We need a second freedom struggle
Recently, when going through Urdu Book Review magazine of Oct-Dec 2008, I was suprised to see mention of one of my articles in the review of one book.
Read the full review here:
page 1
page 2
The article mentioned in the review was written for AFMI 2008 NY Convention:
We need a second freedom struggle
By Kashif-ul-Huda
Badruddin Tyabji, Rahimtulla M. Sayani, Nawab Syed Muhammad Bahadur, Syed Hasan Imam. Hakim Ajmal Khan,Maulana Mohammad Ali, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Dr. M. A.
Ansari. All these great leaders of India’s freedom movement made their mark as Congress’ past presidents.
Where are the Muslims leaders now? Our friends in Dalit movement, environmentalist, peace activists, members and movements of all hues and persuasion are looking for Muslim representation in their movement, but they fail to find any leaders that seem to be of some stature on the national scene and have credibility within their community. All leaders of national stature are either attached to a political party that has tasked them for delivering Muslim votes on Election Day, or they are members of a religious organization that doesn’t allow enough flexibility to reach
out to other movements and organizations.
For most political parties, it seems that there is another factor in play in the development or lack of Muslim leadership. Only those leaders are promoted who can deliver the Muslim vote bank to the respective party’s door steps. There are hardly any attempts to develop the genuine leadership of Muslims. Doing so, they know, will make them accountable to the lack of service to the Muslim community. How will they explain the sliding backwardness of the community while it ruled India for most of
that time?
So here we are, India’s population of 15 percent having no leader that it can trust, who can present its case on the national level, who can fight for its demands, or who can look after the community’s needs when decisions and policies are discussed at
the national and state level. A leadership that is vibrant enough to look beyond its immediate vicinity and community, needs to develop alliances and relationships for people fighting for their own legitimate rights, so that a broad social justice movement can take shape.
The Dalit movement, like other social justice movements, has been looking for Muslim partners for a number of years. To find Muslim leaders you have to go in search of them in the streets, you will find them in the masaajid, discover them in colleges and universities where you will see them keeping a low profile so as not to be forced to defend their patriotism. Yes, they can defend their patriotism, but defending after a few hundred times takes its toll, saps their energy and when odds are overwhelmingly against them, they prefer to lay low and strive to succeed in one or the other competitive exam, doing their best to boost the morale of the
community, the only way that they think they can.
These are the leaders that our friends in the Dalit movement should be looking for. They should seek them out, encourage them, and they will find the best partner for their fight for justice, to lead a united front against the oppression, for the development and progress of all Indians, regardless of their gender, caste, or
religion.
I would request my Muslim brothers and sisters to come out of their mohallas and bastis to take leadership roles for Muslims and for India. We have seen that recent trends of picking up educated and professionals on false pretext of terrorism. Many a lives have been ruined by false accusations of terrorism. Not everyone can be lucky like Dr. Mohammed Haneef to come out from that process. Many have been jailed for months and years, and some unfortunates like Khwaja Yunus have been killed in police custody.
We can not afford to be a mute spectator of the injustice around us. We have to speak out against it and speak forcefully and speak for all. The system does discriminate each community differently but the end result is always the same. To have justice and equality in the society all marginalized communities like
tribals, women, Dalits, and Muslims need to come together and work on issues that benefit everyone.
The struggle needs to be more than about one or a group of communities. It has to be about dignity of life, justice, education, transparency, participation, work, law & order for everyone. And this can be achieved only when we have leaders coming out of
grass root levels and from all communities. Just like the freedom movement that brought all communities together for a common goal, we need to start a second freedom movement this time freedom from social evils and discrimination.
Read the full review here:
page 1
page 2
The article mentioned in the review was written for AFMI 2008 NY Convention:
We need a second freedom struggle
By Kashif-ul-Huda
Badruddin Tyabji, Rahimtulla M. Sayani, Nawab Syed Muhammad Bahadur, Syed Hasan Imam. Hakim Ajmal Khan,Maulana Mohammad Ali, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Dr. M. A.
Ansari. All these great leaders of India’s freedom movement made their mark as Congress’ past presidents.
Where are the Muslims leaders now? Our friends in Dalit movement, environmentalist, peace activists, members and movements of all hues and persuasion are looking for Muslim representation in their movement, but they fail to find any leaders that seem to be of some stature on the national scene and have credibility within their community. All leaders of national stature are either attached to a political party that has tasked them for delivering Muslim votes on Election Day, or they are members of a religious organization that doesn’t allow enough flexibility to reach
out to other movements and organizations.
For most political parties, it seems that there is another factor in play in the development or lack of Muslim leadership. Only those leaders are promoted who can deliver the Muslim vote bank to the respective party’s door steps. There are hardly any attempts to develop the genuine leadership of Muslims. Doing so, they know, will make them accountable to the lack of service to the Muslim community. How will they explain the sliding backwardness of the community while it ruled India for most of
that time?
So here we are, India’s population of 15 percent having no leader that it can trust, who can present its case on the national level, who can fight for its demands, or who can look after the community’s needs when decisions and policies are discussed at
the national and state level. A leadership that is vibrant enough to look beyond its immediate vicinity and community, needs to develop alliances and relationships for people fighting for their own legitimate rights, so that a broad social justice movement can take shape.
The Dalit movement, like other social justice movements, has been looking for Muslim partners for a number of years. To find Muslim leaders you have to go in search of them in the streets, you will find them in the masaajid, discover them in colleges and universities where you will see them keeping a low profile so as not to be forced to defend their patriotism. Yes, they can defend their patriotism, but defending after a few hundred times takes its toll, saps their energy and when odds are overwhelmingly against them, they prefer to lay low and strive to succeed in one or the other competitive exam, doing their best to boost the morale of the
community, the only way that they think they can.
These are the leaders that our friends in the Dalit movement should be looking for. They should seek them out, encourage them, and they will find the best partner for their fight for justice, to lead a united front against the oppression, for the development and progress of all Indians, regardless of their gender, caste, or
religion.
I would request my Muslim brothers and sisters to come out of their mohallas and bastis to take leadership roles for Muslims and for India. We have seen that recent trends of picking up educated and professionals on false pretext of terrorism. Many a lives have been ruined by false accusations of terrorism. Not everyone can be lucky like Dr. Mohammed Haneef to come out from that process. Many have been jailed for months and years, and some unfortunates like Khwaja Yunus have been killed in police custody.
We can not afford to be a mute spectator of the injustice around us. We have to speak out against it and speak forcefully and speak for all. The system does discriminate each community differently but the end result is always the same. To have justice and equality in the society all marginalized communities like
tribals, women, Dalits, and Muslims need to come together and work on issues that benefit everyone.
The struggle needs to be more than about one or a group of communities. It has to be about dignity of life, justice, education, transparency, participation, work, law & order for everyone. And this can be achieved only when we have leaders coming out of
grass root levels and from all communities. Just like the freedom movement that brought all communities together for a common goal, we need to start a second freedom movement this time freedom from social evils and discrimination.
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