A CMP for BJP-Muslim dialogue

Of the numerous letters I have received in response to the previous four columns on the need to transform BJP-Muslim relations, the most touching and thought-provoking is one that deserves to be reproduced here:

I read carefully your articles pertaining to the RSS-Muslim dialogue. In the period after the Babri demolition, and up to 2002, I was a strong advocate of RSS-Muslim dialogue. It reached such a stage that many Muslim friends suspected that I was lured towards power. RSS members would visit my house. Jaswant Singh wrote a nice letter. The high point in the relation came when the saffron friends insisted that I speak on Savarkar’s birthday in February 2002. I consented, only on grounds that it may improve Muslim-RSS relations. At the meeting they treated me very well, hearing me out. Many Muslims also attended, out of concern that I may say the wrong things at that meeting. My last words were, ‘The country has two choices, either Gandhi or Savarkar. The path of Gandhi will lead to every Indian child identifying emotionally with the country. The path of Savarkar, may leave a sizable section excluded, and may cause serious damage to the country’s unity.’

The time was 8 p.m. Twelve hours later, Godhra took place. And my house was the first one attacked in Baroda, on February 28 morning, and again on March 1, completely destroying a home, where my wife had died just a short time ago. My daughter (who was to marry a Hindu gentleman) and I just barely escaped from certain death. What conclusion would you draw, if you were in my place, Mr Kulkarni?

Regards,

J.S. Bandukwala

All conflicts begin first in the arena of mind and heart, before bodies come into the play. Likewise, all reconciliation too must begin first in the arena of mind and heart. Emotional integration alone is the true and enduring basis for national integration, as well as for transforming BJP-Muslim ties.

Hence the first point in the “common minimum programme” for the pursuit of the agenda of reaching out to the Muslim community must be: “We must, in the collective heart and mind of our party, accept Muslims as our own, and not as aliens.” The emotional acceptance of Muslims as our own must not get diluted even if some marginal sections of the Muslim community conduct themselves in a manner that is detrimental to national integration. With this acceptance comes a paramount responsibility — to work sincerely towards the goal of a riot-free India. Communal riots are a shameful stigma on our nation and its great cultural-spiritual heritage in which bigotry and bloodshed have no sanction.

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