Step into Mayur Vihar Phase I, a colony in the eastern part of the Indian capital. There is hardly a sign or a hint here or in the adjoining areas that suggest it is a part of the same country that has just experienced the carnage in Gujarat. Within a range of less than a kilometer, there are some 20 mosques and at the appropriate times, the call to prayer can be heard. There are also churches and of course a gurdwara. This combination strongly asserts the message: This is secular India.
As India moved into the 55th year of its independence, against the background of events in Gujarat, it is essential to focus on what five and a half decades of independence have meant for Indian Muslims. This area in East Delhi is a clear illustration. Step into Indira Market which is dominated by car mechanics. Apart from their technical proficiency in turning an old car into a new one, what stands out is that more than 50 percent of them are Muslim. Move a bit further into a crowded market behind apartments occupied mostly by retired diplomats, servicemen or journalists and you will find 75 percent of the fruit-sellers are Muslim. No, they have not recently migrated from any particular zone; Ali is from Bihar, Noor Muhammad from Gorakhpur and Tasneem from Lucknow.
There is another group of fruit-sellers who push their carts down the streets, helping people to shop on their doorsteps. That religion has not prevented them from entering into “partnerships” is shown by Shamshad and Qamar Singh. The same message is conveyed by the partnership of Hasan and Rati Ram. The majority of tailors, hairdressers and of course meat-sellers in the area are Muslim. So are the carpenters and welders. The list of small businesses run by Muslims is endless.
It would be erroneous to dismiss the importance of Muslims to nothing more than minor economic ventures. That Muslims from the lower economic classes have created a place for themselves and established professional credibility by pursuing an independent position carries a strong message. Against the background of being marginalized in the race for jobs, rather than opt for higher education, they have chosen to pursue independent professions. Rather than be victimized on communal lines in the job market, they have chosen to be independent. Thus it has taken two decades for Muhammad Yamin, who began as an ordinary mechanic to become a full-fledged one with his own shop in Indira Market. One of his sons is now doing advanced training in automobile mechanics and the other is learning to do car bodywork and so their futures are well laid out.
When viewed from another angle, a different picture emerges. Muslims constitute roughly 12 percent of the Indian population yet they hold only two percent of top government jobs. Muslims are 18 percent of the population in Uttar Pradesh and yet of the 29 chief state ministers since independence, not one has been a Muslim. The same is true in West Bengal where Muslims are 24 percent of the population and also in Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu where they constitute about 10 percent of the population. Of the 33 chief ministers of Bihar, only one has been a Muslim even though Muslims are more than 12 percent of the state’s population. Kerala has had no Muslim governor and only one Muslim chief minister though Muslims are 23 percent of the state’s population. In the Lok Sabha too, the number of Muslims is far below their percentage in the general population. Statistically, there should be 16 Muslims from Uttar Pradesh but there are only eight; from Bihar the number should be eight, but there are only three. Instead of four Muslim MPs from Assam, only two are in the Lok Sabha. Rather than 11 from West Bengal, there are only six. From Andhra Pradesh, there should have been four MPs, but there is only one. From Karnataka, instead of three MPs, there are two, while from Kerala there should be four and there are only three.
What does this disparity in Muslim representation in the Indian Parliament indicate? Politically, the Indian parties, including the secular organizations and those claiming to represent Muslims, cannot as yet claim to have fully recognized the political significance of the Muslim vote. The political infrastructure on which the country rests represents only 50 percent of Muslims. Rather than be numbed by such disparity, Indian Muslims such as Hasan, Shamshad and others have carved out their own professional corners. The real challenge to communalism, propagated by politicians at the top, already exists in secularism at the grass-roots level. This area of East Delhi is only one example. Unfortunately, politicians of the Narendra Modi type have yet to grasp this reality!
