Vision Muslim Today correspondent Wasim Akram Tyagi recently had a conversation with Senior Samajwadi Party leader and Rajya Sabha Member Chaudhary Munavvar Saleem. Here are some excerpts from the conversation.
Q – Yaqoob Memon has been hanged. The question is can we expect the people responsible for 1992, 1993 Mumbai riots will ever meet the similar fate?
An issue has been raised in a Home Ministry meeting that Muslims are the one who are killed the most in any post independence riot. No government has taken any suitable step to prevent such massacre. All, from Jawaharlal Nehru to Narendra Modi, have failed in stopping communal violence. There have been many commissions as well for investing other riots; it is not only the Srikrishna commission alone. But I have to share Mr. Azam Khan’s opinion when it comes to our judicial system that it sometimes delivers judgments and not the justice. Prior to Mumbai blasts the Mumbai Riots should have been adjudicated, and prior to the people responsible for Mumbai Riots the people who demolished Babri Masjid- the people who converted Ayodhya (a land of no violence) into a land of violence, should have been punished.
Q – Will there ever be justice for Mumbai riot victims?
Who can say no to that? We have to have faith in the judiciary, But this question must be put to self proclaimed custodians of secularism that why haven’t the riot victims got there justice still. The insecurity in the mind of minorities and the delayed justice cannot be good for any nation. The government must see that the hope for justice in minorities must remain alive.
Q – What about the agenda of Hindu Rashtra?
They need to understand that had we wanted to choose a nation on the basis of religion we could have gone to Pakistan. We are here because we chose to stay here choosing the idea of secularism and plurality. Those who want to make India a Hindu Rashtra should tell us for sure what plan they have for us. It is sad and absurd that nobody questions the demand for a Hindu Rashtra, and if we ask where we would go we are awarded with false accusations and insults like ‘traitors’ and ‘terrorists’.
Q – So are you saying that there is a bias towards Muslims?
Yes, there is! Let me tell you an incident that happened with me. Once we were going to America with Mr. Akhilesh Yadav and Mr. Azam Khan. There is a limit up till where the Parliamentarians could go to in the lounge. There a security guard saw me, my beard and my Identity card and said- “Is it real?” Indian Express did a story on that and asked that when it could happen to a member of the Parliament then what cannot happen to a common Muslim. There are some narrow minded people here. They will continue to do that.
Q – Is the secularism getting weak?
Yes, even though only up to a small extent. But the saving grace is that the majority of the nation is still secular. Life is a constant struggle. Good has to struggle against evil. We too are part of that struggle. There are some good people with us who believe in unity, brotherhood and justice. With them we will live with our struggle for justice and not for any Hindu or Muslim Rashtra. We want justice, some others want to deny us our rights, but there’s a limit of communal hatred beyond which it cannot go. The only fear is of the Gujrat formula being applied on the country.
Q – What fear?
The fear is not for our lives, not that what will become of the Muslims here; but the fear for the spirit of India, its spirit of unity in diversity.
Q – Why do you have this fear? Is there any reason behind this?
It is because the government has failed completely. I have said the same thing on the floor of the floor of the parliament as well that you have failed in providing the irrigation to the fields, you could not get twenty lakh in the account of every Indian, you could not defend the country from outside aggression, you could not develop good relations with the neighbors, in short you have failed on every front. The promise was of changing the system and not the government, what became of that promise? The system has gone from bad to worse. Your social reputation is being reflected by the Google search data analysis that found you among top ten criminals. The wrong doers of the past must be punished. But if anybody conspires to create a rift in the nation in future then that too will be a bad thing for the nation.
Q – You are accusing only Mr. Modi, while there has been action against the Gujrat culprits Maya Kodnani and Babu Bajrangi. What about the Mumbai riots culprits? There have been riots during your party rule, in Muzaffarnagar, what action has been taken there?
No not just any one man, not just any one organization, but every man or entity that has shed the blood of any innocent must be punished. Allow me to put things into perspective. Kashmir is a Muslim majority state. It decided to stay with India in 1947 despite it being a Muslim majority. So what happened then that by 1957 the separatist voices started surfacing there? The people responsible for that should also be found out and brought to the book.
Q – Let us leave Kashmir for another time. At present let us focus on the minorities that has been killed and made to suffer in every riot, and who wants nothing else except justice, but still he has been denied that. Should he start taking himself as a second class citizen here?
No, it is not like that. Every problem will find its solution, if not today then tomorrow. To surrender before a tyrant is a crime by itself. Let us just try to get justice in the non- violent, legal and democratic way of Gandhi. Let us continue the struggle until the justice is done.
Q – There is your government in Uttar Pradesh; the Hashimpura victims too have not got the justice yet. Are they not the victims who deserve justice?
The matter is sub judiced; government could only take the matter as per legal procedure in the court. We have been fighting the case with all responsibility there. We should not forget that pointing the fingers at the sympathizers, in a hurry, will go in the favour of culprits.
Q – Samajwadi Party exists in Maharashtra as well, why couldn’t you get the Srikrishna commission recommendations implemented there yet?
This question should better be put to those who promise to implement the recommendations in their every manifesto. Their conscience need to be awakened. We believe that the people who were found to be guilty by Mr. Srikrishna will face the result of their doing one day.