At last, Narendra Modi has got it right. It behoves him as Prime Minister to say, “Indian Muslims will live for India, they will die for India — they will not want anything bad for India.” (This can equally be said of any group of citizens who are a religious minority.) The PM’s observation — made in an interview with a well-known American journalist of Indian Muslim origin for CNN — fits perfectly with “the idea of India” on which the post-colonial Indian state is founded, and one which animated India’s independence struggle.
This understanding has been upheld by the country’s “secular” parties, most notably the Indian National Congress, but sought to be placed under the scanner in the RSS scheme of things — with which the present Prime Minister has grown up — where the Muslim, in particular, is demonised.
On account of this, it will ordinarily be hard for someone who politically — and culturally and ideologically — draws inspiration from the RSS, the fount of Hindutva thought in the country, to suggest that the Indian Muslim is an Indian patriot.
To that extent, Mr Modi has scaled a peak, although his core supporters, who may think of Muslims as being people with horns, are likely to be disappointed with his new message. Even if Mr Modi’s new-found voice is for public relations purposes, considering the dark anti-Muslim image that has clung to him like a shadow, the Prime Minister can at least now be held to account for the words he has used from a public forum. In a democracy, it is good for the people to have such a leverage with their elected leader.
It couldn’t have passed anyone’s notice that the Prime Minister’s newly-enunciated endorsement of India’s Muslim community comes days before he leaves for an official visit to the United States of America where he might just be sought to be reminded, especially by those of Indian origin, of the anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat when he was the state Chief Minister. (He will doubtless also have many admirers from amongst the same set.)
And the Prime Minister — perhaps more than most politicians — is known to be alive to the benefits of doing or saying things for effect, and to strike an image.
Even so, his sudden burst of enthusiasm for Indian Muslims will be seen to have real meaning if the Prime Minister can ensure that those linked to his party and various Hindutva outfits who have thought nothing of spreading poison against the Muslim community (especially since Mr Narendra Modi came to power last May) are firmly dealt with under the law. That will give meaning to the idea of Indian citizenship and naitionhood, and will strongly convey the message that the Indian Muslim is not about to become putty in the hands of fundamentlist organisations like the Al Qaeda.
