One major question in political conversations is this: “Can Indian politics survive on minority appeasement?” Many say yes, but my opinions are different.
A book by Saeed Naqvi that quotes the statements of Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad says that Azad urged Mahatma Gandhi to speak with Nehru and Jinnah, and prevent the partition of India and Pakistan. Initially, Gandhi agreed to have a discussion, but later said he was not able to stop the division. Since Partition, things changed a lot in India.
Many Sikhs who came from Pakistan were not given compensation for resettlement. Those who protested for a separate country (Khalistan) were declared as militants, and Operation Blue Star was set in motion by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. This took place inside the Golden Temple of Amritsar, and hurt the religious sentiments of many Sikhs. Later, when Indira Gandhi was killed by her own two Sikh bodyguards and Rajiv Gandhi took the post of Prime Minister, riots broke out across India. Many Sikhs were massacred, and women raped and killed, but the government seemed to take no notice. A statement made by the late Khushwant Singh, who was a leading journalist and a former Member of Parliament, reveals more sides of the event. When Singh asked for security, he was told to move to a different place.
Other similar incidents happened during Partition. Muslims were assured of their safety while travelling from India to Pakistan, but even then many were killed. Similarly, in many riots, like the Godhara riots in 2000, the Aligarh riot in 2006, the the Bharatpur riots in 2011, irrespective of the party in power, the Special Task Force and police also, once again, paid no attention, leading to the death of many minorities.
During the time of Emergency (1975-1977), many males were sterilised without their consent. Most were from the Muslim majority villages.
Rajiv Gandhi turned down the decision taken by Supreme court in the Shah Bano case (relating to Triple Talaq) in order to appease Indian Muslims’ religious institutions. But, in order to win over the Hindu vote bank and position himself as secular, he opened the Sanctum Sanctorum of the Babri Masjid, the disputed area between Muslims and Hindus. Because of this, many journalists accuse Rajiv Gandhi of harbouring soft Hindutva ideologies
Many Muslim youth are accused of terrorism and sent to jail. One popular face is of Shahid Azmi, who was sent to jail at the age of 15, as an alleged terrorist involved in the Bombay riots. Later, after seven years, he was proven innocent.
As there are always two sides of a coin, so too are there two sides in politics. The other face of Indian politics shows minority appeasement. In order to gain votes from Muslims in Hyderabad, the BJP recently gave a party ticket to Shahzadi to contest for a seat in the Lok Sabha elections of 2019. Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam became the president of India during BJP rule. Similarly, many schemes are also available only for minorities, for example, the Jio Parsi scheme for Parsis, the Shahri Waqf Sampatti Vikas Yojana, and others. But there are also similar schemes for the majority with different names.
Only a few steps are taken to improve the social and economic status of minorities. Thus, the idea that Indian politics is based on minority appeasement is a myth, in my opinion.
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