Aspects for a Brighter Future

all day during Ramadan), and for sermonizing on loudspeakers during the month of Ramadan, but they cannot be credited with taqwa (piety) if throughout the year they have not lead pious lives. Similarly, the mere display of enthusiasm for election activities on a few specified days will not bring them any significant political position in the country. They must realize that, for this, they must engage themselves fully and unremittingly in constructive national activity. From 1947 till today, I have attended innumerable meetings without coming across any notable Muslim gathering which had been convened specifically to discuss the problems of the Indian nation. National issues simply do not figure on Muslim agendas. At Muslim meetings, communal issues, or more often, communal grudges are the favorite subjects of discussion. It would seem that national issues are of no concern to Muslims. I have often found, moreover, that Muslim speakers, invited to Hindu gatherings, give vent even there to the grudges of the Muslim community against the Hindus. This makes it abundantly obvious that Muslims have in no way identified themselves with the political mainstream of the country. Muslims need seriously to consider the necessity to make their community an integral factor in the political system. For a start, their mode of entry into it could be an indirect one. For instance, Muslims could launch the publication of such newspapers as would be read throughout the country; they could play an effective role in trade unions and other such institutions which have a considerable influence on politics. But there is no significant Muslim presence in these organizations. And Muslim newspapers, if they are worth the name, are little better than communal complaint bulletins, bearing no relation to national journalism. So far as trade unionism is concerned, Muslims are barely aware of it as a concept. And so on. Over the last fifty years, under the guidance of self-styled Muslim leaders, what Muslims have largely done in the name of political activity is vote the Congress. Yet, throughout this period they have never felt the need to become part of the administrative structure of the Congress Party. Now, frustrated with the Congress, they tread the path of negative voting. At present, any party claiming to oppose Congress policies can have the Muslim vote for the asking. To my way of thinking, if Muslims want to have what is politically their due, they should first of all establish their own viability vis-à-vis mainstream politics. Only then will they be in a position to chalk out any real election programme and secure benefits which at the moment seem beyond their reach.