Muslim Politics in Secular India

by Hamid Dalwai

Scintillating and thought-provoking, this book gives an absorbing summing up of the problem of Muslim communalism in India. It relates Muslim communalism to the make-up of the Indian Muslim mind and its historical background. Balanced and well documented, Mr. Dalwai's analysis of the origin and nature of Muslim communalism has earned him a rapidly increasing audience in recent years. His wide research on this subject leads him to make an eloquent and forceful plea for a movement for modernization, secularization and liberalization as the only long-term solution to the communal problem.

Written in a refreshing, anecdotal style, these essays on the problem of communalism and its remedy will prove invaluable for an understanding of the Indian political scene.

The author, Hamid Dalwai’s belongs to a middle-class Marathi speaking, Muslim family. A self-educated man, Mr. Dalwai has been active in Politics for many years and is an experienced journalist. In Maharashtra, he is known as a provocative publicist and also as an outstanding short story writer.

Genres: Politics

110 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Hamid Umar Dalwai was a Muslim social reformer, thinker, activist and Marathi language writer in Maharashtra, India

Reviews

[Prashant Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

All Muslim leaders unanimously complain that injustice is done to Muslims in India. However, they have a strange definition of injustice. They suggest, indirectly no doubt, that the very fact that India has a Hindu majority is in itself a great injustice to Muslims. How else can one understand the programme of the Mashawarat which demands sovereign rights for the Muslim community? In their own way, Muslim leaders are continuously trying to remove this injustice. One of the methods of ensuring justice is to claim that Pakistani infiltrators in Assam are not Pakistani at all. A second method is to demand the granting of Indian citizenship to those Pakistanis who are illegal residents of Bihar, West Bengal and some other states of India. A third method is to oppose family planning. A professor from Aligarh University was quite frank about this. He said: "Hindus cannot keep us permanently in a minority. Remember the history of Canada? How did the question of Quebec arise? Those citizens of Quebec who are of English origin are Protestants and they practise family planning. But those who are of French origin are Catholics who never planned their families nor are doing so even today. As a result, the number of French-speaking Catholics in Quebec has increased in relation to the number of English-speaking Protestants. Now the French-speaking Catholics have started protecting their own rights and interests. We shall follow the same example. If not today, fifty years hence; if not fifty, a hundred years hence. This country will eventually be swept by an Islamic tide." The professor was quite forthright in expressing his views. There are other leaders of Indian Muslims who say the same thing although they couch it in clever phrases. They say, "Our religion does not permit family planning. Grant us the freedom to practise our religion"

Source: Muslim politics in India by Hamid Dalwai, 1969

This book by a serious Muslim Reformer is an Authoritative Book on Muslim Politics in India after Independence.

[Revanth Ukkalam]

Truly noble book but especially dangerous for today's time. It argues that Muslims must secularise themselves and that alone can solve the issues of Hindu-Muslim aggression and violence. Secularism is the author's prescriptions to all ills - this means the acceptance of Western Science and education, strict family planning, the unequivocal application of Uniform Civil Code, and the acceptance of Article 370. The author consistently speaks of the 'Muslim attitude' and the 'Muslim Mind' but what do they mean? The author does not sufficiently speak of the potential of the Tyranny of the Majority in India. Overall, it is Bruno Bauer's Jewish Question for India's Muslims. I would like to think of Quraishi's 'The Population Myth' as Marx's 'On the Jewish Q'.

[Dr.Madan Bhimsen Jadhav · Rating 5 out of 5]

best book for those who are muslims & those who are against muslims as well..

[yoursbibliophilic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hamid Dalwai’s Muslim Politics in India is a provocative critique of the socio-political dynamics of the Muslim community in post-independence India. Published in 1968, the book provides an understanding, ideological & institutional barriers to reform within Indian Muslim society.

Dalwai, a social reformer urging Indian Muslims to embrace modernist & secular outlook in harmony. The central "thesis is that the basic malaise of Muslim society lies in the fact that it has never had a renaissance in its entire history of more than thirteen hundred years."(p2). His argument is “Today, the real problem we face in India is that of creating a secular, integrated Indian society… In short, my theme in this essay is the problem of Muslim integration in the fabric of a liberal & secular Indian society”(p37)

Dalwai’s feels,“Muslim mind has historically been incapable of introspection Muslim society in India has not yet produced its own Gandhi. Indeed, it will not be able to do so till the ground is prepared by a generation of men who subject the religion & culture of the Muslims to ruthless scrutiny in the light of modern values” (p69). His critique of communal politics & call for a more secular approach remain relevant even today. However I feel his solutions are extreme when he states as a solution “Those Muslims who oppose these reforms should not be entitled to full citizenship rights. For instance, they should have no right of vote. They should not be eligible for receiving the benefits of any social welfare scheme. Those Muslims who oppose reform on the ground of religion should be governed strictly according to the Shariat law in its entirety. For example, if they are caught stealing, their hands should be cut off in public. If they speak a falsehood, they should be publicly whipped. A Muslim woman who is found guilty of adultery should be stoned to death in public. I hope those who insist on following the Shariat law will not indeed find this separate code of crime & punishment for orthodox Muslims outdated. If so, they should not seek to apply the Shariat only partially”(p52). If the same solution is provided today his ‘sar’ would have got ‘juda’ & would have been called communal bigot.

[Prem Beniwal · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice book

[Krutarth Fulare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth reading.

[परीक्षित चंद्रशेखर गोगटे · Rating 5 out of 5]

Muslim politics in India

Takes you back in 60's and early 70's but each word will make you relate it with the current political situation and the sad truth of Indian politics - Appeasement of the masses for votes...