I did have great interest in understanding the society around me and was doing social work in due course. My first foray into social work was in trying to associate with the trade Union movement. On 6th December my whole being was shattered when I watched with horror of the demolition of the mosque. This was preceded by the communal violence in the route of the Yatra taken out by Advani for the issue of Ram Temple at the spot where the mosque stood. The rath yatra was leaving a trail of violence behind it. It was in the aftermath of demolition and accompanying violence in Mumbai that I was shaken to the core. On the top of the demolition of 450 years old National Heritage; many a cities, primarily Mumbai-Surat witnessed an unprecedented violence against the Muslims.
I realized it was the handiwork of communal forces who want to polarize the society. To combat this communal politics, I was forced to introspect about the Hindu Muslim rations in India. I was born in Jhang district, (West Punjab) which is now in Pakistan just a couple of years before the partition tragedy. During migration from Punjab, our family did suffer hardships and loss of valuable lives and also of some property. It was a total struggle to resettle in Nagpur, where my grandfather used to come in lean agriculture seasons to do the trade in clothes. Family was having a struggling time in coming to terms with the new situation. There were few mentions of the tragedy faced by family due to migration. Still some uncles used to mention the horrid stories of the migration. It did have some impact on me. The playful childhood and schooling was more fascinating at the time.
In due course I started liking reading Hindi literature while pursuing the Hindi exam of Visharad. It was the time that Munshi Premchand became my favorite writer. This literature showed me the mirror of our society. Coupled with this I could see the social norms, festivals and society’s diversity sitting in my grandfather’s shop, which also acted as the study room for the children. We could enjoy the Ramlila processions, Ganesh Festival and Muharram’s Tazia with equal pleasure and excitement. In school I had some Muslim friends and it was no big deal. My father was writing the account books in Urdu. I did not see any malice against Muslims as such. In higher classes one Muslim became my closest friend and we were spending time with each other for studying.
In the school curriculum we had a chapter on poetry on Lord Krishna and I was not at all surprised that in these poems as Surdas was there, Rahim and Raskhan had equal place. Till completion of my post graduation in Medicine (1973) I did not see too many prejudices against Muslims, though Muslims were living in two major areas of Nagpur. With my Trade union related work, later many workers shared that every week many of them used to visit the Dargah. I did not find anything unusual in it as communal consciousness was under the wraps at that time. After joining IIT, initially I was working in IIT hospital and that gave me a chance to interact with most of the IIT staff.
Once on the eve of Ganesh festival a group of people from the campus came over to my house to collect the contribution. Surprisingly it was led by a Muslim who was secretary of the celebration committee. One interesting incident of during this time is that I took my children to Haji Malang Dargah, in Kalyan, near Mumbai.
Even then I felt Dargahs belong to Muslims. Here was the surprise for me. While climbing up the hill of the Dargah, I noticed that the shops there not only kept Floral Sheets but also Coconuts. People offering this to the Haji as per their own religion. The bigger surprise was that the chief of the shrine was Pundit Gopal Vishnu Ketkar. I then recalled that Nagpur’s Tajuddin Baba Dargah, which I used to frequently pass by, had visitors from both communities. Once while travelling to Rajasthan a saw a mixed crowd walking to the shrine of Ramdev Baba Pir.
Many of my painful observations began after the Babri demolition. Student groups were shouting Jai Shri Ram in an aggressive way. There was a slogan which was shouted by the crowds mobilized by communal forces, Babar Ki Aulad: Jao Pakistan ya Kabristan (Sons of Babar Go to Pakistan or Graveyard). At the same time all these things troubled me a lot. As communal violence was targeting Muslims, I could see two of my Muslim research scholars and other Muslim students on campus, very disturbed. One of my students came to see me. He was very agitated and told me that they are very frightened of the violence raging the streets of Mumbai. Same student later made it a norm to visit the mosque very often, which he was not doing before the Mumbai violence of 1992-1993.
At this time I started looking back into incidents which had happened earlier. One of my neighbors, a Muslim Professor, had a religion neutral surname. We used to go to his place for dinner on Id. After the violence he displayed his first name which showed his Muslim identity. I decided to study the issue and what came as a great and pleasant surprise about Indian history was the interaction between Hindus and Muslims. Even Babar who was abused so much was invited to this part of South Asia by a Hindu King Rana Sanga. Same Babar in his will to son Humayun (Kept in National Museum, Delhi), advises his son to respect the sentiments of Hindus and let them live and pray as per their traditions.
To understand Indian history I picked up ‘Discovery of India’ by Jawaharlal Nehru once again. His very observations of India history show that Indian culture is multi-layered and accepts diversity with open arms. Starting from Greeks, Shakas, Huns, Christians and Muslims all enriched diverse aspects of our life. The most striking example of this interaction is the celebration of our birthdays, where cutting of cake has become a mandatory item. While India exported spices, mangoes and bananas apart from other things, the delicious items like Gulab Jamun, Jalebi and Biryani came from Iran.
Nehru calls Indian Culture as Ganga Jamuni Tehjeeb to represent broad aspects of our culture including clothes, food habits, music and literature. It is this interaction due to which Urdu was born as a synthesis of Persian and Awadhi. Many of our noted laureates had deep knowledge of Urdu literature like my favorite Premchand. I saw in my own family my father could read and write in Urdu only.
I am personally very fond of classical music, the branch of which is called Hindustani classical music. The greats in this field begin from Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Dagar brothers and just a decade ago, Ustad Bismillah Khan, the Shehnai maestro. Many Muslim kings promoting Sanskrit devotional songs like Adilshah of Bijapur compiled a book of songs. In this the opening song is devoted to Goddess Sarswati. One also recalls the now defamed Mughals, who sponsored and took interest in Persian translation of Upanishads. In the forefront of this is Dara Shikoh. There also used to be celebrations of Hindu festivals in Mughal courts, Jashna-a-Charagan (festival of lights, Deepavali) in particular.
Since history has been used as a major weapon in spreading the divisive communal ideology, which in turn is the base of Hate in society. It was all a world of surprises. How Akbar’s army was led by Raja Mansingh, How Raja Jaising had a prefix of MIrza and was a General in Aurangzeb’s army. While in our Maharashtra Shivaji is revered he is also presented as an anti-Muslim king. Surprisingly his confidential secretary was Maulana Haider Ali.
Once I happened to be in Sangli for a program. To my utter amazement, I saw a procession being taken out in Shivaji Maharaj’s honor; with twelve Muslim Generals of Shivaji Maharaja. On another trip with my family I visited the Raigad Fort of Shivaji Maharaj. There we first saw Lord Jagdeeshwar Temple, and at some distance a mosque built by Shivaji. On yet another trip with the family we were shown the tomb of Afzal Khan, who was killed by Shivaji but as a mark of respect for the slain General, Maharaj got it built.
Personally as I got involved in anti communal work, many friends did appreciate the small facts I was trying to bring to people’s notice. At the same I was getting a few phone calls abusing me and emails threatening me and my family. One of the emails stated that you are a Hindu; your name is Ram, shame on you for doing anti Hindu work!
I have been travelling to Gujarat very often. On one of the trips I wanted to take a small stroll in a particular direction. My friends told me not to go in that direction. To my amazement when I asked for a reason for that, he said there is a Border on that side. I naturally asked if it Indo Pak border. The reply was ohh no that side Muslims are living! In yet another incident in Anand, young friends were discussing how professionals, particularly doctors and lawyers, are identified by their religion rather than by competence. And people select these professionals based on their religion. Post 2002 Gujarat carnage, the polarization of Gujarat has peaked and Muslims are living more in ghettos.
Our society in the last four decades has seen a very downward turn towards intolerance on the grounds of religion. As such India had been essentially a diverse society summarized in the phrase ‘Unity in Diversity’. We need efforts to revive the plural values and combat the misconceptions due to which Hate and consequent violence are increasing.
