Muslims residing in a non-Muslim state like India have always talked of social identity crisis and politico-religious insecurity issues since the days of the War of Independence in 1857. Do these issues still apply? Yes they do.
Nida Kirmani, at her talk at T2F, spoke of Muslim marginalisation in the Indian urban locality of Zakir Nagar, New Delhi. She captured the essence of this locality by interpreting what Muslim women of this area shared with her.
Kirmani’s research, which she conducted about eight years ago, is now in the form of a book titled Questioning the Muslim Woman — Identity and Insecurity in an Urban Indian Locality. The book throws light on what she believes is, “extremely relevant today, keeping in mind the intrinsic issues,” but she does not in any way feel the need “to bash India, rather we should draw parallels to a country called Pakistan, where the situation is a lot worse for minorities.”
As she conducted 70 interviews within this locality, she examined the fact that Delhi is a partitioned city, where, like in other places across India, “Muslim mohallas [communities] grew and places like Zakir Nagar were termed as ‘Mini Pakistan,’ for the increasing number of Muslims residing in these areas.”
Kirmani believed that, “Mohallas were shaped by the events of the partition of 1947, and whether people chose to live together, or were forced to do, is a debate that continues unabated.”
Another statement which is yet to be determined, is whether or not Zakir Nagar can be defined ‘as an enclave or a ghetto’.
Narrating it from a Muslim woman’s perspective residing in a locality like Zakir Nagar, where the average middle-class lives, the biggest problem for Muslims is religious insecurity and a social identity crisis.
She highlighted the fact, that “the Muslim woman is known for her personal law of pardah [veil], or being burqa clad, which highlights the social issues of a Muslim woman even in today’s India, forcing the others to think that they are an oppressed class or section of society.”
“The biggest problem that remains for Muslims is insecurity. No matter how posh a locality is, the feeling that they are insecure thrives in their mind-set,” she added.
Citing examples from major episodes of religious disharmony that India succumbed to in the past, she reported on the Partition of India in 1947, The Sikh Massacre of 1984, The Babri Masjid riot of 1992-1993 and The Gujarat massacres of 2002, all of which have propelled Muslims to feel insecure in India. These hosts of past incidents have made Muslims face other things at a larger level, mostly reclining towards, “gender insecurities, the insecurity of the poor and even housing discrimination”, Kirmani added.
Despite all these issues faced by Muslims residing in India, Kirmani was hopeful, for what she witnessed was a “silent revolution taking place from within” and women asserting for their rights and even going ahead and saying out-rightly, “We are better off than our mothers were in their time!”
Published in The Express Tribune, January 13th, 2014.
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