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| Indian Muslims a force to reckon with | | Visible identities of Islam pose problems | |
B L KAK
NEW DELHI, DEC 3
"Being identified as a Muslim is considered to be problematic for many", says the 404-page report prepared by Justice Rajinder Sachar. The report, which has been submitted to Parliament, has sparked many eyebrows because it has gone into great details about the pathetic socio-economic conditions of India's largest minority.
The very visible identities of Islam-- burqa, beard, skullcap and hijab--are posing problems to large numbers of Muslims in India, a country with the world's second largest Islamic population. And Justice Rajinder Sachar says in his report that the police, media as well as the society at large need to be blamed for the community's negative image. Among the report's shocking revelations is that the mere identity of Muslims has become a headache for them in public spaces, be it a railway station, park, hospital or school.
The report said: "Markers of Muslim identity--the burqa, the purdah (veil), the beard and the topi-- while adding to the distinctiveness of Indian Muslims have been a cause of concern for them in the public realm". At the same time, however, the report has admitted that sense of insecurity and discrimination, though felt widely, varied in "gravity, intensity and magnitude" from State to State. The markers have very often turned into a target of ridicule-- and become a reason for being looked down upon with suspicion.
Justice Rajinder Sachar, former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, has highlighted two important points. First, Muslim men "donning a beard and a topi are often picked up for interrogation from public spaces like parks, railway stations and markets". Second, Muslims, according to his report, live with an inferiority complex as "every bearded man is considered to be an ISI (Pakistan spy agency) agent. Whenever any incident occurs, the report adds, Muslim boys are picked up by the police and "fake counters are common".
The Sachar commitee interacted with Muslim women,too. And they complained to the committee that it was becoming increasingly difficult for them to find jobs. They also complained of impolite treatment in markets, hospitals and schools, and in accessing public facilities such as public transport, besides encountering difficulties getting a house on rent and getting their children into reputed schools.
The report said: "A large majority of Muslims would apparently prefer to send their children to regular mainstream schools....Social boycott of Muslims in certain parts of the country has forced them to migrate from places where they lived for centuries".
The media has not escaped Justice Sachar's critical comments. His report, in fact, blame the media too for the troubles the Muslim community faces. "The obsessive focus on select cases of Muslim women passionately discussed in the media results in identifying Muslim religion as the sole locus of gender-injustice in the community....Consequently, the civil society and the state locate Muslim women's deprivation not in terms of the objective reality of societal discrimination and faulty development policies but in the religious-community space. This allows the state to shift the blame to the community and to absolve itself of neglect".
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