Following enactment of Waqf Amendment Act, nation-wide protests have persisted. A host of Muslim groups have been mobilising the community against the Act through emotive appeals. The process started as soon the govt had introduced the bill in the parliament.
Most of the Anti-Waqf Act protests have remained peaceful. But the protest in West Bengal has been particularly violent. Officially only 3 persons have been killed and over 150 are injured. But more importantly, there has been a mass exodus of Hindus from certain Muslim dominated areas, especially Murshidabad. Even in Tripura, scores of policemen have been injured. Emotive protests and stray incidents of violence have surfaced in many parts of the country.
Certain Muslim groups have approached Supreme Court of India. Media has reported that 73 petitions have been filed by the aggrieved groups. Many of the petitioners are confident that even if the entire Act is not stayed, they shall get some major relief.
But irrespective of what the highest court of the country decides, the issue has managed to polarize people. Emotions are running high on both sides. Sanity or sense of responsibility has largely disappeared from public spaces of India. Our already fractured social cohesion is under enormous stress.
EXXPANDING CHASM OF EMOTIONS
Certain sections of Muslim intelligentsia and civil society have come out in support of the Act, but by and large, substantial sections of Muslim population appear upset.
Some of the hardline Muslim clerics and Islamist politician have found the issue as Godsend opportunity to make a political capital out of it or consolidate their grip over the community. They have left no stone unturned to describe the move as attack on their religion and its practices, whereas the charter of Waqf is restricted only to charity and social welfare through assets or properties donated by Muslims.
How critical is Waqf or Auqaf as part of Muslim religious practice is debatable. The history of an Act on Waqf properties in India is barely a little over hundred years old. Waqf was more of an informal tradition. Whether the beneficiaries of these properties, especially in a multi-religious or multi-identity society should only be Muslims is also debatable.
Opposition parties are opposed to the Act over political considerations rather than merit of the Act. They derive big strength from their near monopoly over Muslim votes that account for a sizeable proportion of the electorate.
Hindu votes have never been politically cohesive until the current ruling dispensation succeeded in mobilising a majority of them to create a winning formula. Hard core Hindu votes are never going to desert the ruling party. The entire contest shall be confined to floating votes among Hindus, some of which may migrate to opposition over frustration with bad governance and sheer anti-incumbency sentiments.
There is a popular perception that irrespective of all considerations, overwhelming majority Muslim votes shall always remain opposed to the ruling party. Hence the political fault-lines
They are certain that a section of Hindu votes they shall be able to mobilise in any case but they do not stand any chance to wean away majority Hindu votes, which shall always remain with the ruling dispensation. Any effort to dilute their stand may cost the support of their core support base.
Hence, both the political formations are using the Act to further consolidate their support among their respective constituencies. Ruling party is also keen to draw more fence sitters towards it by creating an emotionally charged atmosphere, where governance and all other issues may lose focus, if not relevance.
Given the larger distrust of the Muslim community towards the ruling party, and consistently confrontational approach of the latter, filled with direct stoking of anti-Muslim sentiments, the overwhelming majority of this community shall always remain suspicious of the ruling dispensation. Of course, the underlying issues for the same may be far too complex.
But there appears a credible logic in the allegation that the action of the ruling dispensation is neither aimed at remedying the gaps in the Waqf management nor in eradication of Islamic radicalism from India and beyond. It is also somewhat defensive and tentative, despite passing the Act.
The Waqf act in the prevailing format, especially after 2013 was definitely vulnerable to abuse. It appeared rather dangerous given the overall dysfunctionality of Indian criminal justice system. But probably neither the Govt has credibility to persuade the Indian Muslims nor the technical and professional capacities to do so. Communication is one of the most difficult science and a complex art. Confrontation always backfires and pleasant persuasion alone is certain to backfire. Hence, it requires a unique cocktail of persuasion and pressure to push through a big idea. And no one can work out this complex cocktail better than the politicians on the ground.
The distrust is not confined to one between the Govt and Muslim community alone. It persists even between the Govt and opposition of India. The two appear to share such an association of irreconcilable squabble and distrust that one worries that our political class may struggle to act cohesively even on the most critical issues of national security and governance.
Here the issues at stake are more than mere an Act. Societal cohesion of India has always been under threat over this identity divide. It is also not easy to explain its underlying causes or find a solution to the same. But the present discord over Waqf Act is going to further fracture this social divide. Simply because of professional and technical incompetence of the so-called brainpower of the Govt. They seem to rely more on brutal force of the state and their capacity to subvert and manipulate rather than rely on a sophisticated cerebral capacity to handle such issues with finesse.
Governance and statecraft are not the domains of power-drunk cops with capacity to intimidate, coerce and subvert. I shall continue on this issue.
My blog is being constantly blocked and people, including retired Indian Military Generals, are being blocked from posting a comment on the same. I am not sure who the forces are. But whosoever, they are they can never be friends of India or champions of peace and security.
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