All Indians must stand up for Waris Pathan, the MLA suspended from the Maharashtra Assembly for refusing to say Bharat mata ki Jai . What should distress all of us is that practically the entire Assembly, including its Congress and NCP members demanded Pathan’s suspension and jeered him out of the House.
The grounds for such an extreme step are specious, unconstitutional and smack of competitive nationalism. Pathan was right in refusing to oblige the Maharashtra Assembly was wrong in suspending him for the rest of the session for that. There is nothing in the Constitution that requires all Indians to chant Bharat mata ki Jai . Such loyalty tests are now being increasingly demanded of our largest minority. We as a nation ought to reject such bullying if we are to stay together as a country.
It should have been obvious to all reasonable people that by contesting and taking his seat in the Maharashtra Assembly as an MLA, Pathan has not repudiated the Constitution, the national anthem or, for that matter, India. Now to attempt to force Pathan to say
India’s Muslims need not be repeatedly exhorted to prove their love or loyalty for their country; it is as much home to them as it is to India’s Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jains or Buddhists. Demonstrative nationalism is fast becoming the norm in a country that has so far proudly survived without such demonstration for nearly seven decades now. A faith that has been around for nearly a millennium, co-existing with several others, is now being seen and projected as an alien plant, giving new life to Jinnah’s discredited two-nation theory.
One can now clearly see a concerted attempt to railroad the vast silent majority of Hindus into acquiescing to the vision of an intolerant and unreasonable minority within.
The real tragedy of Partition is not that it broke a country at birth but the fact that it left the minorities in Pakistan and India vulnerable and insecure. It took no time for the Hindus in Pakistan including those in what is now Bangladesh to dwindle to inconsequential numbers by flight to more hospitable India. Fortunately, this country has remained secular enough to ensure there never was a corresponding flight — except at Partition — of Muslims to Pakistan.
The one big thing that distinguishes India from the more extremist countries to its immediate west is its secularism. Our secularism is also the strongest, albeit most understated, reason for Kashmir continuing to remain a part of the Indian Union or why so few of India’s Muslims are radicalized to join the ISIS.
Modi, as Prime Minister, understands this all too well. As he observed at the World Sufi meet recently, “diversity is a basic reality of nature and source of richness of a society… it should not be a cause of discord.”
If only his party-colleagues in Maharashtra heed his words now at least and welcome Pathan back to the Assembly to which he has been elected, a grave injustice will stand corrected.
The writer is visiting faculty at the Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore