Religious Strife in India

Fineman has rightly described India as a once-secular nation. Yes, the religiously fanatical and bigoted section of the Hindu community is on a warpath to convert India into a fundamental Hindu state.

My former hometown Hyderabad is burning. Our committee has repeatedly brought to the attention of the Indira Gandhi, Morarji Desai and Rajiv Gandhi governments the connivance of the PAC (Provincial Armed Constabulary) and its involvement in the riots. But they have always strengthened the hands of the Hindu fundamentalists.

In the meantime, an incredible list of 3,000 mosques marked for conversion to temples is being circulated by the fundamentalists. The ridiculous part of the list is that it claims Taj Mahal to be a Hindu temple. The government is aware of this. The recent massacre of Muslims in Agra brought more army personnel to protect the Taj Mahal than the population of Agra.

We are in constant touch via telephone with our relatives in Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Aligarh. Their apprehensions, anger and hopelessness are genuine. My brother, with his voice trembling, said, “You should do something there, in America.” The first words that came to my mind were “United Nations.”

The world is embracing democracy. India is in the process of abandoning democracy. The Muslim lawyer Fineman wrote about, Ghulam Yazdani, has rightly said, “Someone must fight back.” We strongly believe that it must be the government of India or otherwise the Indian democracy will disappear.

MOHAMMAD YACOOB

Consultative Committee of Indian Muslims

Hawthorne