Form of words:
I< Is India-Pakistan cricket a proxy for the religious war between Hinduism and Islam? While the Indian police arrested some Kashmiris for allegedly not supporting India, Pakistan's Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed described the team's success as 'victory of Islam’. Are Indian Muslims destined to be the ‘inner outsider’ forever, or is it time for a change in the story?
This is nab. It has always been whispered that apart from Kashmiris, many other Muslims also wish India’s defeat against Pakistan. This insistence was strengthened by the alleged bursting of firecrackers and cries of religious warfare from some Muslim areas whenever Pakistan trampled India. This socio-political disorder is a badly kept secret, which few had the moral courage and ideological integrity to address. Admittedly, it was, but in a devious way. Instead of correcting this deviation, Muslim narrative makers expressed massive outrage over suspicions of betrayal to the nation. There was such a stifling of ‘government’ secularism that voices stifle, and moreover, it was not possible to admit that we had a problem begging for immediate attention.
In fact, with cavalry slyness, he did the exact opposite. It was said that sports needed to be kept free from the demands of national allegiance, and support for another country’s national team was not only a sign of high sportsmanship, but also a form of cosmopolitanism as in the emerging multiculturalism of the West. Has been observed. , where immigrants openly support the team of their country of origin against their adoption. It was argued that a test like the Tebit test in India would be tantamount to a majoritarian test.
The Tebbit Test was a controversial phrase named after British Conservative politician Norman Tebbitt, who said that the lack of loyalty to the England cricket team among South Asian and Caribbean expatriates suggested that those who supported their countries of origin rather than England in the game. They are not integrated into the United Kingdom. However, Indian Muslims are not immigrants, and they are not here as a result of Indian colonialism. Therefore, it would be wrong to cast out any criticism of the Tebbit test to downplay an unusual group behavior in India.
read also: Hatred against Shami, violence in Bangladesh, targeting Kashmir – propaganda is our biggest threat
Denial doesn’t help Muslims
For Muslim fiction makers and their liberal advisors, living in denial has been an easier option than recognizing the problem and helping the community fix a dangerous distortion that will inevitably affect their position in national life. This is happening, and that being said, not only with a tacit indulgence of the community at large, but also an enabling environment inspired by Muslim story makers and their liberal cheerleaders, who have been involved in normalizing this notion. Huh. Harassment and discrimination against Muslims. Such an addiction to victimization led to a wide emotional gap between the Muslim community and the national mainstream.
Two nation theory still alive
It is often argued that the display of Pakistan’s support for cricket by some Indian Muslims has nothing to do with Islam, and should not be misunderstood as religious-communal allegiance to India, whatsoever. . this is true. It is not part of the Islamic Catechism, and does not depend on one’s salvation or curse in later life, but as far as religion has reported identity formation – progressing from community to nationality to separatist religious nationalism – It would be foolish to ignore the religious factor at play.
The two-nation theory, which gave rise to this process, implied the existence of Muslims and non-Muslims as two nations in India, and not India and Pakistan as two separate countries. Pakistan is more of an ideological than a regional state. It’s less locale and more mindset. It is the embodiment of Muslim political power in India, which is not Bangladesh or any other Muslim country. This is the reason why the mere mention of Pakistan creates the kind of frisson in the mind of every Indian, whether Hindu or Muslim, cannot be created by any other Muslim country. If the two-nation theory was only about Islam as a nation – without reference to India – Pakistan would seek its identity in merging with Muslim countries rather than in contradiction with India.
read also: Those attacking Shami after Pakistan’s loss are ‘spineless’ and ‘loser’: Virat Kohli
shaping community destiny
Whether the two-nation theory disappeared with Partition is an important question. Had this been the case, Waqar Younis would not have indulged in piety, and Mohammed Shami would not have been so sensitive to vicious trolling. Therefore, if the two-nation theory has not disappeared and is merely replicated in the form of identity politics, the basic premise of Hindus and Muslims being two conflicting nations can be seen in post-independence India due to a continuing struggle between the states. would have been improved. and its Muslim citizens.
This is a dangerous formulation whose implications would be suicidal for any minority. If the Muslim community feels isolated, is it because the Indian state is practicing systemic discrimination against them, denying them equal rights and opportunities? Or, does the feeling of alienation stem from ideological reasons, rooted deep in the imperialist interpretation of Islam, which views India with contempt for the land of idols and infidels? If it is the latter, is there an intellectual among Muslims with enough intellectual integrity who can make the right diagnosis and prescribe the right treatment?
Currently, the Muslim community abounds in both traditional and modern volunteer preachers. The latter quotes the constitution in much the same way that televangelists quote scriptures, and for the same purpose. Unless the Muslim community had well-meaning storytellers who understood that they had an Indian destiny, and should also be identified, distortions in the community’s discourse would not be corrected. The display of devious behaviour, be it brazen or intelligent, will continue to make an innocent Shami an easy target.
The author is an IPS officer. He tweeted @najmul_hoda. Thoughts are personal.
(Edited by Likes)
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