By M Ghazali Khan
In yet another demonstration of his anti-Muslim hatred and going to the lowest of the low, Hindutva (Hindu supremacist) Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, did not even spare the auspicious occasion of India’s Independence Day, August 15, to propagate his divisive agenda.
During the traditional Prime Ministerial speech, delivered every year on 15th August from the ramparts of Delhi’s Red Fort since 1947, Modi attacked Muslim (Islamic) Family Laws. He assured his supporters of his determination to impose what he and his ilk call the ‘Uniform Civil Code.’
In India, not only Muslims but cases related to matrimony, inheritance, wills, adoption, and waqf/charitable trusts of all religious and tribal communities are decided according to their religious or customary laws, also known as personal laws. However, Narendra Modi’s Hindutva Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) takes issue only with the personal laws of Muslims.
‘The Supreme Court has repeatedly held discussions on the Uniform Civil Code, given orders, because a large section of the country feels, and rightly so, that the current civil code is a communal civil code, a discriminatory civil code. The Constitution tells us, the Supreme Court tells us to [implement it], and it was the dream of the Constitution makers. So, it is our duty to fulfil it,’ Modi said in his Independence Day speech.
Congress Party President, Mallikarjun Kharge, condemned Modi’s speech as divisive.
The problem with the leaderless and disunited Muslim community is that it has ceased to produce the bold and courageous leaders it once had. There is a constant threat not only to their fundamental and constitutional rights but also to their very existence. Yet, Muslim organisations have been unable to unite and agree on a collective strategy. When the Indian Constitution was being framed and the proposal for a Uniform Civil Code was included in its directive principles in 1947, they raised strong objections. Dr B. R. Ambedkar, the Dalit leader and architect of the Constitution, had to assure them:
‘… no one need be apprehensive of the fact that if the State has the power, the State will immediately proceed to execute or enforce that power in a manner that may be found objectionable by Muslims or by Christians or by any other community in India. We must remember—including members of the Muslim community who have spoken on this subject—that sovereignty is always limited… because sovereignty in the exercise of that power must reconcile itself to the sentiments of different communities. No Government can exercise its power in such a manner as to provoke the Muslim community to rise in rebellion. I think it would be a bad government if it did.’ (Constituent Assembly Debates Vol VII)
Just one day before Modi’s outburst against Muslim Personal Law, disguised as an appeal for unity in the country, Human Rights Watch published a report analysing 173 of his election speeches. The report concluded that at least 110 of these speeches were Islamophobic, ‘…apparently intended to undermine the political opposition, which he said only promoted Muslim rights, and to foster fear among the majority Hindu community through disinformation.’
Last week, on July 8, his party tabled a bill paving the way for Hindus to be included in the management of Auqaf and reducing the control of Waqf Boards over waqf properties. Fortunately, with the reduced number of BJP MPs in parliament and strong opposition from Muslim and other secular parties, the bill could not be passed. However, Modi has formed a 31-member Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to examine the Waqf (Amendment) Bill.
Sadly, despite owning 600,000 acres of properties and thus being one of the most resourceful communities, due to mismanagement, Indian Muslims remain one of the poorest communities. The BJP government has its eyes on these properties. According to Dr Syed Zafar Mahmood, a senior bureaucrat and Officer on Special Duty to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s High-Level Committee on Minority Affairs, the book value of these properties, calculated based on figures recorded 100-200 years ago, is roughly Rupees 60 billion, generating an income of merely Rs 16.3 billion, i.e., 2.7% annually.