Mumbai is considered to be the most cosmopolitan city of India. In a land where everything is ancient and thousand-years-old, Mumbai stands out as a New World where old identities can be jettisoned to shape a new one. What New York City is to the world, Mumbai is to India. People from all corners and communities of the country are attracted to this dream city for the realization of a better future. Mumbai is said to accept all in its arms.
Do not believe it. It is a myth. If you are a Muslim, no matter how much money you have, you will find it difficult to rent a flat in any respectable middle-class locality. A Muslim in an otherwise-cosmopolitan Mumbai is bound to end up in a ghetto. The story repeats itself in cities like Delhi, too.
Those Dirty Muslims
Muslims are generally deemed by a majority of Hindus as minorities in bigoted nations are usually considered to be: unclean, uneducated, and unpatriotic. But if anyone in the community tries to get himself out from this cliché, he is quickly dumped back to his old place.
So, why not continue to live within the frames of the stereotype picture?
The Culture of Riots
Indian spirit, if vaporized down to its essence, consists of four essentials: Politics, Bollywood, cricket and Hindu-Muslim riots.
According to a 2005 report in TIME magazine, in all the communal riots since independence, official police records reveal that three-quarters of the lives lost and properties destroyed were Muslim.
It would be seriously biased to only blame the Hindus but it is the Muslim community which always suffers the most.
One of the worst tragedies that could have befallen an independent India was not Mahatma Gandhi's assassination, but the 1992 destruction of an abandoned mosque in Ayodhya in North India, which many Hindus believed and still maintain, was built on the ruins of an ancient temple. The event led to riots breaking out between the Hindus and Muslims throughout the country. Thousands of Indians lost their lives. Muslims were the worst victims. The Hindu fundamentalist leaders who were responsible for this tragedy nevertheless came to power in later years. In spite of the blood of innocent people sticking on to their hands, they remain as some of the most respectable politicians today.
Lesson of the story: In India, you can kill innocent Muslim men, rape their women, burn their children and could still become the country's prime minister. A Musslamaan’s life, or death, do not matter in this country, where everybody’s life is cheap anyways.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Dr. Harangue
I think a bit of balanced thinking is needed to figure out the situation. The fact is that the Indians as a "nation" have been oppressed for long; and now somehow need to oppress someone to reclaim their "pride". In a fractured society, the tendency is always to turn on the "other guy" and in case of India, the revivalists have found a convenient scapegoat in Muslims. Of course, any ordinary Hindu would agree with the statement that all Muslims are not terrorists. But what would you do about the instruments of terror that the state wields? They need a scapegoat too!!!
2 - nugget
I'm more worried about my IT job than being bombed.
3 - Silas Kain
Your IT job is being outsourced to Bangalore. What the hell are ompanies like HP, AOL and CitiCorp going to do when the terrorists firebomb the telephone support centers? Damn, does this mean that Arabians are outsourcing terrorism to India, now?
4 - Les Slater
"All Muslims are not Terrorists, but all Terrorists are Muslims"
You jest?
Just as a small sample: There are terrorist training camps in South Florida protected by the U.S. and state governments. There are known terrorists that are not only protected but glorified.
The U.S. has a history of training terrorists. There has been the unearthing of terror training manuals penned by U.S. agencies.
I suspect none of these terrorists are Muslim.
5 - Raj
The writer is well known as a sympathiser of Islamic fundametalism on desicritics.org. He is also gay.
But to the condescending Americans here, tell me, why do you categorise Islamic fundamentalists who wage a jihad on USA or the West as 'terrorists' and then the same Islamic fanatics seek to wage jihad on India, you think they are just 'oppressed' ?
6 - Raj
Dr.Harangue... if you hold an opinion poll among the muslims of the world and ask them to list their biggest 'opressors', I would imagine that India would be distant 4th or 5th on a list, headed by US and Israel.
So much for your theory.
7 - Dave Nalle
But to the condescending Americans here, tell me, why do you categorise Islamic fundamentalists who wage a jihad on USA or the West as 'terrorists' and then the same Islamic fanatics seek to wage jihad on India, you think they are just 'oppressed' ?
You can be oppressed and not resort to terrorism. In fact, it is the oppression which creates an environment where terrorists can most easily be recruited. There's no contradiction between the presence of oppression and the presense of terrorism in a society.
Dave
8 - Raj
David Nalle...the concept of 'oppression' is subjective. Indian muslims enjoy equal rights and opportunities as hindus in India. Same as American muslims in US , Eupean muslims in Europe. And yet, muslims all over the globe claim to be 'oppressed' by these countries.
For most muslims worldwide, including those in US and also many Indian muslims, USA is seen as 'The Great Satan'. So for Indian muslims the very fact that the Indian government seeks to better its relations with the 'The Great Satan' , is reason enough to claim 'oppression' and vow unending revenge against the Indian nation.
Why are many UK muslims supporters of Jihad against Britain ? Are they 'oppressed' too ?
But really - this 'oppression' theory is a no more than a convenient excuse. Muslims will never run out of excuses to wage war against the infidels, whether they are hindu, christian , atheist or jew. Because waging jihad against the infidels who refuse to bow down to allah is pretty much the essence of Islam.
Sooner the non-muslim world recognises this, the better. We can only fight the menace of terrorist Islam together.
9 - Apollo
Mayank is a [Personal insult deleted] infidel propogandist just like Adam Ash and Co.
They have virtually specialised in masochism and blaming their own people for all the ills when it is very clear that the boot is on the other foot.
How do muslims who rule 55 countries across the world, have substantial presence in atleast another 50-60 and number nearly 1/5th of humanity claim to be oppressed by Jews less than 0.01% of world population.
plus they also claim to be oppressed by anyone who doesn't let them cut, slash and stab the infidels at will. They are imperialists of the first degree like the Romans, Alexander, persians, british, french, russians, chinese or mongols before them.
All of the above fell from the pedestal of power in time. The only difference is they did not impose a rigid faith on their conquered peoples and hence when they fell the native people returned back to their native ways. But islamic imperialism left behind a delusional native population who tore off from their native faiths came to recognise themselves with their erstwhile oppressors. If ever there was any example of "collective stockholm syndrome" the peoples of the islamic world will qualify.
I hope the Great Martian conqueror Zokaris is taking notes. Once he invades Earth and enslaves the human race he should NOT stick to just looting and collecting tribute. He should impose the Martian religion of Triponosis on his new found subjects and destroy all evidence of indigenous human religions so that the earthlings from then on end up looking upto the Martians as their spiritual guides and remain mental slaves of the martians for eternity
10 - Mayank Austen Soofi
There are many arguments about the origins of Islamic extremism, which I concede is violent to a considerable extent. However, I do not wish to get bogged down into all sorts of historical narratives. I’m not an apologist for the violent verses of Koran or Bible or Ramayana. Neither have I wished to be. But I'm very clear about certain specific things: I love my country. In my land lots of my people are killed because they belong to this religion or that. I do not like this. If the murderers, who kill in the name of their gods - be it Allah or Krishna or Christ, are not punished, I feel restless, guilty and angry. You see, I do not like injustice. I respect life. I respect my fellow human beings, Hindu or Muslim not being my concern.
11 - Raj
The biggest problem I have with Mayank 'Austen' is his dishonesty.
"I'm not an apologist for the violent verses of Koran or Bible or Ramayana."
Why make an equivalence between a murderous violent cult like Islam with a religion like hinduism ?
Is the Ramayana an equivalent of either the Koran or the Bible ? Is there a rule that says a hindu must obey whatever is written in the Ramayana, or else he become less of a hindu ? Indeed is there any book of laws (a la Koran) a hindu is supposed to adhere to ? No ? Then why this equivalence, between Ramayana and the Koran, especially when there are verses in Koran that expect the faithful to murder those infidels who do not follow bow down to their allah ? Ramayana's equivalent is Homer's Ulyssis and Shakepeare's Othello, not the Koran.
"If the murderers, who kill in the name of their gods - be it Allah or Krishna or Christ, are not punished, I feel restless, guilty and angry.".
Muslims do indeed kill in the name of Allah. Historically millions have been killed by muslims in the name of Allah, including around 3500 on that fateful day 9-11-2001. They are expected to do so by their religion. When have hindus killed in the name of Krishna ? Infact there isn't even one incident of a hindu killing in the name of Krishna. A hindu may kill for revenge, to avenge the death of a fellow hindu. Nothing to do with either his God or his religion. Just a very human need for revenge....... but it is only a muslim who kills in the name of his Allah. Because his religion tells him to.
12 - Les Slater
Raj #11
"but it is only a muslim who kills in the name of his Allah."
That's obviously true, but does not exclude a Christian or Jew killing in the name of God.
"Because his religion tells him to."
It's not really a religious issue. It has much more to do with politics. Politicians lean on their holy books to justify whatever happens to be their current necessity.
Just think, there is a whole murderous state whose justification boils down to prophesies from the Torah.
13 - Adnan
That's a very well-written piece.
14 - nugget
Silas: That means I get my job back! *WIRING FUNDS TO TERRORIST CELLS IN/AROUND BANGALORE*
15 - Apollo
Mayank's [Edited] language is very deceptive for someone who is not familiar with India or Hinduism or Eastern non-abrahamanic religious traditions.
Hindu faith has its issues. For example the caste system which is grounded in its scriptures from manusmriti onwards.It is a very Hindu problem. Now there is no way u can compare the Hindu caste system with the islamic or christian or Buddhist sect systems. There is nothing in those scriptures which asks its followers to divide them into sects isn't it?
Similarly in the Abrahamanic faiths like judaism, christianity and islam there is a concept of Holy war. That is going to war for the sake of God. There is no comparable concept in Hinduism or any other eastern religious traditions.
Each religion has its own specific issues, drawbacks, history etc... and as far as i can tell the Eastern faiths like Hinduism, buddhism, sikhism, jainism, shintoism, confucianism or any other animistic faiths etc... DO NOT have a concept of HOly War.
saying otherwise smacks of either of ignorance or deliberate distortion.
16 - Mayank Austen Soofi
Apollo, you have a point but different people have different perspectives and viewpoints. You feel Hidnuism never carried out a holy war. Perhaps you are right. Perhaps you are not. What happened in the great war of Mahabharat? Was it just about fighting for a piece of land? Did not Krishna say that we are fighting for Dharma? So many people were killed in Mahabharata.... What happened in the Lankan war of Ramayana? Lord Ram led a war merely to get back his wife from Ravana? Ravana - whom we call a 'Rakshasa' or a 'Demon'. It is our version of narrative. May be lankans do not think Ravana as a demon..who knows....but yes in Hinduism, most of its followers do not imbibe values from these violent episodes. We are attracted to other aspects of the story: like obedience to one's parents, love for one's partner, harmony between brothers, etc.
My assertion is that there are instances of violence in every religion. We just can not pinpoint on Koran. But I concede that Muslims seem eager to lift inspiration from their more violent verses, rather than the loving ones.
Having said that, and confessing that Islam has a problem, it still do not give us a right to kill innocent Muslims just because they are Muslims. And it is extremely unholy to refuse justice, later. You see the people who are killed are basically our people only.....
17 - Sanjay
Mayank, the Mahabharata and Ramayana were mythological wars, just like the Iliad from Greek mythology or Lord of the Rings. Are you going to indict Tolkein for orc genocide next?
According to you, George Lucas should be condemned for his vilification of Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine. Perhaps Lucas should be put on trial for hate crimes, in your opinion.
Mayank, do you have a problem differentiating mythology from reality? Take your lithium, man.
18 - Mayank Austen Soofi
Some more (updated) facts on Indian Muslims from the latest 2001 Census of India*
1. 44% fewer Muslim students complete senior school compared to non-Muslims.
2. Only one in 101 Muslim women is a graduate vs. one out of 37 non-Muslim women.
3. Among the All-India literacy level, only 55% Muslim men are literate vs. 64.5% Non-Muslim men; while only 40.6% Muslim women are literate vs. 45.9 Non-Muslim women.
4. Many more Muslims 'drop out' of high schools than all other religious communities.
My comment: This country need to do something urgently to improve these alarming figures.
* These figures were published in the August 14, 2006 issue of the India Today magazine.
19 - James Choate
As an American journalist who has lived for a couple of years in India, I find this well-written article very much in sync with the present Hindu-Muslim conflict going on in that wonderful but complicated country.
20 - Apollo
mayank u cannot compare Myths and legends to actual wars. Ramayana and mahabarata is equivalent to Homer's illiad and odyssey. have u seen any westerner go to war quoting the illiad?
21 - Apollo
james #19
2 years in India and u declare urself as a great authority on Indian social conditions.
Is this the standard of American journalism?
looks like just like the example in Qana and Jenin u american journalists have a tendency to be led along by ur native media handlers.
I invite u to return to India and actually do some hard journalism and not propoganda.
22 - gazelle
Raj and Apollo, are you card carrying members of RSS or what?
you exemplify perfectly one way to justify the persecution of a minority - muslims in this case. others are of course christians and the lower castes.
23 - Lakshmikanth
James #19:
You are soo short-sighted. Any guy(even a good sociologist) would need atleast some 18-20 years in India to figure out Hindu-Muslim eco-system in India.
Please be sure of what u are saying before complimenting such a myopic article.
Just for peoples reference this is my opinion on the topic posted on desicitics.org(sister site of this site):
Is this the new muslim appeasers slogan?
something that goes like :"Ohh God.... if we dont appease them they will hear to OBL and start nodding their heads. So lets give them something more than we already do."
What will happen when we give them more:(like the Haj subsidy et al) U guessed it rite! they will ask for even more... In general people do not like to work for what they get.. but they can ask for all what they want... and with people like you around they would get that too.. albeit at the cost of the reminder of the population.. but who cares... all u want is for them not to look at each other and nod their heads when their Fuhrer OBL speaks!!!!
This is the same thing which our impotent, buttheaded, clowns called politicians think..... Unfortunately i think you belong to the same class.
As i always say... Unite the nation, dont divide it. Our politicians have successfully divided the natiton in terms of mystic philosophies(aka religion).
No country can unite properly and prosper unless the people share atleast many of the philosophical values on which the nation was founded(the constitution). Civil war/riots/violence etc follows when there are contradictory and often violent philosophies that govern the people (instead of being governed by theconstituition of the nation). So if u are constituitional Mr.Soof, you would have never viewed this problems along the fractured lines of religion. This article therefore is Unconstitutional(communal), immature and scare-mongering. With all the above factors excused it is one-sided colored glass view of reality!
if a community of people are not ready to follow the set secular laws of the land and want themselves to be governed by their communities themselves in ALL aspects (i.e. they are a nation in themselves), they are better off ghettoised and marginalized!
U might need a thick skin to read what i have said... but i also think u also need a good brain to grasp the meaning(which i doubt u would)
CHeers!
24 - Raj
Gazelle...no.. I am not an RSS member. But like 40-45% of India's population, I support BJP, which is the political wing of the RSS.
And please, before you let your imagination run riot and carry on with your demonisation of RSS/BJP......... RSS/BJP do not persecute lower castes. Infact lower castes are pretty much part of RSS/BJP. The biggest and most popular hindu leader in India, who is hated by the fanatic muslims and leftists, is a lower caste hindu - Narendra Modi. I am sure you have heard of him.
Talking of muslims being a 'persecuted minority' in India, are muslims a 'persecuted minority' in UK as well ? Why is it then many UK muslims have declared Jihad on Britain ?
What about USA ? Does USA persecuate its muslims ? Why the jihad on USA ? Why do muslims hate US so much ?
We all know the answers. Nobody is fooled anymore.
25 - Raj
James Choate - what ? 2 years in India and feel qualified enough to pass judgement on us natives ? [Edited]