Achal, you will see only what you want to see. You seem to believe that political hijacking of community agenda is only a Muslim issue. Maybe I can convince you otherwise.

Do you know that name of Vivekananda has been and is being increasingly used by VHP and Bajrang Dal to support their hate capaign against muslims? If not, listen to some of their speeches, now so readily available on google video or just go through some of their pamphlets. You will find name of Vivekananda being invoked in the hate campaigns and his photos planted in hate pamphlets. Now I have myself read Vivekananda and I know the values he stood for. I consider him the most enlightened hindu religious figure of all times. I am sure if he were alive today, he would be horrified to see his name being invoked in such hate campaigns. Yet how many hindus you have actually seen protesting against hijacking of Vivekananda’s name by the saffron brigade? Or have you seen anyone protesting when Prahlad Shastri and Acharya Dharmendra quote Gita to support violence against muslims as kaurava-s of kali-yuga?

Why not you make a start? I am sure you will find many areas that could benefit from your initiatives.

The concept of goodwill feeds directly into the Sangh Parivar propaganda of ‘baRe bhai, choTe bhai’ where choTe bhai needs to ‘behave’ according to the wishes of baRe bhai.

Stop patronizing Muslims, it will lead us nowhere.

Mohib, and how has patronizing of Muslims by Congress party over the decades affected Muslims? I’d be interested in hearing your views on it.

You are so quick to think about mass migration of Muslims or Babar rule, while no Muslim on this blog ever talked about it.

Apologies for off-topic comment, but I wanted to explain where I was coming from.
By Babar, I meant Mughal Empire that ruled India. I don’t have time to search and list each and every comment on this blog (let alone other blogs), but if you read past posts and comments, the fondness by SOME Muslims for Mughal empire in India comes across very clearly, and the implication by THOSE Muslims that Indian history started with Babar. So much for being Indian and familiarity with Indian history. I guess one can’t really blame RSS types for thinking that the Mughal empire was a blot on Indian history, right? It’s the other side of the same coin.

But then again, it’s easier to get side-tracked into all these silly and impractical discussions than focusing on how to improve secular democracy, and what that means to Indians. Oh well.

You know that our judicial systems takes so much time that both the victim and accused lose hope. Don’t you think it can be improved? You also know that the police only support the ruling government, when governments change in UP the next day all the police officers start packing their bags? This is the system I am talking about which affects you and me, equally.

Of course it needs to be changed! How do you think we change it?

You are so quick to think about mass migration of Muslims or Babar rule, while no Muslim on this blog ever talked about it.

I was merely pointing out two extreme scenarios that probably both/some Muslims and Hindus think about, and how both are absurd. Why would you assume that I meant both the scenarios as thought by Indian Muslims?

I didn’t say ‘your system’ so what is the point in emphasizing that I am part of the system. You know that our judicial systems takes so much time that both the victim and accused lose hope. Don’t you think it can be improved? You also know that the police only support the ruling government, when governments change in UP the next day all the police officers start packing their bags? This is the system I am talking about which affects you and me, equally.

You are so quick to think about mass migration of Muslims or Babar rule, while no Muslim on this blog ever talked about it. As the name of the blog goes, Indiam Muslims, we are proud to be Indians and proud to be Muslims. We don’t need Babar nor Pakistan. We live here and die here. This is what every Muslim in India believes in.

When minorities lose hope in the system where do they look up to?

First thing would be to realize that minorities are part of the system, not outside of it. It’s your system too.

I don’t know about you, but I would examine the reasons why and then start working on improving the system, working hand-in-hand with others who also agree with me that the system needs to be improved. I mean I don’t really see a mass migration of Indian Muslims to Islamic countries happening in near future, nor do I see Babar’s Muslim empire coming back to India. So, we’re left with a secular democracy and strengthening it. What do you think?

Girish, have you found out from muslim businessmen if they were treated any better by those thugs who happened to be muslims? What leverage an ordinary muslim citizen does have in front of bhai-s? Do you think you will be in a position to pressurize chhota rajan or babloo srivastava if it came to that?

I know from my own experience that my relatives in Ahmedabad would prohibit their boys from mixing with “lukkha-s”, though knowing their religion fully well. I even had to argue with them since sometimes they would give a very casteist advice to their kids to play with only ‘upper caste hindu’ boys. Today those very “lukkha-s” have suddenly become ‘heroes’.

If you ask a muslim child in Gujarat, you will probably hear a story of some ‘hero’ who had enough bombs to blow up entire Gujarat, that’s why rioters did not came to that mohulla! They have nothing in common with that ‘hero’. They do not belong to same socio-economic strata, they do not speak the same language and they do not attend same school. Only thing that binds them together is a burning rage.

When my cousin sisters used to come from Ahmedabad to visit us at Lucknow, they would tell us with pride how safe Ahmedabad was. They would compare Lucknow with Ahmedabad and tell us that in Lucknow a lone girl walking in the night was at risk of whistling, while no one would think such thing in Ahmedabad! Where is that pride now?

It is as if the dreams of an entire generation have been stolen. The same kids who till yesterday used to dream of becoming a doctor, a nurse , a lawyer, have suddenly lost all their dreams and their role models.