they could mindlessly unleashed --- a
Frankenstein that encourages the Muslim leadership to go
communal and dictate its national agenda. Already a
seven-Party Muslim Front has been formed to fight the
electoral sweepstakes on its own.
Importantly, there is no place for double standards or the
Orwellian concept of ‘more equal than others’ in a democracy.
What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. The
Fundamental Rights provide for equal opportunities for all
irrespective of caste, creed or sex. Let’s not fudge or forget
this. India of 2008 is not the India of pre-1947.
Clearly, the Government has to end this evil of separatism.
Separate budget for minorities is no answer for fulfilling the
peoples’ aspirations. It will not only further divide our
people on creed-caste lines but is also short-sighted and
antithetical to any hope of narrowing India's burgeoning
divide between the haves and have-nots. The Government has no
right to limit opportunities for the deserving or to shrink
the public space for autonomy and free association.
In the ultimate, our petty power-at all-cost polity has to
think beyond vote-bank politics and look at the perilous
implications of these decisions. What exactly is the message
the Government proposes to send across the country by its
budgeting policy? Does it want to be the first to sow the
seeds of another partition? It is willy-nilly encouraging the
Muslim leadership to go communal and resurrect the Muslim
League. Which could in turn result in reservation for Muslims
in Parliament and State Assemblies and even separate
electorate a la the British Raj?
If not stopped here and now, these actions could threaten a
blood-stained path across our country. Let us not ignore the
grim lessons of history. Or, we shall end up condemning
ourselves and the country to repeating history. Where a nation
can be plunged into communal anarchy once again. How long will
we allow this vote-bank politics to continue recklessly and
play havoc with India’s unity and integrity? The buck stops at
the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s door. ----INFA
(Copyright India News & Feature Alliance)
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