29

Nov

Backwardness Among Muslims: A Ring Side View

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A person with white hair and glasses AI-generated content may be incorrect.Though used in common parlance, backwardness is a vague term which can be interpreted by different people in different ways. Basically, it denotes an ever-growing conflict between the status quo and forces of modernisation. It is not a specific feature of any particular group, community or region. In fact, everyone has his/her own criterion for calling a person or social group as backward or not backward.

 In the context of any community or group, backwardness can be of various types. These could be economical, social, educational, psychological or technological. Similarly, in the case of any community or group, backwardness can be removed by economic development and better education. But the fact that most of us do not realise is that social and psychological backwardness is worse than economic backwardness. The reason is that unless we have a better understanding of social dynamics, we cannot address our economic problems.

To understand the socio-economic dynamics of a society, we need a rational approach to obtaining the reality of life and a scientific temper. In modern life, it has become very important to be technologically updated, as we cannot break economic stagnation unless we know the technological trends which direct the job market.

Many such issues came for discussion at a well-attended discourse last week on backwardness among Muslims organised by the National Minority Legal Council, a body floated by senior Supreme Court lawyers working towards legal awareness on minority issues.

It is true that        Muslims, especially in North India, have by and large not kept pace with other communities in economic advancement and benefited themselves with the opportunities which came into being after our independence from British rule. But to label the entire community as backwards is not fair. The fact is that Muslims, by and large, have been too traditional and have not kept pace with changing times.

Backwardness is a broad term shaped by social, economic, educational, psychological, and technological factors. Among Indian Muslims—especially in North India—economic and educational progress has lagged due to traditional mindsets and limited adaptation to modern changes. Although the community has produced many eminent professionals, the lack of strong social leadership and positive representation reinforces a defeatist and isolationist approach.
Friday Fuss
By Pradeep Mathur
Prejudice and unfair treatment from the system also contribute to their challenges. The article stresses that real progress requires adopting a modern outlook, improving inter-community interaction, and rejecting isolation. Muslims must unite with other deprived groups to demand fair opportunities, use media effectively to highlight positive stories, and counter misinformation. With open-mindedness and constructive engagement, backwardness can be overcome.

The other fact is that in independent India, the Muslim community has produced some of the most eminent and best professionals in all fields of activity. However, the Muslim community has lacked committed social leaders to project these eminent professionals as an example before the community at large to emulate and come up. In the absence of this, the refrain has been a throwback to past glory and lack of support from the government of the day.

It is nobody’s case that the establishment has not been prejudiced or less than fair to the Muslim community. In fact, in the last decade, we have seen heightened prejudice and a shocking increase in unfair incidents against Muslims. However, it is also a fact that Muslim leaders at all levels –social, political and business – have shown very little concern about uplifting their community at large. At best, they have exhibited a very laid-back attitude towards solving the issues coming in the way of the growth and development of their community.

To remove backwardness among Muslims, the first thing we should do is to give up the defeatist approach. We must understand that the root cause of their backwardness is sticking to a very traditional way of thinking, which is now totally out of date. Once they develop a modern outlook, the job of removing economic backwardness will be easy to tackle.  The unfortunate tendency among many Muslim leaders to harp on the backwardness and collaborate with the establishment for personal gain will need to be given up.

To solve their problems, the Muslims will have to give up their isolationist approach. They must realise that in our society, which still has a feudal mindset, there are many other social groups which are being deprived of their due in the national cake. Muslims have to team up with all weaker sections of our society to demand a fair deal from a system that is witness to an increasing divide between haves and have-nots. Muslims must realise that they are not the only ones who are getting unfair treatment from this system, which is controlled by entrenched vested interests.   

Therefore, removing backwardness, Muslims need greater inter-community social interaction. For this, they should shed any lack of self-confidence and adopt a liberal approach with a sense of accommodation. Giving up the isolationist approach will also give them the capacity to appreciate the viewpoint of others.

Let us understand that communalism in our country is less ideological and more industrial. It is a cover for a. Corruption b. Incompetence c. Ignorance d. Self-promotion and e. Personal gain. Therefore, it cannot be dubbed as a characteristic of any particular religious community, majority or minority.  It is essentially a handiwork of the vested interests and their game for climbing the social ladder for capturing political powers, and promoting their business interests. Muslims and other economically weaker sections can overcome the machinations of these vested interests by a combined action and not by any isolationist approach.

To put up their case effectively for greater governmental assistance, the Muslim community must adopt better communication strategies and engagement with the media. Most of the media stories about Muslims are negative, which talk of the discrimination, injustice and oppression of Muslims. These are all right and must be part of media content, but there can also be some positive stories which speak about the good work and success stories of an average Muslim, which are there in plenty. It is a pity that, other than the exploits of Muslim players on the cricket field, we hardly see any positive stories about Muslims in any area of activity. A bridge between popular media and Muslim achievers is the need of the day.

In any modern society media is an essential input in development and to fight backwardness. At least educated Muslims must understand it. Even otherwise, a good communication strategy is required for any social group to put its right foot forward, and there is no reason why Muslims should be indifferent to it.     Taking recourse to the media is also essential to fight misinformation and disinformation, which is often spread by those who are prejudiced against minorities.

No doubt backwardness among Muslims is a major problem, but there is no reason why those who sincerely want to mitigate this problem, whether Muslims themselves or others, cannot tackle it if they adopt an open-minded, positive approach. ( Veteran journalist and media Guru, Prof Pradeep Mathur is Editor-in-Chief of Mediamap news network and Chairman of MBKM Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation for voluntary social work)

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