Condemn the persecution of Muslims by the Indian State!
An attack on One is an attack on All!

Statement of the Lok Raj Sangathan, November 10, 2001

There is great pressure being exerted today on an international scale against people of the Muslim faith. In India, too, this pressure is visibly on the rise. The Indian state has stepped up discrimination and repression against Muslims.

Muslim youth, and anyone with a beard or "suspected" to be Muslim, are being routinely picked up by the police in Delhi, Mumbai and all over the country. The Government of India has identified many Muslim organisations to be banned in the name of the "war against terrorism". In the case of the Student's Islamic Movement of India, the Government cited ideological reasons for its ban, namely, that it postulates an Islamic society as its vision.

The Constitution of India permits minorities to organise on the basis of their identity as a minority. When minorities find that their rights are violated, organising themselves becomes a political necessity. When the Sikhs were being singled out, for instance, it was natural for them to get together in their Gurudwaras to organise in their own defence. If Muslims organise themselves on the basis of their religion, how can that be considered a crime? To declare this communalism or fundamentalism is an affront to the people and an attack on them. To attack a Muslim or a Christian or a Hindu or Sikh just because he or she is part of an organisation formed along religious membership is in fact the height of communalism!

The US media began to promote the spectre of the terrible "Islamic terrorist" who threatens the whole world. The US-led "war on terrorism" began to be promoted as a crusade of the "civilised west" against the "barbaric Muslims". However, the US found that not even its closest allies in Europe are comfortable in supporting an openly anti-Islamic campaign. As a result, the propaganda accompanying the US led war is now being further sophisticated. It is accompanied by the qualification that "of course, we are not against all muslims".

The Indian state has given a free hand to communal rabble rousers and well-known anti-muslim crusaders to spout venom against "Islamic fundamentalism", blaming Muslims and Pakistan for all the problems in India, while adding the qualification that some muslims are all right, provided they come out and condemn "fundamentalism". According to this line, every Indian Muslim is to be suspected, until proven innocent. Every Indian Muslim is under pressure to swear that he is a "liberal" and not a "fundamentalist". Otherwise, they are under threat of being branded as terrorists and imprisoned under one or another black law.

The word "liberal" is often understood to mean being broadminded. However, the word liberal comes from "liberalism", which is a trend of thought whose origin lies in 18th and 19th century Europe. It was consistent with that early stage of capitalism in Europe when competition among relatively small capitals prevailed within each country, while old style colonialism and empire building prevailed with respect to the rest of the world. The liberal European bourgeoisie was not broadminded when it came to the "natives" of the lands they colonised.

At the turn of the 20th century, when capitalism developed into monopoly capitalism, or imperialism, competition developed into oligopolistic competition, or rivalry among mainly a few players. The markets of the world came to be dominated by a handful of giant corporations or cartels. Competition became nothing but cut-throat rivalry between these global giants for domination and control over markets, to capture cheap sources of labour and raw materials. The imperialist states intervened in the interests of the monopolies and oligopolies, to capture and extend their territories and spheres of influence. They waged trade wars and military wars for capturing, dividing and then re-dividing the world among the biggest powers.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, imperialism has been championing a 21st century version of liberalism, or "neo-liberalism" as the only alternative for society. The basic content of this view is that "free market reform" is the only alternative and any means is justified to ensure the success of this "economic reform" program of globalisation through liberalisation and privatisation. Anyone who dares to disagree is to be branded as a "fundamentalist".

Using force to make people adopt the liberal view is in fact the height of fundamentalism, and in violation of the right of every people to their own thought and beliefs. According to the ancient Indian view of rights, which have also been upheld by the bhaktas and other progressive Indians, the very concept of a right is integral to the performance of duty. One cannot exist without the other. The state can demand that the members of society perform their duty, provided that it ensures that their rights are realised. And on the other side, the members of society have the right to overthrow that state which does not perform its duty to them.

What is most disconcerting for Indians of conscience today is that the official leadership of India is adopting the Anglo-American definitions to blatantly violate the right to conscience. Those who present themselves as the inheritors of Indian thought are repeating the worn out slogans of Bush and Blair and demanding that Indians should adopt the European liberal world view.

To demand of any Indian citizen that he or she should elaborate his or her beliefs to satisfy the state -- means to violate the individual right of that citizen to conscience. To demand of an Indian Muslim that he should declare himself or herself to be a "liberal" is a brutal attack on his or her sensibilities. There is absolutely no reason for any Indian to submit to the alien and outdated ideology of liberalism, no matter what one's religion may be.

Why should any Indian have to justify himself or herself according to the categories of European thought? And why should anyone have to explain or justify one's beliefs to a policeman or to the law courts? The right to conscience belongs to every member of society, on account of being a human being. If such a right is denied to those who profess the Muslim faith, then it is no longer a right for anybody else either. If the state deprives any section of the people of this right, it loses all legitimacy in the eyes of the entire people.

The Indian State is supposed to be based on secular and democratic principles. One of the essential requirements of a secular and democratic state is that it treats all citizens equally, in terms of their rights, irrespective of their religion or beliefs. The actions of the Indian State show that this is not the case. It does not treat all citizens equally, nor with the respect that is due to human beings. Large numbers of workers, peasants, women and youth are being persecuted, with Muslims being singled out for repression at this time, just as the Sikhs were singled out in 1984 and thereafter.

Whereas the struggle against terrorism is political, the governments of the US and India are promoting a communal and racist view. The struggle to defend the polity against all forms of terror is a political struggle. So is the struggle against the criminalisation of dissent. It is necessarily a struggle in defence of the rights of individuals to their beliefs, and the rights of collectives such as nations to sovereignty, and the rights of classes such as workers and peasants. It is not a struggle for the supremacy of one religion over another, or of one ideology over another.

The Lok Raj Sangathan is committed to build the political unity of the Indian people against the anti-social offensive in the economic sphere and against the curtailment of rights in the political sphere. The LRS considers the defence of the rights of all religious minorities, including Indian Muslims, as a component part of its bounden duty and ongoing work. It is part of the struggle in defence of human rights and for the empowerment of the people.

The Lok Raj Sangathan calls on all the Indian people to oppose persecution by the state and defend the rights of every member of society. Let us all stand shoulder to shoulder, united across religious and other boundaries, with the consciousness that an attack on one is an attack on all!