Opinion Zaheer,Munaf and Yusuf are Muslims from Gujarat. So?

Let’s dissect their pronouncements. Beginning with what Hussain said. “Three out of eleven makes it 30.6 per cent.” The representation of Muslims in the national cricket squad is more than double that of their population. Never mind the astronomical difference in the sample size,I should just revel in that figure. I could trash the Sachar Committee report and the statistics it put out way back in 2006 — that Muslim literacy levels are below the national average,that the average amount of bank loan disbursed to Muslims is 2/3rds of the amount disbursed to other minorities,that the presence of Muslims is only 3% in the IAS,that Muslim OBCs are significantly deprived than their Hindu counterparts.

Does this data matter as long as Zaheer,Munaaf and Yusuf are batting for India? Why just them? The Khans rule the roost in Bollywood,Azim Premji happens to sit at the helm of a major Indian IT major,India’s most famous living scientist,who was also President,is called APJ Abdul Kalam and the current V-P has the surname Ansari. The ordinary Indian Muslim can be glad that it has enough poster boys (and poster girls,like Sania Mirza) to overpower the larger data that puts the community at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder.

Incidentally — yes,I use that word too – BJP made much hue and cry over the Sachar Committee’s report the year it came out; the report had also recommended certain measures (not reservation though) to help the community in its socio-economic development. As politicians in election-bound states such as Tamil Nadu and West Bengal announce can-never-or-should-never-be-delivered sops such as 10 per cent quota in jobs for Muslims if voted to power,the BJP is at it again— wearing the statistician’s hat and presenting data to justify the non-implementation of any measure that could possibly help in the uplift of the community.

The other part of Husain’s speech – later reiterated by his senior,Advani,with an exclamation mark — is that the three Muslim players are from Gujarat (that’s only partly factual,as Zaheer is actually from Maharashtra but he played for Baroda). Even if we take that error into account,two players are from Gujarat. Besides,Gujarat’s Muslims are far ahead of their co-religionists in other states. Advani further writes in his blog,“In his excellent speech,Shah Nawaz cited numerous statistics contrasting the prosperity of Muslims in Gujarat with the problems of Muslims elsewhere in the country. To those who were interrupting him whenever he even mentioned Gujarat,he challengingly said,’If you do not like my talking about Gujarat,I can take you to my own state of Bihar or to Madhya Pradesh or to any other NDA ruled state and convince you how well minorities are being looked after’.”

Why was Husain being interrupted each time he joined the words “Gujarat” and “Muslims” together in a positive context? Why are Gujarati Muslims such a touchy topic anyway? When Maulana Vastanvi from Gujarat talked of “moving on” from the 2002 Gujarat riots and said Muslims in his state are progressing under Narendra Modi’s rule,he risked losing his post as the head of the second-largest Islamic seminary in the world,the Darul-Uloom Deoband. The BJP’s state unit in Gujarat,on the other had,attempted to felicitate Vastanvi at a ceremony.

I am glad my co-religionists are doing well in Gujarat. I am proud of Zaheer,Munaf and Yusuf. And which Indian wouldn’t admire Kalam? But if Muslims have to “move on” from 2002,the only way they can do so is through the delivery of justice. Not through pronouncements or posters.