Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said that when a Muslim faces injustice, it should be openly described not merely as something done against a “minority community,” but specifically as an act against a “Muslim.” According to a PTI report, Rahul, who is also the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, made these remarks while addressing a meeting of the advisory council of the party’s minority department on Saturday. The context is that the Hindutva party ruling at the Centre and in more than twenty states across the country has been continuously targeting the country’s Muslim minority population of nearly 20 crore. Against this backdrop, it is evident that Rahul was pointing to a major weakness within his own party, which is also a key constituent of the INDIA alliance fighting against what it describes as a fascist regime. The country recently witnessed an intensely aggressive anti-Muslim campaign by hardline Hindutva groups during the assembly elections held a few weeks ago in Bihar, West Bengal, and Assam. Spokespersons of secular parties, including the Congress, were unable to respond, even in a moderate tone or on equal footing, to the attacks launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and BJP leaders in various states using abusive labels such as “infiltrators,” “traitors,” and “terrorists.” Even Rahul Gandhi, who spoke forcefully about vote theft and hate campaigns, did not dare to openly oppose the brutal targeting of Muslims in Assam.
In West Bengal, secular parties that criticised Mamata Banerjee’s All India Trinamool Congress as being no different from the BJP were seen exercising unusual restraint when it came to raising their voices for Muslims facing the threat of expulsion from the country. As far as the Congress is concerned, this weakness has been evident since the tenure of P. V. Narasimha Rao in the early 1990s, when the demolition of the Babri Masjid took place. It is for this reason as well that the Muslim minority, which had long stood with the Congress, gradually began to distance itself from the party. After Sonia Gandhi assumed the party presidency and showed a willingness to make certain corrections, ordinary Muslim voters once again extended a degree of support to the Congress. Broadly speaking, the Muslim public has had few complaints about the Nehru family’s commitment to secularism or its opposition to hardline Hindutva politics. However, it hardly needs special illustration that many prominent Congress leaders themselves have shown sympathy towards the far right and a readiness to switch sides when opportunities arise. Himanta Biswa Sarma, today one of the strongest voices of anti-Muslim politics, is someone who migrated from the Congress party. Several members of the Union Cabinet are also former Congress leaders. Similarly, Suvendu Adhikari, who openly declared that he governs for Hindus and would not allow government benefits for Muslims, had previously been a Congress member and later a leader in the Trinamool Congress before emerging as a leading BJP figure in Bengal.
It may be assumed that the Nehru family, which is firmly committed to secularism, is now working for the revival of the Congress with a full understanding of the ideological drift and rightward inclination that have deeply affected the party. Even while recognising the conspiracies of political opponents and the party’s own internal weaknesses as real factors, the leadership may believe that recovery is possible with the support of religious minorities. This expectation is not unfounded, as reflected in the emphatic victory of the UDF alliance in the most recent Kerala Legislative Assembly election. Even political opponents cannot deny the role played in that victory by the Indian Union Muslim League and by the Muslim community in general. Campaigns against this continue to be carried out both by the far right and by the Left, which is also a partner in the INDIA alliance. No community should be appeased undeservedly, nor should excessive or unreasonable demands be accepted. At the same time, as Rahul Gandhi advised, if the victim of grave injustice is a Muslim, that fact too should be stated openly. Parties that believe in secular democracy should not hesitate to express solidarity with victims from religious minorities and Dalit communities. The fear that doing so would invite dissatisfaction or opposition from the majority community is unrealistic. Most people within the majority community sincerely wish for peace, harmony, and pluralism to prevail in the country. They cannot easily be misled or swayed by the propaganda of intolerant forces.