From: potturi@cs.uh.edu (Rahi Prakash Potturi)
Subject: Re: Yet more excerpts
Summary: Muslim situation in India 
Organization: Computer Science dept.,  Univ. of Houston (Main Campus)
Distribution: USA
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 1992 21:20:01 GMT


Mr. Arun Gupta writes:

<Re: Muslim Situation in India
<
<I would like to point out that Mohammed Nejatullah Siddiqui, whose
<credentials are : Professor of Economics in a university in Saudi
<Arabia, is, as far as I know, an Indian. If you read closely, you
<would see that he was formerly of Aligarh Muslim University. In
<any case, he is no more responsible for what goes in Saudi Arabia
<than you, dear reader, are for what goes on in the U.S. (if you
<are not a citizen of the U.S. , that is.)
<
<To give you an idea of the contributors to this book, they include:
<
<Faculty from J.N.U., Aligarh Muslim University, Osmania University,
<University of Delhi, S.V. College Ahmedabad, Burhania College, Bombay,
<New College, Madras
<
<Vice-Chancellor, Kashmir Univ., Srinagar,
<Pro-Vice Chancellor, Cochin Univ. of Science and Tech.
<Former Superintendent Anthropologist, Anthropological Survey of India,
<Calcutta, retd I.A.S officer, retd. Captain,
<journal editors.
<
<***
<
<I would like to ask people like Anil Trivedi and Kuram T.
<Narayana -- Which Muslims do you want to deal with, if not
<these ? If these people are `communal-leftist-liberal' etc.,
<then who is left ?
<
<Anil Trivedi wrote advice to the Muslims of India -- don't
<deal with just the people you like, that's a mistake.
<
<Yet, the intense dislike and unwillingness to listen to
<the authors I've posted here, is so intensely clear from
<their posts !!!
<
<-arun gupta
<ag3L@andrew.cmu.edu


My question is why should anyone be dealt with as a muslim, hindu or a
sikh. If your conscience is clear you can deal with them as individuals
and as citizens of India.

Let us deal with the average Indian. Let us deal with him/her as an
individual. Not as someone belonging to some region or religion. Let 
us stop this non-sense about considering muslims as a distinct set
inspite of the fact that they ARE a part of the mainstream India in
the form of enjoying its fundemental rights and suffering from its
deficiencies as all other Indians are.

Associating a lot of importance to the fact that someone is a Muslim,
will only lead to a host of unwanted and unhealthy syndromes like
insecurity among the community, pampering by the (self-proclaimed)
secularists, antagonism from the fundementalists and most importantly 
a sense of separateness from the mainstream India among the muslim community.

what is the use of talking about all these scholars' opinions. They hardly
are aware of the ground reality. An average muslim (like an auto mechanic or 
a construction worker) will never give you the reasons that these scholars
give for his penury. Muslims' problems do not lie in discrimination by
the rluers or the antagonism of the Hindu fundementalists. Instead, their
problems lie in the lack of education and some badly wanted leadership.
Muslim leadership, IMO, has always been either too elitist or too selfish
(even by the Indian political standards) or even both atonce. Syed Shaha-
buddin is a perfect example of the first kind, while Salahuddin Owaisi
(Majlis, Hyderabad) is an example of the second type. They hardly care for
an average suffering muslim. Shahabuddin's interests lie in devising 
fabulous thories like 'seige mentality' of muslims etc. and generally
promote himself in the media rather than do any serious groundwork at
the grass roots level. And those that do have a grass root understanding,
like Sulatan Salahuddin Owaisi are too busy making monetary profits or 
forcing their fundementalist opinions on the gullible populace causing
violence and bloodshed.

If only these poeple were sympathetic to the suffering muslims, the 
community would not be in such a bad shape. The ignorance and dogma
that are prevalant in the muslim community of India have to be tackled
if the community is to prosper. Let family planning be implemented
among them. Let the children (both boys and girls) go to schools
and get educated. If the children are to work during the day time let 
some muslim voluntary organization come farward to teach them when they
are free. These and many such are the sort of things that the Muslim
community needs today. And not emotional outbursts about 'fear psyce'
etc. And all this cannot be done by the Govt. alone. Well to do Muslims
have to come farward to do take up such tasks. Let us help each other should
be the motto. As for the other communities in India, to Muslims too, this is 
the only way out.

All this harping about what Nehru did in the 50's and what Sanjay Gandhi
did in the 70's is a waste of time and energy. And the different statistics
about how many recruits from the Muslim community does the Indian army
have, is the number of muslim legislators proportional to the community strength
etc. are of no significance. If the number of muslims in the Indian army
is low, what is it proving? That the Indian army discriminates muslims? 
That the muslims are not motivated to fight for India?! or that the muslims
are too mild to fit into the army?! which of these does it prove. In my
opinion none. It is not only in army, but the muslims donot figure prominently
in most of the fields in India. And this is not because of some wonderful 
reason like discrimination at the hands of the Hindus or the lack of
potential among the Muslims. It is simply because of lack of proper
education and a general ignorance among the community. This along with the
callous nature of both the Hindu and the Muslim politicians is the reason
to their suffering. Let this point be driven home in no ambiguous terms.

(I come from Hyderabad and beleive to have a reasonable understanding of 
the Muslim situation there. Above are the opinions I have formed based on 
what I witnessed and understood about the Muslim situation out there. 
Comments are welcome.)

Regards,

Rahi Potturi
(potturi@cs.uh.edu)