India awakens to its other pariahs: Muslims

When Mr. Mohsin applied for his retired father's old government job, not only was he rejected, but his father's pension was cut. Banks have repeatedly denied him loans for his plan to buy and reopen a derelict factory.

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS: Indian Muslims pray during the Eid Al-Adha holy day in Delhi's Jama Masjid mosque. VIJAY MATHUR/REUTERS

 

 

In the Monitor Thursday, 01/04/07 In hot pursuit of Egypt's lost mummies For new Congress, a long 'to do' list How Kim Jong Il controls a nation India awakens to its other pariahs: Muslims Editorial: What next, Pavarotti on YouTube? More stories... Get all the Monitor's headlines by e-mail. Subscribe for free.

E-mail this story Write a letter to the Editor Printer-friendly version Permission to reprint/republish

This, he says, is the life of a Muslim in India, And perhaps for the first time, this Hindu nation is beginning to believe him. For the past 60 years, Indian Muslims have more often been the subjects of blame - for terrorism and the 1947 partition with Pakistan - than sympathy.

Yet in November, a government-appointed panel suggested that ignorance and prejudice have now made Muslims an underclass on par with the lowest Hindu castes. Now, politicians who have long avoided the subject are openly talking of helping Muslims - potentially even setting aside quotas for Muslim admission into schools and political institutions.

It is an important moment. After two decades of increasing communal tension here, there is a growing acknowledgment that India can no longer afford to make Muslims feel like strangers in their own country.

"Now that things are calming down, people are beginning to see things as they are, rather than through prejudiced eyes," says Rajeev Bhargava, a political scientist at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.

The concern, he says, is "that if we don't do something, they'll be drawn to militancy."

Though some Indian