Golden Jubilee of ‘All India Muslim Majlis-e- Mushawarat’
Andalib Akhter /Ashok B Sharma
The Vice President of India M. Hamid Ansari today said that Independence of India in August 1947, and the events preceding it, endangered physical and psychological security of Indian Muslims.
“They were made to carry, unfairly, the burden of political events and compromises that resulted in the Partition”, Mr Ansari said while delivering inaugural address at the “Golden Jubilee Session of All India Muslim Majlis-e- Mushawarat” in New Delhi today.
He went on saying that the process of recovery from that trauma has been gradual and uneven, and at times painful. “They have hesitatingly sought to tend to their wounds, face the challenges and seek to develop response patterns. Success has been achieved in some measure; much more, however, needs to be done”, VP said.
He reminded that Muslims were an integral part of the freedom struggle against the British rule. “They are dispersed all over the country, are not homogenous in linguistic and socio-economic terms and reflect in good measure the diversities that characterise the people of India as a whole”.
“Default by the State or its agents in terms of deprivation, exclusion and discrimination, including failure to provide security is to be corrected by the State; this needs to be done at the earliest and appropriate instruments developed for it”, VP stressed adding that political sagacity, the imperative of social peace, and public opinion play an important role in it.
On the occasion Vice President also highlighted the shortcomings in the community, particularly prevailing groupism and casteism in the society.
“Today, we have to admit that both ‘firqa bandi’ and ‘zaat’ identity is a ground reality. The imagery of Mahmood and Ayaz standing shoulder to shoulder in the same line is confined to the mosque; so are the injunctions on punctuality, cleanliness and discipline,” he said adding that “ each of these is violated beyond the confines of the congregational prayer”.
VP however said that Corrective strategies therefore have to be sought on category-differentiation admissible in Indian state practice and hitherto denied to Muslims (scheduled caste status) or inadequately admitted, in segments of OBC status.
Available data makes it clear that a high percentage of Muslims falls into these two broad categories.
He said that the Mushawarat was formed in response to a perceived need to defend and protect the identity and dignity of the Muslim community in India in terms of the rights bestowed by the Constitution of India on the citizens of this land.
“This objective remains relevant though some of its ingredients may stand amplified or modified today. As a grouping of leading and most respected minds of the community, it should go beyond looking at questions of identity and dignity in a defensive mode and explore how both can be furthered in a changing India and a changing world”, he said.
He asked AIMMM to widen its ambit to hitherto unexplored or inadequately explored requirements of all segments of the community particularly women, youth, and non-elite sections who together constitute the overwhelming majority.
AIMMM
The All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat (AIMMM), is an apex forum of Muslim organizations and institutions of national eminence alongwith some well-known personalities. Deliberative and not agitational, it is basically a non-political body.
It was established at a representative meeting of the community leaders held in August, 1964 at Nadwatul-Ulema, Lucknow, as a Consultative Committee. The meeting which was inaugurated by Syed Abul Hasan Ali Nadvi and chaired by Dr. Syed Mahmood.
Apart from them, Mufti Atiqur Rahman, Maulana Abul Lais Islahi, Qari Mohd. Tayyab, Maulana Kalb-e-Abid, Maulana Minatullah Rahmani, Janab Mohammad Muslim, Maulana Jan Mohammad and Janab Ebrahim Sulaiman Sait played the key role.