The Daily Observer

The Threat of a Hate Monger

The Threat of a Hate Monger

Recently news reports of a fatwa issue by Haji Yaqoob Qureshi, a minister in the government of Uttar  Pradesh, have gained prominence in the Indian media. Haji Yaqoob, a public official in India’s largest state, has called for the beheading of at least one of the Danish cartoonists who drew controversial cartoons of Prophet Mohammed for a Danish newspapper and has offered a prize of around Rs 51 crotre or roughly 11 million US dollars for this. The anger felt by members of any religious community whose icons have been denigrated can be understood,but this does not justify calling for the murder of a human being who has not physically harmed anyone in the first place . There are other avenues to vent anger. Peaceful protests can be called for, voluntary economic boycotts can be organized, a public campaign to educate non-Muslims about Prophet Mohammed can be conducted. Or you can just realize that violent protests give more prominence to the cartoons which would otherwise have quickly been forgotten, and try and educate non-religionists about the basics of your religion through the same media that made it controversial.

Calling for the physical elimination of a human being, and offering money for this, is both an act of terrorism and a severe crime. It is heartening to note that some prominent Indian Muslim leaders  have condemned the honorable Minister’s call,saying it does not represent Islam and it gives a bad name to Muslims. What is disturbing, however, is that the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh has not fired Yaqoob from his cabinet. That is the least that he could have done (arresting Yaqoob would have been even better). Any strong chief minister who cared about political decency and the rule of law would have immediately disassociated his government from such a thug. However pandering to vote banks still has a role in Indian politics today, some leaders would rather pander to the worst sort of fundamentalists rather than take steps to uplift communities via modern education. We can only hope for two thing s to happen. Number one, respect for the rule of law and political decency become even stronger amongst the Indian electorate so they can severely punish politicians who have the worst sort of thugs in their cabinets. Number two, voices like  Javed Akhtar, Maulana Khalid Rasheed,etc.   become more prominent amongst the minority community in India so that fundamentalists like Yaqoob become outcasts in their own community.

Some people say that Yaqoob should just be ignored, that his statements won’t do any real harm. Logic to this effect was allegedly given by the Home Secretary of UP, who is reported to have said that Yaqoob would not be arrested for giving out a contract to murder a Danish cartoonist, since the likelihood of the cartoonist being killed was small since he was far away in Denmark! I disagree with this approach. Yaqub, after all, is an elected official and holds at least some degree of influence and power amongst his constituents. By making statements like this he is influencing young impressionable minds. Community leaders should strive to improve the economic and educational prospects of their members rather than inspire them to become terrorists.

-A