What other position could they take? The answer is simple: they could take the progressive, modern, secular, and ‘Indian’ position. Instead of trying to preserve their little socio-religious privileges, they could offer to give them up – for the greater good – provided that other communities gave up their exclusive privileges too.Instead of going on the defensive, they should take up the fight – only demanding that it is a fight that is also fought within other communities. In short, to give an example, instead of insisting on saying ‘Allahu Akbar’ in public, they should offer to give it up, as long as similar religious slogans–such as ‘Jai Shri Ram’–are also excised from the public realm.This matter can, and should be, extended into other areas: customs, eating habits, official functions, colour codes, the clothing of leaders etc. There is no end to it: all of ‘Hindu India’ is also rife with communal exclusiveness garbed as something else. It is not only Muslims who can be ‘recognized by their garments,’ to quote a famous speech. There is a total failure of imagination on the part of the Muslim leadership in India. This failure cannot be blamed on secular Hindu leaders in the opposition parties, for they cannot take this decision on the part of Muslims without automatically falling into a seemingly ‘communal’ position.They can only stand up and fight for the rights of Muslims as Muslims. But the Muslim leadership can fight for the rights of all Indians – which would include all Muslims too. Time and again, it has failed to do so. This has provided Hindutva parties with all the ammunition that they need to keep setting the agenda – and winning. So, what is going to happen next? I will stick out my neck and make a prediction, though I usually avoid such media gimmicks. But this prediction is too obvious.
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