Aspects for a Brighter Future

For this to become a reality, Muslims must develop a strong journalistic network which is decidedly national in character. This will establish the bona fides of their patriotism and provide an acceptable base from which to project a positive Muslim identity with a wholesome political stance. However, a brand of Muslim journalism which is genuinely national in character cannot come into existence simply by calling some publication a ‘national newspaper’ and placing it on the news stands. In order to launch and sustain such a venture, Muslims will be obliged to enter the field of industry. For, in the world of today, industry is the institution which ‘feeds’ the national press. So long as Muslims have no appreciable share in large scale industry, they will not bring into existence any journalism worth the name. But it is not just the lack of their own nationwide press that helps to perpetuate the Muslims’ political under-representation. Even journalistic opportunities in the existing national press are not availed of by them because of their own backwardness. Major national issues may be regularly thrashed out in the national dailies, but whenever there is a Muslim contribution, it may be taken for granted that it is about some narrow communal issue and takes the form of a demand or a protest. Letters and articles by Muslims (and I have seen this in several major national dailies), far from urging Muslim participation in national political processes, are mere expressions of Muslim reactions against others in restricted local spheres. Muslims need to be roused to a proper political awareness. They must be led to understand that politics, far from being just another name for reaction or negative voting, is actually the science and art of government. They must realize that inflicting defeat on one party in order to make another party victorious is only one aspect of politics. And it is nothing more than a kind of political somersault. If such somersaults have not improved the Muslims’ situation in the past, they are even less likely to do so in the future. Muslims will have to make their presence felt—in a positive sense—in the political environment of the country, they will have to participate actively in the ongoing political processes. And they will have to prove at the national level that such participation on their part is of vital significance. For instance they can provide an important link in establishing good relations between India and West Asian Muslim countries, and they can play a useful role in securing different kinds of contributions from Muslim countries to the Indian State, etc. It is regrettable that present circumstances and current attitudes rule out hopes of any such activity. For instance, whenever our Muslim leaders, both