Sangh Parivar

aul & Virendra Nath Bhatt

New Delhi, Lucknow, June 24: CPM
Politburo member M K Pandhe today tried to claim he didn’t mean to
inject a “communal” twist in the nuclear deal debate. But his remark
that “an overwhelming majority of the Muslim masses” oppose the nuclear
deal and that Mulayam Singh Yadav should think twice before supporting
it sparked off a chorus of outrage from Muslim organisations and
leaders to the Samajwadi Party itself. ain from virtually all
Muslim leaders The Indian Express spoke to was: the CPM’s attempt to
communalise foreign policy was condemnable and, yes, some Muslim groups
are opposed to the nuclear deal with the United States but that has
nothing to do with their being Muslim. Remarks like these, they said,
only end up alienating Muslims further by reinforcing the stereotype
that Muslims have to “prove” their loyalty to the “national interest”
every time there is a debate over it.

“I know about minorities very well,” said SP chief Mulayam
Singh Yadav angrily when reporters asked him about Pandhe’s remarks. He
spoke to CPM general secretary Prakash Karat over the phone and is
learnt to have told him that his party will take a call on the deal
after a meeting with the UNPA on July 3.

The Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind, India’s largest Muslim
organization, has decided to convene a meeting of its working committee
on July 1 to protest against CPM’s attempt to “club the nuclear deal
with the Muslim community.” Said spokesperson Moulana Abdul Hameed
Noomani: “What right does the CPM have to speak on behalf of the Muslim
community? And, more importantly, why have they singled out the Muslim
community on this issue? It may serve their political purpose but it
was ethically wrong and we are bound to express our strong reservation
against this,” he said.

“The Indo-US nuclear deal,” said Noomani, “is an issue of
national significance. Every community member is bound to have their
own take on the issue. Why is the Left is not talking about what other
communities feel? What the Left is now doing is nothing but dirty
politics.”

Noomani acknowledged that there are questions about the
deal. “It’s true that there are many in the community who are
suspicious about the American involvement in the deal but in every
community there will be those who oppose it and who support it. The
issue is not whether the deal is good or bad. The issue is why has the
CPM singled out Muslims? It’s high time the CPM realizes that national
interest is more important than ideological interest. They can go on
supporting China but don’t use the Muslim community to make their
case,” he said.

The Jamaat-e-Islami, which has been opposing the deal right
from the beginning, is also angry at Pandhe’s remarks. “We oppose the
deal because we feel it is not in the national interest. But it’s wrong
of the CPM to club the nuclear deal with the Muslim community. It only
communalises the issue,” said S Q R Illyasi, spokesperson of
Jamaat-e-Islami.

“Left parties are using the shoulders of the Muslims to
pursue their own agenda. The deal is strictly a political and
diplomatic issue between two sovereign governments so how can it be
linked to Islam or any other religion?’” said Maulana Khalid Rashid,
Naib imam of the Idgah Lucknow.

Rashid had another question for the CPM. “How come the Left
advocates the cause of Muslims despite clear evidence that Muslims are
the most deprived and disadvantaged sections of the society in the
Communist government of West Bengal.”

He however added that common Muslims do have reservations
with the growing ties of India with the USA. “They view USA as an
adversary and they feel by entering into any deal with the US, India
will have to follow their dictates”, he added.

Said Zafaryaab Jilani, member of the All India Muslim
Personal Law Board: “The nuclear deal is a political issue and cannot
be linked with Islam.” Saying that there was disquiet in the community
over the US Administration “equating Islam with terrorism,” he said:
“Many Muslims feel that the deal with the US will ultimately hurt the
interests of the country and that means everybody, not just Muslims
alone.”

This is reinforced by empirical data from the survey of
18,750 voters conducted by The Indian Express in partnership with
CNN-IBN and CSDS in September 2007 ¿ also a moment when tensions
between the UPA and the Left over the deal seemed to have reached a
tipping point. The survey across 18 states found that only 26 per cent
of the respondents claimed knowledge about the nuclear deal - this was
the group that claimed highest exposure to the media, defined in terms
of frequency of TV news viewership and newspaper readership. Within
this small percentage, however, the verdict was split more or less
evenly, except among Left voters.

Significantly, division among Muslims approximated the
division in the larger population — 19 per cent supported the deal and
15 per cent were opposed to it. In other words, the survey found no
evidence to support Pandhe’s remarks that invoke a monolithic “Muslim”
opinion that is against the deal.

editor@expressindia.com