Kabul Echoes In Lucknow

Synopsis: India needs to reject Islamophobia and has to assert liberal democracy in every aspect of life.

Introduction:

Recently, India witnessed widespread Islamophobia. This is evident from the instances like Cattle slaughter rules, the love jihad law and vigilante attacks on interfaith couples, anti-conversion campaigns, etc.

This is because the religious majoritarianism in India has resulted in excess use of religious mobilisation in politics. For instance, the present Lok Sabha has only 5% Muslim MPs, 90% are Hindu. As a secular country, India needs to reject Islamophobia and start to asserting liberal democracy in every aspect of life.

Taliban and Islamophobia:

• Two members of All India Muslim Personal Law Board praised the Taliban for “showing courage” and “creating history”.
• During the monsoon session of the Uttar Pradesh assembly, UP Chief Minister has said that all those “shamelessly supporting Taliban should be exposed”.
• Further, A sedition case has been filed against an MP for allegedly referring to Taliban members as “freedom fighters”.

Read more regarding the recent developments in Afghanistan:

1. The script of the new endgame in Afghanistan
2. Return of Taliban has implications for India
3. New Delhi’s Af-Pak: Old friends versus old foes: Should India accept Taliban, betray Afghans or support resistance movements like Saleh’s?
4. History over Geography

Religion in the eyes of founding fathers:

India’s founders drafted a Constitution in which religion was viewed as an entirely private individual choice, not the basis of law or governance or politics.

Gandhi was intensely spiritual and mobilised people by calls to a higher moral and spiritual cause. His prayer meetings were consistently non-denominational and held outdoors.

What India needs to do?

India should not go back into medieval religious wars.

For modern 21st century India, there can be only one holy book, the Constitution of India, not Sharia law or the Manusmriti.

The return of the Taliban is an occasion for India to strongly assert modern democratic values at all levels of society.

Terms to know

• Sedition
• Taliban