The Judgemental Hayat Alvi

A request for assistance and a conversation (through email first and on FaceBook) with Hayat Alvi.

What I have said ?
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Namaste Hayat Ji, 

I have been following you in twitter for quite some and your tweets are undoubtedly informative. This email is to seek your assistance/guidance on a monograph which I am planning to attempt on the topic of Identity crisis of Muslims in South Asia in general and particularly in India.

What prompted me to do this is the unsettling question which is lingering in my mind for a very long time on why even after centuries together the Muslim society has not integrated itself with the Indian society completely and why its allegiance oscillates between Pakistan or to ummah at large and India. 

In the post partition scenario why the state Identity given to them from India is not a satisfying Muslims. Is it enough to side with the traditional argument that institutional deprivation of growth and development is the prime reason and then blame the governments which were formed since Political Independence. Why should their loyalty fluctuate between Pakistan and India. Is that an issue with the perception on Pakistan? What will make them to associate themselves with the nation states in which they live at the moment ? 

Research Question ?

When the India was partitioned primarily driven by the demand of Muslims that they need a separate land exclusively for them as they cannot live in peace with their Hindu brothers side by side, not all Muslims have migrated. Is it correct to assume that those who chose to stay back they did it on their own volition or they have had no choice ? If they would have had a great transport facility and institutional security provided to them their migration would have been complete ? What Idea of Pakistan that attracts them to identify themselves with Pakistan or the imaginary caliph. What necessary steps the state should take win over their allegiance with in the context of India? 

I intend to produce a monograph on this or a mini thesis or what ever it may be, I'll leave the decision on the nomenclature to you. This is how I would like organize the monograph/thesis etc.,

The Identity crisis of Muslims in India

1. Origins.

2. Khilafat movement.

3. The fraud of Jinnah.

4. Religion as an opium.

5. Muslims as a method to power.

6. The anti-Hinduness

7. Suppressing the liberal voices.

8. Economic Status.

9. Thinking beyond Kashmir.

10. Disconnected with reality.

11. Suggestions/Conclusion

I would request you to guide me on this. Co-authoring is also fine. 

My Bio in brief:

I have a Masters in Information Technology, and Pursuing my Bachelors in Law and a Major in Political Science. Thanks !


I hope you will definitely have many questions to ask me on this which I am more than happy to answer. Thanks for your assistance in advance.
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Her Response :

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I'm not sure what "pursuing Bachelors in law and major in Poli Sci" means, b/c Bachelor degrees come before Masters, so that's confusing. 
In any case, no, I am not interested in this "project." It is not scholarly or academic social science material with objective research and analysis. I really question your intentions with this, because it's clearly loaded with xenophobic prejudice and biases, without any factual empirical evidence. On the contrary, there's ample empirical evidence to prove your premises wrong. I cannot spend a lot of time going back and forth discussing this, so just take it from me, it's not scholarly material and it has very suspicious intentions and objectives as far as academic objectivity is concerned. Now, I gave you the FB friends opportunity for the sake of conveying your message / questions to me. Don't take it personally, but I don't keep FB friends status with people I do not know. So eventually I will unfriend. Good luck.

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Me Responding back :
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Let me explain on the confusion about Bio.

Under Graduation (Three years)- Bachelors in Computer Applications (BCA.,) Annamalai University. 2003-2006 
Post Graduation (Two Years)- Masters in Information Technology (Msc., IT) University of Madras. 2008 2010
Bachelors in Law (BL) (Three years) – Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University – 2010 -2013 (Did not attend couple of papers, exams are due in a month. Only have to attend the exams)

Master’s in Political Science (Two years) – 2013 - 2014.

That is on the Bio thing..

On your rejection :

That was not surprising. But I am really not sure about that xenophobic prejudice and biases. It is a genuine concern to understand the issue, that when in India how certain section of Muslims sympathize with Pakistan? Though the ISI backed terrorists have no regard for them when they decide to kill.

The only thing that drives them to do the unthinkable things is religion? They were fooled by the communal electorate system introduced by British and then fooled by Jinnah as he asked them to vote for Muslim league in the name of allah, if this is not enough they were further hallucinated by this Khilafat stuff. And in the post independence period they are fooled continuously in the name of minorities by successive governments of India. This is a real question and a real issue. When a Muslim hoists a Pakistan flag in India and burns an Indian flag in protest, there are some profound ramifications behind that act. What makes him think that his life will be better off in Pakistan and not here? That means given the opportunity he could have very well migrated to Pakistan or he could have demanded that the place where he is living right now to be declared as a part of Pakistan? Can we safely say that if the economic status of an average Muslim is up to the mark he will be satisfied? If the economic growth and development is the only solution then why in developed countries including US and Europe, despite enjoying greater standards of life they still end up being recruited by terrorist organizations? That argument also needs to be verified.

As I have always maintained that for the greater stability of world, stability of South Asia (Erstwhile Greater India) is important. If we have to stack it in Pareto all the known issues of this region, religious terrorism will stand out, and to understand that phenomena study of Muslims as a social group in my opinion is relevant. When a Pak based terrorist group goes for a recruitment drive they won’t knock the door of a Sikh or a Jain but a Muslim. If we have to deduce that only because of lack growth Muslims are attracted towards Terrorism then the culprit is the Indian State. 

There are great books which nail this identity crisis of Muslims. My intention was to keep this analysis with in a time window say since independence till now etc.

Since that you have already passed the judgment that I am xenophophic without even resorting to elementary principles of natural justice, there is nothing much to say. Only a neutral referee must say who is prejudiced here. Thanks for your time.

Why Muslims of India should stop behaving like a herded lot?

In the current scenario whoever is talking (Just talking not doing) about interests of Muslims will be declared instantly as a secular mascot. Once such soft words are uttered, political parties expect Muslims to vote en masse to that specific political entity. The Brits have played this type of divisive politics through communal representation, ie., where Muslims will vote for Muslim candidates and Hindus will vote for Hindu candidates though this was never a demand of any major section of Hindus, this was understandably done to please Muslims and pit them against Hindus which actually worked out to the benefit of British.

For nearly eight centuries Muslim Invaders/rulers ruled this massive continent through force, threat and coercion, not to mention the atrocities endured by Hindus. Can you imagine this happening in a Muslim majority country? I bet you cannot.

It is true that the arrogant and egomaniac Jinnah wanted a separate land to be carved out for Muslims but significant section chose to remain in India, and they must be feeling lucky for that right now. In a country where individual dignity is constitutionally guaranteed there is going to be no benefit if they fall prey to verbal niceties of so the called secular parties which treat them as votes not humans.

For once they have realized that organizations like RSS and BJP trying to represent the unheard voices of Hindus in an organized manner, the short sighted political parties mainly the likes of congress have chosen to play the role of messiah for Muslims and started demonizing Hindus as villains, so they should vote en masse to them instead of BJP.

For a very long time Muslims have behaved like a herd which was fooled by false leaders, Jinnah is a relevant example. In late 1920's and/or in early 1930 when it fought elections it lost squarely to Congress even in Muslim majority areas. Then in the next elections Immoral Jinnah sought to use name of Allah and asked all Muslims to vote his league in the name of Allah, then everyone did. This is one distinct feature of Muslims within the context of South Asia where they can be politically mobilized without much of a trouble in the name of religion.

Muslims being the next major religious group after Hindus, it is natural for the short sighted political parties to play the secular card for their own benefits. There are encouraging signs that Muslims becoming more of a heterogeneous society now, where no one can fool them in the name of god, if that becomes more apparent than it is good for country in general and Muslims in particular. It is fore most for all the Muslims to realize that their ancestors once in the past were Hindus and their Hindu ancestry is undisputed. What is in Islam that you cannot live peacefully with people of other religions? Many say it was not the original intent of Islam but it was distorted by wahabis.

And the perpetual discussion of 2002 riots has not helped any one. The zealot leftist forces in India are doing their best to keep this alive and Muslims are just the victims of anxiety. For once we should realize that 2002 riots are repercussion of burning a train and the killing of around 60 people. The judgment of media trail is already out and they have convicted the state administration and Modi, how foolish it is? then why do we have courts? If Hindus were ever have to enumerate and perpetuate the genocides committed by Muslim league it would become an endless affair, let’s take the example of mother of all genocides, it was the violence unleashed after the call of day of direct action by Jinnah in 1946 where thousands of Hindus were killed, women were raped, men forcibly converted and women forced to marry Muslim men. After such atrocities committed mainly through instigation of Muslim league in Noakhali (famously called as Noakhali Genocide), Gandhi said:

"I would far rather see India’s women trained to wield arms than that they should feel helpless"

So therefore I would choose to blame the leadership of Muslim league, for Muslims they never had a moral leadership to guide them in a saner path.

One thing is very clear for all that Pakistan tried to achieve or is trying to achieve through religion, it has nothing to offer on the socio-economic platform and in terms of better standards of living for its citizens. And I can only hope Indian Muslims will cleverly identify who is corrupt and who is not when it comes to voting in the upcoming elections and punish the parties which treated them like a bunch of votes, and demand rights from the state as a citizen of India instead of doing it as a Muslim, thereby keeping their religious affiliation as their private affair and not allowing politics to mix with it.