Flailing Rage At A Missing Awadh

That political journalists are more likely to find themselves on a spiral of cynicism is a truism less acknowledged than the one attributed to ord­inary citizenry. And when the journa­list is a veteran correspondent with over four decades of rep­orting on wars, elections, riots and politics, scepticism, even disenchantment, is inevitable.  However Saeed Naqvi바카라�s Being the Other is not merely a picture of dark disqu­iet; it is a relentless documenting of failures on the part of leaders, the state and virtually all of civil society. And such is his bitterness, such is his aversion to the word 바카라�secular바카라� (he prefers  바카라�multiculturalism바카라�) that Naqvi goes so far as to say, 바카라�Parti­tion, in a way, was the gift the Congr­ess gave to the Hindu right, which in the fullness of time, is today바카라�s Hindutva.바카라� Sparing  none, not even Gandhi, he goes on to declare 바카라�...even for Nehru, like all the other leaders, incl­uding the Mahatma, the secular project was negotiable바카라�.

The only solace Naqvi finds is in the past, especially his childhood and youth in Awadh, which he holds up as a cradle of all that was once good and nurturing and harmonious. His 바카라�remembering eyes바카라� repeatedly fall back upon scenes from the qasbah of Mustafabad, 바카라�that crucible of tolerance바카라�, where his ancestral home still survives among the debris of a 바카라�vanished syncretic Hindu-Muslim culture바카라�. A clue to Naqvi바카라�s res­e­ntment lies in what he experien­ced at an early age: 바카라�The hypocritical silence adopted in the early years of Partition began to putrefy...and turned into closet communalism.바카라�

Holding the Congress, and Nehru in particular, responsible for the many sins of omission and commission that resulted in the 바카라�othering바카라� of Ind­ian Muslims, Naqvi is at pains to establish its 바카라�consistent failure바카라� to read the signals leading up to the 1992 demolition of Babri Masjid and, INS­tead, 바카라�stealing바카라� the Sangh바카라�s platform by becoming steadily more saffron than the saffron party. Each such Congress attempt바카라�be it Rajiv Gandhi allowing darshan at the disputed site or reversing the SC order on the Shah Bano case바카라�bec­omes an occasion for the Parivar to raise the bar, as it were, and become more insistent. While many milestones are listed바카라�the mass conversions of 588 Dalits in Meenakshipuram to Islam in 1981, Murli Manohar Joshi바카라�s ekta yatra of 1991, the Bhagalpur riots of 1989 and so on바카라�the mosque at Ayodhya is Naqvi바카라�s wailing wall and he returns to its demolition repeatedly, as he sees it as an 바카라�act of betrayal바카라�.

Part memoir, part mus­ings, Being the Other is a chronicle of Naqvi바카라�s 바카라�growing disillusionment with the direction in which the country is hea­ding, filtered thro­ugh (his) experiences of key events....바카라� That the filter is often clogged is ano­ther matter; the disillusionment so int­ense that the Naqvi known for his evocative, humanist writings바카라�with cam­­eos of communal harmony and syn­cretism바카라�is entirely mis­­sing. The rancour, pro­­p­­ped by articulation in some places and col­oured by an inchoate rage in others, seems to work towards a self-fulfilling pro­phecy rather than a nuanced argument. His call for a 바카라�reappraisal of reputations바카라�, of a more thorough reading of the Transfer of Power documents, is, however, well made. What is not is his sweeping assertion of a 바카라�disturbing sectarian uniformity바카라� in urban India.

Being the Other is a difficult book to read. Yet it needs to be read simply because, as in a sc-fi novel, it paints a worst-case scenario. It forces the reader to think: what if this unremitting darkness becomes a reality? What will happen if no one stops the forces bent upon destroying pluralism and multiculturalism? What will happen to India if it indeed becomes a Hindu rashtra with no place for other ways of thinking/living? For, if India gives in to communalism, as Naqvi rightly says, 바카라�Muslims aren바카라�t the only ones who will lose, every Indian will바카라�.