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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Gandhi, the moulana of Muslim appeasement-V
V SUNDARAM
    Mahatma Gandhi's blind surrender to the Ali brothers first resulted in the Moplah rebellion in Malabar district of Kerala in 1921. The same aggressive Khilafat spirit was shown by the Muslims of Kohat, a small town near Rawalpindi in the North West Frontier Province (NWFT) in 1924. In 1924, Kohat's population was estimated at about 15,000. Its people were mostly Muslims. On 10 September, 1924, in one day, 800 Hindus were butchered by the Muslims in a rioting which began the previous day. Why did the Muslims in majority in Kohat attack the defenceless Hindus? This can be answered most effectively through the brilliant words of Dr K D Prithipal, Professor of Comparative Religion, University of Alberta in Canada: 'Muslims will only live as an oppressive majority and a turbulent minority'.
    Mahatma Gandhi went to Rawalpindi along with Maulana Shaukat Ali on the 4 February, 1925 to meet the Hindu refugees and the Mussalmans of Kohat. The Hindus had already given their written statements to which they had nothing more to add. The Muslim Working Committee of Kohat did not come. They sent a wire to Maulana Shaukat Ali saying: 'A reconciliation has already been effected between Hindus and Muslims. In our opinion, this question should not be reopened. The Muslims should therefore be excused for not sending their representatives to Rawalpindi.'
    The Muslim lawlessness in Kohat was again provoked by the release on bail of one Jeevan Das, Secretary of the Sanatan Dharam Sabha of Rawalpindi by the British District Magistrate on 8th March 1925. Jeevan Das's only crime was that he had distributed a booklet or pamphlet containing a poem which happened to offend the sentiments of some Muslims. Any civilized man would ask the question as to how in such an overwhelmingly Muslim Town could any Hindu risk such an annoyance? The Hindus as a whole graciously offered a written apology which was not sufficient for placating the Muslim sentiment.
    Amidst his continuous double-talking and amidst his wholehearted involvement in the Khilafat Movement, Mahatma Gandhi seemed to show some understanding at least on one occasion on 10th February, 1925. In a speech at the Satyagraha Ashram, Sabarmathi, Gandhi said: 'The Hindus in Kohat have woken up and the Muslims could not tolerate the awakening; those Muslims looking for a chance to wreak vengeance found it in the form of Jeevan Das's booklet.'
    Several contemporary Hindu writers who knew the facts have commented that Jeevan Das's pamphlet itself was the logical culmination of a known and established process of Muslim misbehaviour towards the Hindu community in general and Hindu women in particular. The local Muslims were very fond of abducting Hindu women, married as well as unmarried, and converting them to Islam through fear of sword. Jeevan Das's booklet contained strong strictures against such a barbarous practice.
    After showing pretended cosmetic understanding of the helpless plight of the Hindus in Kohat in 1924, Gandhi gave this callous advice in his 'Young India': '....Even if Musalmans refuse to make approaches and even if the Hindus of Kohat may have to lose their all, I should still say that they must not think of returning to Kohat till there is complete reconciliation between them and the Musalmans, and until they feel that they are able to live at peace with the latter without the protection of the British bayonet. This is a counsel of perfection. I can tender no other advice. For me, it is the only practical advice I can give. Hindus in Kohat were not nationalists. They want to return not as nationalists but for the purpose of regaining their possessions.'
    What does this all mean? According to Gandhi, if hundred Hindu women were to return to Kohat and were raped in a brutal manner by the Muslims, they should all be determined to avoid taking any assistance from what Mahatma Gandhi called 'the British bayonet', which only meant the British Government. Gandhi was of the view that Hindus should cheerfully submit themselves to the carnal acts of the marauders. Only then, he would consider them all as true nationalists! Mahatma Gandhi said that he was giving practical advice to the Hindus when in fact he was giving only a heartless and cruel advice. When a householder finds his wife or children, other near ones and dear ones murdered, with his property set on fire, what an extraordinarily heartless advice to offer!! Is it not downright madness to talk of Swaraj and nationalism to a common helpless citizen when he had faced the total destruction of his everything? To return to one's home for the purpose of regaining one's lawful possessions was viewed by Mahatma Gandhi as a selfish act. Mahatma Gandhi was perhaps a
    schizophrenic if not a totally deranged person.
    Let us again turn to the Muslim-loving words of Mahatma Gandhi in 1924: 'Sometimes Muslims kidnap a woman and make her embrace Islam. I do not understand how, in this manner, she can become a Muslim. She does not know the Koran. Alas! She knows very little even of her own religion. I cannot understand how she can become a Muslim. ... Our true wealth is not money, land or gold. They can be pillaged. But our true wealth is religion. When we abandon that we can be said to have pillaged our homes. You Hindus are losing much through love of wealth and life.' All this will show that to Mahatma Gandhi, the Muslims of Kohat were friends while the Hindus, who comprised a minuscule proportion of Kohat's population, were anti-national cowards!
    Mahatma Gandhi's vision seems to be as current today as it was in 1924. Dr. Manmohan and his UPA Government are endeavouring to translate the cosmic dream of Mahatma Gandhi into a concrete reality through the 'New 15 Point Programme for the Welfare of Minorities'. Recently our communalist Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh spoke the rabidly communal words of a mofussil politician fighting in Municipal elections. I am referring to his inaugural speech at Dalit-Minority International Conference organized by Ram Vilas Paswan of Lok Janasakti party in New Delhi on 27 December, 2006. To quote his essentially unfortunate and impolitic words: 'Some minorities in India have done better than others. For example in India, minority communities like the Jains and the Sikhs have fared relatively well from the process of social and economic development. However, other minorities, especially the Muslim community in certain parts of our country, have not had an equal share of the fruits of development.'
    I can see that Honourable Dr Manmohan Singh is a Sikh and considers himself a member of a 'Minority Community'.
    By his own recent speech, he has shown that he has total contempt for the letter and spirit of our Constitution. If this is not correct, then he is guilty of either voluntary ignorance as a third grade politician or involuntary ignorance as a routine Congress Minister, as the case may be. To quote the most brilliant and appropriate words of Dr S Kalyanaraman, an International Civil Servant in this context: 'According to the Constitution, persons professing Sikh, Jaina or Buddha Religions are Hindu, that is the majority in Bharatham, and Sikh, Jaina or Buddha adherents do NOT constitute a minority. This is the established law according to many Supreme Court Judgements. How can Prime Minister make a statement in violation of the Constitutional mandate? Dr Manmohan Singh adumbrates 'Minorityism' as a State policy which is against the spirit, letter and basic structure of the Constitution. How can a Government, whose executive head violates the Constitution in a written speech, after taking an oath to uphold the Constitution, introduce new definitions of minorities (unauthorised by the Constitution), be eligible to continue in power?' Dr Manmohan Singh's approach to minorityism cuts at the root of national unity envisaged by the Constitution.
    Dr Kalyanaraman is mathematically right. Explanation II given under Article 25 of the Constitution of India states: 'In sub-clause (b) of clause (2) the reference to Hindus shall be construed as including a reference to persons professing the Sikh, Jain or Buddhist Religion, and the reference to Hindu Religious Institutions shall be construed accordingly.'
    In short, the definition of 'Hindu' is categorical and unambiguous in the Indian Constitution and includes within its fold those professing Sikh, Jain or Buddhist Religions.
    In a recent Judgement, Supreme Court has declared: 'Differential treatments to linguistic minorities based on language within the State is understandable but if the same concept for minorities on the basis of religion is encouraged, the whole country, which is already under class and social conflicts due to various divisive forces, will further face divisions on the basis of religious diversities. Such claims to minority status based on religion would increase in the fond hope of various sections of people getting special protections, privileges and treatment as part of Constitutional guarantee. Encouragement to such fissiparous tendencies would be a serious jolt to the secular structure of Constitutional democracy. We should guard against making our country akin to a theocratic State based on multi-nationalism. The State will treat all religions and religious groups equally and with equal respect without in any manner interfering with their individual rights of religion, faith and worship'.
    Dr Manmohan Singh's legacy as the disastrous head of an irresponsible Government will be that of pampering and pandering to Minorityism, creating a State based on religions, while the Constitution of India enjoins that the State shall have no religion.
    (Concluded)
    (The writer is a retired IAS officer)
    e-mail the writer at vsundaram@newstodaynet.com<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Gandhi, the moulana of Muslim appeasement-V
V SUNDARAM
    Mahatma Gandhi's blind surrender to the Ali brothers first resulted in the Moplah rebellion in Malabar district of Kerala in 1921. The same aggressive Khilafat spirit was shown by the Muslims of Kohat, a small town near Rawalpindi in the North West Frontier Province (NWFT) in 1924. In 1924, Kohat's population was estimated at about 15,000. Its people were mostly Muslims. On 10 September, 1924, in one day, 800 Hindus were butchered by the Muslims in a rioting which began the previous day. Why did the Muslims in majority in Kohat attack the defenceless Hindus? This can be answered most effectively through the brilliant words of Dr K D Prithipal, Professor of Comparative Religion, University of Alberta in Canada: 'Muslims will only live as an oppressive majority and a turbulent minority'.
    Mahatma Gandhi went to Rawalpindi along with Maulana Shaukat Ali on the 4 February, 1925 to meet the Hindu refugees and the Mussalmans of Kohat. The Hindus had already given their written statements to which they had nothing more to add. The Muslim Working Committee of Kohat did not come. They sent a wire to Maulana Shaukat Ali saying: 'A reconciliation has already been effected between Hindus and Muslims. In our opinion, this question should not be reopened. The Muslims should therefore be excused for not sending their representatives to Rawalpindi.'
    The Muslim lawlessness in Kohat was again provoked by the release on bail of one Jeevan Das, Secretary of the Sanatan Dharam Sabha of Rawalpindi by the British District Magistrate on 8th March 1925. Jeevan Das's only crime was that he had distributed a booklet or pamphlet containing a poem which happened to offend the sentiments of some Muslims. Any civilized man would ask the question as to how in such an overwhelmingly Muslim Town could any Hindu risk such an annoyance? The Hindus as a whole graciously offered a written apology which was not sufficient for placating the Muslim sentiment.
    Amidst his continuous double-talking and amidst his wholehearted involvement in the Khilafat Movement, Mahatma Gandhi seemed to show some understanding at least on one occasion on 10th February, 1925. In a speech at the Satyagraha Ashram, Sabarmathi, Gandhi said: 'The Hindus in Kohat have woken up and the Muslims could not tolerate the awakening; those Muslims looking for a chance to wreak vengeance found it in the form of Jeevan Das's booklet.'
    Several contemporary Hindu writers who knew the facts have commented that Jeevan Das's pamphlet itself was the logical culmination of a known and established process of Muslim misbehaviour towards the Hindu community in general and Hindu women in particular. The local Muslims were very fond of abducting Hindu women, married as well as unmarried, and converting them to Islam through fear of sword. Jeevan Das's booklet contained strong strictures against such a barbarous practice.
    After showing pretended cosmetic understanding of the helpless plight of the Hindus in Kohat in 1924, Gandhi gave this callous advice in his 'Young India': '....Even if Musalmans refuse to make approaches and even if the Hindus of Kohat may have to lose their all, I should still say that they must not think of returning to Kohat till there is complete reconciliation between them and the Musalmans, and until they feel that they are able to live at peace with the latter without the protection of the British bayonet. This is a counsel of perfection. I can tender no other advice. For me, it is the only practical advice I can give. Hindus in Kohat were not nationalists. They want to return not as nationalists but for the purpose of regaining their possessions.'
    What does this all mean? According to Gandhi, if hundred Hindu women were to return to Kohat and were raped in a brutal manner by the Muslims, they should all be determined to avoid taking any assistance from what Mahatma Gandhi called 'the British bayonet', which only meant the British Government. Gandhi was of the view that Hindus should cheerfully submit themselves to the carnal acts of the marauders. Only then, he would consider them all as true nationalists! Mahatma Gandhi said that he was giving practical advice to the Hindus when in fact he was giving only a heartless and cruel advice. When a householder finds his wife or children, other near ones and dear ones murdered, with his property set on fire, what an extraordinarily heartless advice to offer!! Is it not downright madness to talk of Swaraj and nationalism to a common helpless citizen when he had faced the total destruction of his everything? To return to one's home for the purpose of regaining one's lawful possessions was viewed by Mahatma Gandhi as a selfish act. Mahatma Gandhi was perhaps a
    schizophrenic if not a totally deranged person.
    Let us again turn to the Muslim-loving words of Mahatma Gandhi in 1924: 'Sometimes Muslims kidnap a woman and make her embrace Islam. I do not understand how, in this manner, she can become a Muslim. She does not know the Koran. Alas! She knows very little even of her own religion. I cannot understand how she can become a Muslim. ... Our true wealth is not money, land or gold. They can be pillaged. But our true wealth is religion. When we abandon that we can be said to have pillaged our homes. You Hindus are losing much through love of wealth and life.' All this will show that to Mahatma Gandhi, the Muslims of Kohat were friends while the Hindus, who comprised a minuscule proportion of Kohat's population, were anti-national cowards!
    Mahatma Gandhi's vision seems to be as current today as it was in 1924. Dr. Manmohan and his UPA Government are endeavouring to translate the cosmic dream of Mahatma Gandhi into a concrete reality through the 'New 15 Point Programme for the Welfare of Minorities'. Recently our communalist Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh spoke the rabidly communal words of a mofussil politician fighting in Municipal elections. I am referring to his inaugural speech at Dalit-Minority International Conference organized by Ram Vilas Paswan of Lok Janasakti party in New Delhi on 27 December, 2006. To quote his essentially unfortunate and impolitic words: 'Some minorities in India have done better than others. For example in India, minority communities like the Jains and the Sikhs have fared relatively well from the process of social and economic development. However, other minorities, especially the Muslim community in certain parts of our country, have not had an equal share of the fruits of development.'
    I can see that Honourable Dr Manmohan Singh is a Sikh and considers himself a member of a 'Minority Community'.
    By his own recent speech, he has shown that he has total contempt for the letter and spirit of our Constitution. If this is not correct, then he is guilty of either voluntary ignorance as a third grade politician or involuntary ignorance as a routine Congress Minister, as the case may be. To quote the most brilliant and appropriate words of Dr S Kalyanaraman, an International Civil Servant in this context: 'According to the Constitution, persons professing Sikh, Jaina or Buddha Religions are Hindu, that is the majority in Bharatham, and Sikh, Jaina or Buddha adherents do NOT constitute a minority. This is the established law according to many Supreme Court Judgements. How can Prime Minister make a statement in violation of the Constitutional mandate? Dr Manmohan Singh adumbrates 'Minorityism' as a State policy which is against the spirit, letter and basic structure of the Constitution. How can a Government, whose executive head violates the Constitution in a written speech, after taking an oath to uphold the Constitution, introduce new definitions of minorities (unauthorised by the Constitution), be eligible to continue in power?' Dr Manmohan Singh's approach to minorityism cuts at the root of national unity envisaged by the Constitution.
    Dr Kalyanaraman is mathematically right. Explanation II given under Article 25 of the Constitution of India states: 'In sub-clause (b) of clause (2) the reference to Hindus shall be construed as including a reference to persons professing the Sikh, Jain or Buddhist Religion, and the reference to Hindu Religious Institutions shall be construed accordingly.'
    In short, the definition of 'Hindu' is categorical and unambiguous in the Indian Constitution and includes within its fold those professing Sikh, Jain or Buddhist Religions.
    In a recent Judgement, Supreme Court has declared: 'Differential treatments to linguistic minorities based on language within the State is understandable but if the same concept for minorities on the basis of religion is encouraged, the whole country, which is already under class and social conflicts due to various divisive forces, will further face divisions on the basis of religious diversities. Such claims to minority status based on religion would increase in the fond hope of various sections of people getting special protections, privileges and treatment as part of Constitutional guarantee. Encouragement to such fissiparous tendencies would be a serious jolt to the secular structure of Constitutional democracy. We should guard against making our country akin to a theocratic State based on multi-nationalism. The State will treat all religions and religious groups equally and with equal respect without in any manner interfering with their individual rights of religion, faith and worship'.
    Dr Manmohan Singh's legacy as the disastrous head of an irresponsible Government will be that of pampering and pandering to Minorityism, creating a State based on religions, while the Constitution of India enjoins that the State shall have no religion.
    (Concluded)
    (The writer is a retired IAS officer)
    e-mail the writer at vsundaram@newstodaynet.com<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->