OUR INDEPENDENCE, NOT YOURS?
INDIA’S SYNCRETIC ETHOS IS NOT AN ARTIFICIAL CONSTRUCT BUT A PRODUCT OF CENTURIES OF SHARED EXPERIENCES OF HINDUS AND MUSLIMS. IT IS IN DANGER TODAY
WE LIVE IN THE AGE OF REBORN NATIONALISM even as old dreams of an enlightened world government fade. The United Nations Organization (UN) just about survives, though it is difficult to imagine our world without it. The wars that scorched the globe also gave the UN its commitment to lasting peace. It is far from perfect, and yet we have no better substitute. As time goes by, the agency’s imperfections are becoming more apparent but also the need to fortify the platform where friends and foes gather to seek peace and accommodation, find difficult paths to contain bellicose elements and reduce the threat of a nuclear holocaust. But as the threat of a nuclear winter recedes, the world encounters other unsettling issues such as water scarcity, climate change, eco-degradation, terrorism and migration. There are many who live on the edge.
It is no surprise then that having been unable to secure the peace dividend, the countries of the world are retreating into the past and the comfort zone of exclusivity. Sovereignty, long qualified by the emerging global rule of law, is clawing back to dominance
and its companions, self-professed virtue and nationalism, are reconfiguring the nation-state and global relations. Even as nature continues to define the global village, its inhabitants are busy digging moats and building walls of separation. Our generation rejoiced at the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Vietnam. Our successors will watch in confusion the building of the Mexico wall and the dismantling of once promising trade blocs, the loosening of the European Union and god knows what.
As the new world order comes apart or at least is stretched beyond safe limits, what do we former world citizens turn to—Americans, Europeans, South Asians, Africans, Southeast Asians, former Soviet Union comrades? To each his own; to each for their own. Nations above internationalism. But what does it mean to be a nationalist, particularly when the nation you belong to is not under existential
threat? Is it different from being patriotic? I believe there is an essential difference. Nationalism is devotion to your own even to the sometimes detriment of another. Patriotism is striving to uphold the honour and respect of one’s country even in the face of pain and deprivation. The nationalism we have seen of late in India seems premised on the alleged lack of it amongst others. To hate, ridicule and denigrate other Indians to claim nationalist fervour is the worst betrayal of a nation made up of people of myriad faiths and feelings.
Anger and disgust about being let down are understandable as long as there is consensus about expected conduct. An imposition of unilateral expectations cannot be an acceptable test of patriotism. But, sadly, that is becoming too prevalent in our lives. Whatever happened to the oft-repeated words ascribed to Voltaire: ‘I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it’?
India’s national landscape, going back to 1857 and the first battles of the Independence movement, is replete with patriotic fervour. The strains of ‘Aao bachchon tumhe dikhayen jhanki Hindustan ki, iss mitti se tilak karo ye dharti hai balidaan ki’ or ‘Saare jahan se achha Hindostan hamara’ were staples of our childhood. The stories of Ashfaqullah and Bhagat Singh, Maulana Azad and Sarojini Naidu, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Vinoba Bhave, and thousands of freedom fighters light up the firmament of our collective memory. The poetry of Bahadur Shah Zafar and Mirza Ghalib continues to inspire modern hearts and minds. Think of Partition, the sad consequence of Independence and you will find for each Jinnah and Liaquat Ali, thousands of Zakir Husains and Sir Syed Ahmed Khans. Yet narrow-minded bigots seek certificates of allegiance to the nation from compatriots who chose India over calls of faith and family. The names of martyrs and sufferers—innumerable amongst them Muslims—remain etched in stone in every town and village of India and as much in the hearts of men and women. There cannot be a greater insult to the Indian psyche and betrayal of its consciousness than to question the Indianness of an Indian.
Suddenly, as every visible attribute of a Muslim’s public personality, less so other minorities, gets challenged and jingoism gets into the political driving seat, the community is being watched for conspicuous signs of patriotism. If that was not bad enough, unreasonable standards of patriotism are being introduced into the public discourse. Disagreement is promptly branded as disloyalty. We might not be alone in this—the world was witness to the spectacle of US President Donald Trump berating the ethnic background of Democratic Party Congresswomen who oppose his brand of politics. Fortunately for India, we have an enormous army of liberal Indians of all hues and religions who speak
up for the oppressed. Yet, self-consciousness and apprehension among Muslims is inevitable. It’s no longer just the danger of being insulted, but an issue of personal safety. The demand doesn’t stop at the visual affirmation of national aspirations and its repeated endorsement; now religious slogans of the majoritarian faith must be incanted submitting to the will of bullies.
But, truthfully, there are no issues of conflict between the majority of Hindus and Muslims except, perhaps, on contested claims like Ayodhya. Anyone familiar with the Bhakti movement knows of its close interface with Sufism. Sant Kabir, in his remarkable life as indeed even when his last rites were performed at Maghar in Sant Kabir Nagar, left little scope for disagreement between Islam and Hinduism. By any analysis, India is culturally and spiritually a richer country by being home to the world’s greatest religions and cultures. Muslims and Hindus alike repudiated the two-nation theory in 1947. It would be tragic in the extreme if anyone seeks to revive that thesis within independent India by creating a subjugated nation within. Those seeking affirmations of patriotism overlook the sacrifice of Brig. Usman and Hav. Abdul Hameed, the prowess of cricketers like M.A.K. Pataudi and Mohammad Azharuddin, the wisdom of late president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and former vice-president Hamid Ansari, the musical notes of Amjad Ali Khan and A.R. Rahman, the virtuoso performance of Dilip Kumar and Meena Kumari, the hockey dribbles of Aslam Sher Khan and Zafar Iqbal and an endless legacy that has enriched our home called India.
Asking a Muslim, Christian or Sikh to display proof of patriotism is the most unpatriotic act anyone can indulge in. India, even as it is poised for greatness in the world, must recognise its unique greatness at home first. There is no problem in reaching out to the past to revive a sense of belonging and self-esteem, but then the past cannot be chosen selectively. Furthermore, to use the past for inspiration cannot be faulted so long as it leads to noble dreams for the future. Learning from the past is useful in looking ahead but getting preoccupied in undoing part of the past can itself be severely counter-productive. When compassion is questioned for motives, and human rights advocacy for sedition, we know the air is toxic.
India’s syncretic ethos is not an artificial construct but a product of centuries of shared experiences of Hindus and Muslims. It culminated in the most remarkable collaborative effort during the Independence movement as millions of Muslims and Hindus walked behind Mahatma Gandhi and a galaxy of brilliant leaders, the likes of whom the world has seldom seen. The refrain of ‘Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamare dil mein hai, dekhna hai zor kitna baazu-e-qatil mein hai’ celebrated the greatest non-violent movement in the world, turning the
THERE CANNOT BE A GREATER INSULT TO THE INDIAN PSYCHE AND BETRAYAL OF ITS CONSCIOUSNESS THAN TO QUESTION THE INDIANNESS OF AN INDIAN
belligerent and violent Pashtun people into peaceseeking khudai khidmatgars of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan. A deliberate or ignorant obliteration of that glorious legacy to extract narrow political advantage by polarising united India is an affront to patriotism and a betrayal of the nation. When self-professed pseudo-nationalists undermine our national ethos, the response lies in fortitude, patience, determination and foresight. For the love of India, a love that we know surpasses all else, it is important that Indian Muslims do not lose faith in the idea that we call our home. We must continue to show our love as we feel, neither forced nor contrived. Let us refresh our rich history and recapture the public imagination. The darkness cannot but give way to a new dawn. If we do not despair and surrender, generations to come will pause to hear us sing, ‘Ham laaye hain toofan se kashti nikaal ke, iss desh ko rakhna mere bachchon sambhaal ke.’
The Muslims of India must relive the glorious moments of 1857 and 1947 in camaraderie with our Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Jain, Parsi brothers and sisters to keep India free of the darkness of mistrust and division. Our success will be the clarion call of our patriotism. The proof of our patriotism must be given to our conscience, not to those who know not what patriotism is. Our reward will be when we pass the torch to a new generation of Indians who will all cherish their respective faiths and yet think of themselves as one family. The acknowledgement of tomorrow’s torch-bearers—that we kept the torch alive—will be the lasting legacy of our patriotism.