10-06-2008, 05:42 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Why has Sibal trashed himself? </b>
Pioneer.com
Reporter's notebook : Sidharth Mishra
This is for the second week in running that the notebook deals with Jamia Millia Islamia. The propagators of a particular viewpoint, which this column seeks to counter, have already gone to the town as this being a campaign against the university which seeks to promote a secular ethos. I wish to explain that the campaign is not against Jamia, the centre of learning but Jamia Nagar, which seeks to encroach upon the secular credentials of the university.
The difference between Jamia Millia Islamia and Jamia Nagar is same as that between former Union Minister Arif Mohammed Khan and the local councilor Asif Mohammed Khan. While I am no admirer of Arif Mohammed Khan's hop-step-jump politics but there are doubts about his erudition and progressive ideas. Probably it's his liberal views and ideas which make him a misfit in most of the political parties including the BJP.
But there is no taking away from him the fact that he has been the only tall Muslim or Secular leader to show the courage of conviction in denouncing the encroachment on the liberal-secular credentials of Jamia Milia Islamia by the residents of Jamia Nagar. Unlike Arif, his brother Asif, who has been a long term councilor from Jamia Nagar, has propagated the theorem of ghettoisation.
<b>He distributed pro-Osama Bin Laden literature and more than often has joined the anti-national chorus, whenever an effort was made to get the squatters from Jamia Nagar clear the land belonging to Jamia Millia Islamia. It took determination of then Jamia Vice-Chancellor Lieutenant General MA Zaki and then Deputy Commissioner of Police Sudhir Yadav to reclaim land from Jamia Nagar and build a boundary around it.</b>
<b>This year for the first time in the history of Jamia, classes had to be suspended in the afternoon all through the month of Ramzan to allow students to offer namaz.</b> There has been a practice for half-a-century that Jamia has been in existence to allow recess on Friday afternoons. "By allowing the recess all through Ramzan, the whole purpose of fasting is defeated. The idea is to fast while doing your normal work. But the culture has changed. Demanding recess is indicative of this dangerous change and nobody is ready to arrest it," a Muslim teacher of the university recently told this reporter.
The teacher is asking too much from the university and political leadership. Everybody is playing to the gallery. Jamia Vice-Chancellor Mushirul Hasan complains, read his interview given last Sunday to a national daily, that we do not want to hear liberal Muslim voices. His complaint has no merit. There has always been respect for the contribution of Muslims in whichever field they are. They have been heard with poise and attention. But when views bordering to subversion are expressed they must be opposed and condemned. And the condemnation should be with the same vigour as in the case of denouncing the vandalism of Sangh affiliates, lest it give the saffron groups an opportunity to criticize us of bias.
Probably Vice-Chancellor Mushirul Hasan realizes that being liberal doesn't help a Muslim's progress in the Indian political scenario. He is mouthing the sentiments of local MLA Parvez Hashmi, who from day one protested the encounter in Jamia Nagar. <b>Hashmi naturally was addressing his constituency. Students and teachers of Jamia don't form a substantial vote-bank but the residents of Jamia Nagar do. </b>Hashmi for long has been fighting battle with Asif Mohammed Khan to retain his control over the Okhla constituency. Jamia Nagar is part of this constituency.
The bigger tragedy, however, is that it's not just Parvez Hashmi or minority vote-bank agents like Amar Singh who are mouthing the case of Jamia Nagar. Having given support to the UPA Government, Samajwadi Party is threatening to withdraw support on anything and everything. <b>But why an eminent jurist like Kapil Sibal reduced himself to be the pastor of Asif Mohammed Khan's philosophy. The answer lies in the fact he too has to take care of the Muslim voters of Chandni Chowk. But is a seat in the Parliament everything for one of the more progressive faces of Indian politics? Sibal represents Congress, a party of all classes, communities and castes. His bigger role is that of the spokesperson of the party and the Government and not mere a representative of country's smallest parliamentary constituency.</b>
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Pioneer.com
Reporter's notebook : Sidharth Mishra
This is for the second week in running that the notebook deals with Jamia Millia Islamia. The propagators of a particular viewpoint, which this column seeks to counter, have already gone to the town as this being a campaign against the university which seeks to promote a secular ethos. I wish to explain that the campaign is not against Jamia, the centre of learning but Jamia Nagar, which seeks to encroach upon the secular credentials of the university.
The difference between Jamia Millia Islamia and Jamia Nagar is same as that between former Union Minister Arif Mohammed Khan and the local councilor Asif Mohammed Khan. While I am no admirer of Arif Mohammed Khan's hop-step-jump politics but there are doubts about his erudition and progressive ideas. Probably it's his liberal views and ideas which make him a misfit in most of the political parties including the BJP.
But there is no taking away from him the fact that he has been the only tall Muslim or Secular leader to show the courage of conviction in denouncing the encroachment on the liberal-secular credentials of Jamia Milia Islamia by the residents of Jamia Nagar. Unlike Arif, his brother Asif, who has been a long term councilor from Jamia Nagar, has propagated the theorem of ghettoisation.
<b>He distributed pro-Osama Bin Laden literature and more than often has joined the anti-national chorus, whenever an effort was made to get the squatters from Jamia Nagar clear the land belonging to Jamia Millia Islamia. It took determination of then Jamia Vice-Chancellor Lieutenant General MA Zaki and then Deputy Commissioner of Police Sudhir Yadav to reclaim land from Jamia Nagar and build a boundary around it.</b>
<b>This year for the first time in the history of Jamia, classes had to be suspended in the afternoon all through the month of Ramzan to allow students to offer namaz.</b> There has been a practice for half-a-century that Jamia has been in existence to allow recess on Friday afternoons. "By allowing the recess all through Ramzan, the whole purpose of fasting is defeated. The idea is to fast while doing your normal work. But the culture has changed. Demanding recess is indicative of this dangerous change and nobody is ready to arrest it," a Muslim teacher of the university recently told this reporter.
The teacher is asking too much from the university and political leadership. Everybody is playing to the gallery. Jamia Vice-Chancellor Mushirul Hasan complains, read his interview given last Sunday to a national daily, that we do not want to hear liberal Muslim voices. His complaint has no merit. There has always been respect for the contribution of Muslims in whichever field they are. They have been heard with poise and attention. But when views bordering to subversion are expressed they must be opposed and condemned. And the condemnation should be with the same vigour as in the case of denouncing the vandalism of Sangh affiliates, lest it give the saffron groups an opportunity to criticize us of bias.
Probably Vice-Chancellor Mushirul Hasan realizes that being liberal doesn't help a Muslim's progress in the Indian political scenario. He is mouthing the sentiments of local MLA Parvez Hashmi, who from day one protested the encounter in Jamia Nagar. <b>Hashmi naturally was addressing his constituency. Students and teachers of Jamia don't form a substantial vote-bank but the residents of Jamia Nagar do. </b>Hashmi for long has been fighting battle with Asif Mohammed Khan to retain his control over the Okhla constituency. Jamia Nagar is part of this constituency.
The bigger tragedy, however, is that it's not just Parvez Hashmi or minority vote-bank agents like Amar Singh who are mouthing the case of Jamia Nagar. Having given support to the UPA Government, Samajwadi Party is threatening to withdraw support on anything and everything. <b>But why an eminent jurist like Kapil Sibal reduced himself to be the pastor of Asif Mohammed Khan's philosophy. The answer lies in the fact he too has to take care of the Muslim voters of Chandni Chowk. But is a seat in the Parliament everything for one of the more progressive faces of Indian politics? Sibal represents Congress, a party of all classes, communities and castes. His bigger role is that of the spokesperson of the party and the Government and not mere a representative of country's smallest parliamentary constituency.</b>
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