Kerala is fast becoming the favoured destination for inter-state migrant labourers in India. Unofficial figures peg the total number of migrants at 40 lakhs, around 12 percentage of state’s total population. Are they provided with adequate legal protection and fair chance in employment? Fondly dubbed as ‘guest labourers’ by the state government, what are the real job conditions of these migrants?

Recently various accidents at job sites that claimed the lives of migrant workers have caused political stir in Kerala. In the March, collapse of an under-construction building caused the death of four migrant workers from West Bengal. Preliminary investigations showed the lax implementation of safety rules and lacunas in the documentation.

This was not an isolated incident. Such mishaps in construction sites have been reported from across the country. The insatiable greed of real estates to exploit the financial difficulties of migrants compelling them to either suffer disguised unemployment or work without proper safety means, triggerring such incidents.

The influx of migrants is surging in Kerala. State is fast becoming preferred destination of migrants from various parts of the country to eke out decent living. The pull factors are comparatively higher wage rate and social and political conditions.

Local contractors prefer migrant laborers due to low wage and lack of strict compliance with employment rules. Laborers are accommodated in inhuman conditions and are dissuaded from demanding better living conditions. In various sectors like construction, quarrying and agriculture, laborers are being exploited flouting all norms.

Figures of interstate laborers in the state

When Kerala started prospering thanks to foreign remittance and huge profits from cash crop centered agriculture, migrants from Tamil Nadu were the first to reach the state. They were succeeded by people from West Bengal, UP, Bihar, Orissa and North East. According to government estimates, people from Jharkhand and the North East now constitute major part of migrants. According to a study conducted by Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation, every year 2.5 percentage increase is recorded in migrants’ arrival to Kerala. It is estimated that around 40 lakhs of migrant laborers are working in Kerala; around 12 percentage of total state’s population.

Six crore people are living in India as inter-state migrants, according to finance ministry reports. People from less industrialised states like UP, Bihar and states in the North East are leading the figures. Severe unemployment serves as a push factor to migrate from these states.

Unsafe job sites

Construction is the second largest employer in Indian after agriculture. It contributes around nine percentage to GDP. But this sector is fraught with dangers. Studies point out high mortality rates and morbidity rates in construction because of risks associated with it.

80 percentage of construction activities are done in totally unsafe conditions. Most of the deaths are because of falling from heights while working or collapse of under construction buildings. Abysmal rate of accident reporting compounds the issue.

According to experts, no studies are done in Kerala on hoe to mitigate dangers at construction sites. Without adequate protection of law, state is squandering the opportunity to protect the vulnerable migrants. This dereliction of duty absolves the government from compensating the bereaved family. Proper safety measures should be provided at sites according to the vulnerability prospects. Inspections at regular intervals will compel the employers to provide adequate safety gears for the employees.

Illegal ‘trafficking’ of laborers

Many employers are bringing workers with scant regard for rules. Migrant people being unlettered and economically weak, are not aware of their rights. Adivasis from marginalised regions are exploited and any demand for better amenities are ignored.

‘Unofficial’ agents are recruiting migrant workers from various parts of India. Once they reach the site, they are coerced to engage in dangerous jobs and are allowed to switch employers. According to activists, this is a kind of bonded labour legally prohibited under Article 24.

Lax implementation of laws

Inter-state Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act 1979 was the first law enacted by central government to protect interstate migrants. The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code 2020 were brought in to simplify labour rules. Although presidential assent is given to the bill, central government is still to stipulate the time frame for the rules to kick in.

1979 law gives additional protection to migrant laborers. Wage parity is an important suggestion. Rules also suggest paid leave and medical care. But these are flouted with impunity. Laborers have to bear travel expenses and are unlikely to get back the job once they take leave.

State government has brought in compulsory registration of all migrants with details of employers. Documents are to be verified at various levels and security check-ups are mandatory for house jobs. But these norms are not followed, allowing criminal elements to find refuge in the state.

Allegations of soaring crime rates

The uncontrolled influx of migrants has allegedly posed serious law and order issue in the state. Gang wars, substance abuse, theft, and gendered violence are on the rise. Sometimes they are being victimized by local community. Absence of scientific studies and lax approach of police to tackle issue sometimes leads to eruption of discontent among the local people.

Last Christmas, gang war among the migrant laborers caused widespread vandalism of public property at Ernakulam District. The employers are often accommodating the laborers at filthy locations in the margins of cities. This gives them suitable den for anti-societal activities.

Gruesome death of law student after rape in 2016 by a migrant laborer from Assam exposed the chinks in the armour of the law-and-order machinery. He was later sentenced to death penalty by a Sessions court.

In 2016, as many as 636 cases were registered against migrant laborers. In the subsequent years it rose to 744, then 805 and later 978. During pandemic, when majority of laborers deserted the state, the cases were down to 484.

The crimes are increasing and the police are reluctant to act tough. Employers are interested in profits and dismiss all legal responsibilities. Migrant workers are blamed for peddling drugs across the state. Along with this, lack of documentation prevents police from tracking down the miscreants and acting tough.

State must ensure wellbeing

Kerala Government welcomes migrant laborers to the state. It has implemented many projects to enhance their wellbeing through legal protection and safety instructions at hazardous work places. During the pandemic, Kerala was praised for protecting the migrant laborers by including them in free ration schemes.

It should take strict action to ensure complete documentation of migrants. They should be included in free ration schemes. Adequate living conditions should be ensured at accommodation states. Regular inspection by labor and health officials will improve their working conditions. Above all, state and police should approach humane and sympathetic approach towards these laborers.

* Mubashir is a journalism student at Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Delhi currently on internship with SabrangIndia

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Proposed K-Rail project to wreck Kerala’s fragile ecology
Emergence of ‘Super States’ in India

* Mubashir is a journalism student at Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Delhi currently on internship with SabrangIndia

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Raju* braves stench and dips into sludge of a manhole at Ber Sarai, Delhi. He takes the plunge without any protective gear and with inadequate information about what lies beneath. The staring eyes of his employer constantly warn against hesitation. After six hours of back-breaking dredging, Raju emerges from the manhole, caked with grime, only to earn Rs 400 (four hundred rupees) that evening.

Raju is among many people engaged in manual cleaning of sewage of Delhi after three decades of legal prohibition of this inhuman activity. “Financial needs prevail over fear. Every time I take risk to feed my family,” laments Raju.

The haphazard growth of Delhi into a metropolitan city has resulted in acute waste disposal crisis. Manual sewage cleaning is rampant in the city flouting all regulations. Various laws enacted to eradicate the practice have resulted in futile attempts without adequate political patronage. 

The Dalit community is blatantly exploited by urban India. The Socio-Economic Caste Census of 2011 has grimly suggested that more than 90 percentage of manual sewage cleaners belong to the Dalit community. People from the Valmiki caste, a section of the Dalit community, constitute a major chunk of Delhi’s sewer cleaners.

“I do odd jobs. But I am often compelled to do manual cleaning of the sewer when no work is available. I cannot the fill bellies of my children if I refuse to do this job,” said Raju flaking dried grime off his face.

Manual sewer cleaning is dangerous due to multiple factors besides it is dehumanisation of the workforce. Clogged sewage causes accumulation of toxic gases which may cause the worker to pass out. Some sewers are extremely deep, trapping the worker inside leading to suffocation.

“Contractors demand that we to continue with work even if we sense the presence of gases inside. They threaten with dire consequences if we refuse to work,” said Raju.

Prohibited by law, but continued in practice

The first attempt to legally prohibit manual scavenging was done in 1993 through The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993. The act primarily dealt with the manual cleaning of dry latrines.

The ambit of the act was enlarged in 2013 through an amendment act. It included “hazardous cleaning” of septic tanks and sewersin the prohibited list. “Hazardous cleaning” by an employee is defined in the Act as manual cleaning by such employee “without the employer fulfilling his obligations to provide protective gear and other cleaning devices and ensuring observance of safety precautions, as may be prescribed or provided in any other law.”

The bill has defined sewers as “underground conduit or pipe for carrying off human excreta, besides other waste matter and drainage wastes.” The bill brought public and private employers within the ambit and sketchy recommendations for rehabilitation were also included. 

“The amendment itself is rife with ambiguities,” said Rakshit Kumar, a journalism student doing his research on manual scavenging in Delhi. “The bill prohibits ‘hazardous cleaning’. But more often than not, workers dive into deep sewers without protective gears at all,” he adds.

In the famous case Safai Karamcharis vs. Union of India 2014, the apex court has categorically banned manual sewer cleaning, terming it a violation of Article 17 ensuring abolition of untouchablity. Most of the cleaners are illiterate and are not aware of these rules. Besides, caste-based discrimination limits their chances to get another job.

In 2021, the Ministry of Social Justice had hinted at amending the scavenging law to totally ban manual sewer cleaning and introduce instead complete mechanisation. But the proposal is in cold storage waiting for revival by the government.

No conviction in deaths

In the last Parliament session, Raja Sabha MP Jaya Bachchan said in the House that in the last two years, as many as 1,470 manual scavengers had died across the country. According to data cited in the Lok Sabha by the Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, Ramdas Athawale, 325 people have died in the last five years in “accidents” while cleaning sewer and septic tanks. Of these, Delhi stood third in the country with 36 deaths after Tamil Nadu (43) and Uttar Pradesh (52).

The government blames the lack of sanitary precautions by the cleaners as the cause of death, absolving employers from responsibility. Activists have decried the government’s apathetic attitude towards the marginalised sections. 

As no government or private contractors are held guilty, the relatives of the bereaved are denied justice and financial compensation. Many cases were registered by the Delhi government under the SC/ST Act and Manual Scavenging Prohibition Act of 2013 only after severe reproach from courts. “But conviction rate is negligible. In December, the Centre had said in the Parliament, that cases registered for violation of the law were at different stages but did not come to a logical conclusion,” informed Rakshit Kumar.

It seems the governments are washing off their complicity by passing the buck on to private contractors and their negligence. Safai Karmachari Andolan, an organization working to eradicate manual scavenging, alleges that the government is deliberately under-reporting death numbers to dodge responsibility.

Three years after the Delhi government’s Sani-enterprise initiative

In 2019, AAP government had rolled out an ambitious plan to make manual cleaners sani-entrepreneurs. The intention behind the move was to empower people engaged in manual sewer cleaning by providing them a decent source of income. This is despite manual scavenging being prohibited under the law, and the Delhi government launching a scheme to deploy cleaning machines to weed out the practice.

The Government extended loan to buy truck-fitted cleaning machinery costing 20 lakhs. The machines have been fitted with necessary equipment ensuring hydraulic, jetting, grabbing and roding work. It can ensure cleaning the manholes of 30 feet deep and can clean the sewerage and bring the silt, slug and other waste out to a trolley.

It was decided to provide such cleaning machines to 200 people already engaged in cleaning activities. Delhi Jal Board took the initiative to reduce the death related with manual cleaning of sewers.

But, after three years no considerable decline was recorded in the number of people engaged in hazardous cleaning activities. Procedural hiccups and financial constraints sealed the fate of the project. 

People were asked to submit Rs 4 lakhs as upfront money to get loan, a huge sum for people doing daily wage jobs. The apathy by private players to switch to machines also dampened the process of change.

When asked about the automation of sewer cleaning, Raju was apprehensive of his future. But he proudly bragged his resolve to support his children’s education to escape this inhuman profession.

* Mubashir is a journalism student at Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Delhi currently on internship with SabrangIndia

(With inputs from Rakshit Kumar, Delhi)

*Names were changed to protect the identity of individuals

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Political scientists have critically analyzed that how States turned dictatorial and expeditiously abridged rule of law in the name of War of Terror. The corollary of West’s neo civilizational mission after September 11 was increased State’s power turning concept of Welfare State in democracy to Police State. Studies suggest that States abuses constitutional contours in pursuit of crusade against ‘projected vices’ under the veneer of sovereign security and maintenance of law and order.

Across the globe, the new political trend is the popular ascension of right-wing governments and populist polity at the exorbitant expense of democracy and integrity. Bogus concerns of national security are generously cited to trample upon civil liberties and procedure of Constitution is often circumvented to suit State’s ulterior motives. Abu Ghraib prison of America thus took birth to hunt down ‘perceived threats to State’. Gross Human rights violations are passed off as minor ‘adjustments’ in weeding out ‘fifth columns’.

Too much arbitrary power at the disposal of State does not augur well for a vibrant democracy. State is in fact minor indispensable evil vis-à-vis civil liberties and it assumes ghastly paternal figure when endowed with unbridled power without adequate checks and brakes. To execute summary justice with crass disdain to procedural fairness by a State is a guarantee to the emergence of powerful State.

‘Super States’ in India

Recent few incidences arouse the graver suspicion of whether India is in race to join the league of ‘Super States’. Populism got its crowning moment with Modi forming government in 2014. Aversion to ‘institutions’ and rush of the State to become both judge and executioner are the signature identities of populism. Incessant onslaughts on federalism and legislation without caring due process of law are pertinent pointers of this alarming trend.

But some states have shown advanced ill omens of ‘Super State’. Uttar Pradesh government’s vindictive crusades against ‘accused mafia gangs’ and anti-CAA protests exhumed the dormant abuse of the Constitution and procedures of natural justice. Police were conceded with sweeping immunity to use violence against the ‘accused’ without following the statutes of the book. The State became aggressive and executed summary execution.

UP government dismissed the anti-CAA protests as foul conspiracy hatched by ‘fringe elements’ to instigate revulsion against the government. Government was erroneously equated with State. Name-Shaming, compulsory forfeiting of property of ‘alleged miscreants’ and slapping of hefty fines were cheered by as bold steps. But the fact that State was wandering into extra-judicial territory with callous contempt of laws was conveniently ignored.

BJP government in Karnataka barring non-Hindu vendors from temple premises is also an example of State’s aggression of constitutional boundaries. Recent abrupt and arbitrary actions of Madhya Pradesh government to demolish illegal structures of ‘alleged accomplices’ in communal clashes following Ram Navami to ‘strike fear’ in the minds of perpetrators cannot be dismissed easily. Recurrence of such events begs serious discussion around the increasing trend of States infringing rights of people for judicial justice.

Extra-Constitutionalism is alien to Indian justice system

According to Indian laws, one is perceived as innocent until proved guilty. Only Judiciary can pronounce someone as guilty and award punishment. State can never replace the holy institution of Judiciary. Judicial trial is fundamental right and no State can contravene this sacrosanct right. Supreme Court has rebuked UP government for arbitrarily punishing anti-CAA protesters. Article 21 that stipulated ‘procedure established by law’ also includes ‘due process of law’. This has been reiterated by various courts. ‘Due Process of Law’ is a doctrine that not only checks if there is a law to deprive the life and personal liberty of a person but also ensures that the law is made fair and just.

These arbitrary actions are justified as ‘necessary tools’ to shield the peace in state. In the jostle to placate core voter base, civil liberties and human rights of minorities and marginalised sections are being trampled upon. Civil societies and judiciary have enormous onus not to fall prey to increasing authoritarian tendencies of States.

It is relevant to produce Supreme Court’s verdict rescinding Salwa Judum in 2011. “This case represents a yawning gap between the promise of principled exercise of power in a constitutional democracy and the reality of the situation in Chhattisgarh, where the state of Chhattisgarh, claims that it has a constitutional sanction to perpetrate, indefinitely, a regime of gross violation of human rights in a manner, and by adopting the same modes, as done by Maoist/Naxalite extremists,” said the apex court.

*The author is a journalism student at Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Delhi currently on internship with SabrangIndia.

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The post Emergence of ‘Super States’ in India appeared first on SabrangIndia.

A semi high-speed railway network, flagship infrastructural project spearheaded by PinarayiVijyan led Left government, could spell the death knell to state’s already embattled ecology. The study conducted by ‘Kerala People for Eco Protection’ avers the ecological destitution of the state in courting high-end infra projects.

K-Rail project was mooted by second Pinarayi Vijayan government. It plans to build semi high-speed railway line from Kasargode to Thriruvananthapuram, thus linking northern and southern parts of the state with faster mobility options. Separate new railway line needs to be installed as the current rails are not able to increase fast beyond 65 kms per hour.

The administration has drawn criticism for pushing the project ahead without adequate environmental impact study. According to Environment Protection Act of 1983 Environment Impact Study is compulsory before initiating work on large infra projects. Sudhakaran, Member of Parliament from Kannur, accuses the government of flouting environmental norms in a bid to sabotage Kerala’s fragile environment. “While we are not averse to infrastructural projects, but all developments should be done according to KasthuriRangan Report,” he said in Kozhikode.

The project is being scrutinized by State’s Green Tribunal. Kerala Rail Development Authority, which heads the project, has called for new Environment Impact Assessment now due to public pressure. “A lot of ambivalence could be found in the government’s reports. Even the route map is contradicted sometimes,” says the report by a group called Kerala People for Eco Protection (KPEP).

For the materialization of the project, more than 100 hectares of paddy fields have to be cleared, mangrove forests at various places are under threat, and large swathes of forests on the Western Ghats have to be destroyed. “The Kerala ecology is not ready to supply building material for the projects,” says Ramakrishnan of KPEP.

More than 20,000 families have to be rehabilitated for the project. People at various places have already started protests against the projects. The villages across the state have responded to land surveyactivities by plucking out the marker stones.

With political alliances fragmenting, the project has turned into stiff political rivalry. The ruling left government is hell-bent to push ahead with the project while opposition parties are making no stones left in hindering the project.

The largest destructive impact would be upon the fragile ecology of Western Ghats. “According to the present plans, the rail will run through Kottayam, Kannur and Ernakulam and large tracts of western Ghats have to be flattened to lay lines,” says Bujair, a social activist from Kannur.

The state, presently bearing the brunt of climate change is not yet ready for large scale infra projects. In the last five years, the state hasstruggled against devastating floods and landslides. Clogging of drainage system due to lying of lines is expected to worsen flood situation in the state. “Obstruction of drainage system in the State would prove suicidal,” says the report.

People demand more discussion on the project and caution the government to be flexible with details. The state needs huge leap in infrastructure and that should come essentially not at the expense of environmental destruction. 

Acquisition of private land

Total land requirement is pegged at 1,198 hectors, out of which 185 hectors would be requisitioned from Railway Ministry. 1,198 hectors of private have to be acquired from the private owners, which makes the project unfeasible in a densely populated state like Kerala.

Four sources of funding have been explained in the feasibility study commissioned by the state government. 10 % by the central government, Kerala government 28 %, loan 53% and KIFBI 9% are the proposed final sources. In essence, around 90 % of total expenses would be funded by loans and infrastructural bonds this in turn would incur huge financial burden on state’s coffers.

Key information missing from Environmental Impact Assessment report

As per Environmental Impact Assessment notification 2006, projects under railways do not mandatorily demand environmental impact studies. This lacuna allows the governments to hastily push through projects with crass regard to environment. 

But Kerala Government commissioned Environmental Impact Assessment through Centre for Environment and Development, Thiruvananthapuram. They submitted report within three months on March 2020.But experts have indicated many shortcomings in the Environmental Impact Assessment Report and criticize the government for unjustified swiftness in pushing ahead with the project.

Critical details like the destruction of protected forests in the states and the rehabilitation of the affected are conspicuous by their absence in the report.Moreover, exact figures of mangroves forest to be cleared for the project is not mentioned. The report just pays lip service to the rehabilitation of the critical ecology of mangroves.The rail passes through Coastal Regulation Zones (CRZ) mainly in northern districts. The large-scale destruction of this vulnerable stretch is missing from the report.

Glaringly, the impacts of the projects in World Heritage Sites of Western Ghats are not explained properly askey details are missing.The ecological destruction following huge scale quarrying to supply construction materials is not mentioned in the report.Loss of wetlands, the hub of inland fisheries and tourism in the state, has been casually mentioned in the report. There is no reference to hydrological imbalance these land-use changes could bring about.Although the report alludes to the ruin of important protected forests of the state including sacred groves, wildlife sanctuaries, details are not explained.

The project is supposed to forcefully rehabilitate around 10,000 families. How they will be accommodated and the compensation details are missing from the report.

The project brags about the drastic reduction in carbon emission. But the metrics are ambiguous.

Development should not trample over environmental concerns

Kerala Sahitya Parishat is at the forefront in denouncing the flagship project of Pinarayi Government. They are conducting awareness programs across the state. The people have also registered severe criticism of the project.

“The fragile ecology of the Kerala is ripe recipe for ecological disasters. Although the people demand swift mobility options, it should not be at expense of ecological equilibrium,” says the report published Kerala Sahitya Parishat.

They advocate the upgradation of the available railway utilities as an alternative. Double-lining and completion of electronic signaling would provide for faster railway travel. The fragile condition of Kerala’s ecology should feature prominently before taking any leap. Unlike other states, the state is already is reeling under severe ecological stress resulting in frequent climate disasters.

Development of Kerala waterways and expansion of public transport are the alternatives to improve the faster mobility demands of the state. Improving the airways is also proposed taking into account the rising middle-class population in the state.

The critics cry for the implementation of the program only through public consultation. The hasty implementation would only result in breeding resentment across the state.

“Government should publish Detailed Project Report as soon as possible, let the people discuss and reach consensus. Left government should never forget Nandigram of West Bengal. We plead the government not to make K-Rail Project another Nandigram”, says MaksoodVattaparamban from Malappuram District.

Instead of forcefully going ahead with the project, government needs to engage in public consultation. While political parties are up in ante against the dictatorial attitude of the government, civil society is left in dark about the project.

*The author is a journalism student at Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi, and is currently interning with SabrangIndia

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The post Proposed K-Rail project to wreck Kerala’s fragile ecology appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Let me at the outset categorically junk the lurking innuendo evident in the latest diatribe of Al-Qaeda head Ayman Zawahiri. We Indian Muslims have never looked for external support to defend our rights guaranteed under the Indian Constitution. This is like a savage murderer crying out sermons on the value of human life.

Unlike your theocratic dictatorial regime, Ayman Zahiri, where the space for individual liberties is smothered to death invoking misconstrued religious dictates, India is the largest temple of democracy and pluralism. My country has the adequate fluidity to absorb and mitigate her inner contradictions.

Betraying the news of natural death, the Al-Qaeda’s supreme commander Ayman Zawahiri has recently released a standalone statement on the Hijab controversy in India. This comes from the head of a dispensation who has clipped the freedom of women by banishing them from schools. After initial progressive signs of moderation, the Al-Qaeda regime that was emboldened after the bungled withdrawal of American bootsfrom Afghanistan, has blatantly succumbed to pressures from hardliners. It has demonstrated, once again, that it still clings to outdated tribal Islam with a crass regard for civil liberties and multiple religiosities.

Although India has already found fleeting references in his speeches earlier, his broadcasted messages solely on an Indian issue today demand critical attention. This shows the designs the Al-Qaeda has entertained in the region in manipulating the occasional discontent innate to a democracy. In their pipedream of establishing an Islamic Caliphate, India with its large Muslim population has been a vital cog. Community leaders and security experts should proactively engage to distill the incipient trends of radicalism, especially based in the cyber world.

Al-Qaeda’s version of Islam

Understanding of blinkered understanding of the Al-Qaeda’s religious views will help better read the messages in context. Al-Qaeda believes in ethnic tribal Islamic traditions nurtured by hardcore Salafism exported from the Middle East. It is antithetical to divergent religious interpretations and follows contrived rigidity of Islamic Sharia totally expunging the spirit of religion, Sufism. Following tribal traditions of patriarchy and sustenance through war spoils, they believe in the harsh interpretations of Islam.

Islam, like any religion, embraces changes in terms of laws and cultural evolutions. Al-Qaeda refutes timely accretions to the religion discrediting them as profane innovations as they believe in a puritanical form of religious version. In their scheme of a polity, Pashtun ethnicity is endowed with hegemony. They follow a highly illiberal patriarchal social system and thus women are prevented from appearing in public.

They resort to violence to destroy and tarnish anything they deem as ‘Shirk’ (forbidden things in Islam). This is a scriptural stricture in the Al-Qaeda’s interpretation of Islam. They conveniently dump into oblivion the plural and multi-cultural teachings of Islam. To establish a Pan-Islamic Khilafat to prop up their radical ideologies is central to their political idea. According to the Al-Qaeda, also identical to political Salafism, Islam cannot survive without political establishment. 

Indian Muslims reject the Al-Qaeda’s dogma

Al-Qaeda has no moral right to guide Indian Muslims. Al-Qaeda is at loss without the rudimentary understanding of Indian democracy. Indian democracy is celebrated not for the absence of inner contradictions; but for the pragmatic forte to accommodate and diffuse differences.

The sermon of Zawahiri, although focused on the Hijab issue, is a sinister ploy to discredit democracy and send out innuendoes of subverting the system. It has in fact tried to preach misogynistic and theocratic political messages. The allegations of Indian democracy supporting pagan Hinduism is plainly misleading, and a rigid theocracy like the Al-Qaeda cannot digest the notion of mutual coexistence.

Whether Hijab is essential to religion is contentious within the religion. But, for a muscular patriarchal Al-Qaeda, Hijab is indispensable- to limit the visibility of Muslim women. The Karnataka High Court’s verdict banning Hijab from schools with compulsory uniforms, itself shows the diversity of the Indian system to accommodate diverse opinions in a rainbow polity. Indian judicial system has ample space for grievance redressal through peaceful means.

The militant ascendancy of Right-wing Hindutva poses existential threats to the idea of the nation, but the country has enough checks and brakes to prevent such aberrations from being the norm. While the recent shift to majoritarian nationalism spawns doubt, the nation has the consciousness to implement the Constitution which guarantees equal justice irrespective of religious affiliations. But the exhortations of Al-Qaeda’s supremo to disparage Indian nationhood based on this fickle aberration are like blaming the eclipse on the sun. This has actually hurt the cause of the Muslim community, evident from the statement of the Karnataka home minister who attributed the Hijab protests to ‘outsider influences’.

Indian Islam is one among the multiple interpretations of Islam. It is fundamentally different from puritanical bare dogmas of the Al-Qaeda in its inclusiveness, localism and syncretic moorings. Indian Islam is malleable and adaptive to timely evolutions as a religion is supposed to be. It reposes faith in multicultural society and plural cultural ethos. Indian Muslims are not hapless lots to seek guidance from the rugged terrains of uncertainties.

The Zawahiri’s call to arms should not be taken as such and dismissed, as the wails of a self-styled evangelist. It is part of a larger plot to promote radical insurrections in multi-religious societies. Indian Muslims have earlier repudiated the call to join ISIS to fight the infidel state. The Muslim community has to maintain extra vigilance from radical overtures from ‘outsider forces’. Along with this, governments have the constitutional onus to assuage the grievances of the minority communities to assure safety to all.

*Mubashir is a journalism student at Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Delhi currently on internship with SabrangIndia

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