Ancient Wisdom dictates that nothing succeeds like success. Quite obviously, the converse also holds true. Nothing defeats like defeat. In the aftermath of a defeat, people are prone to making mistakes that could trap them in a vicious cycle of defeat. A similar pattern is unfolding before our eyes following the spectacular failure of the Liberal Establishment’s anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (anti-CAA) campaign.
For the first time in a long time, we witnessed the public collaboration between opposition parties, the mainstream media, the Far-Left mafia in Universities and Muslim Extremists on the streets engaging in rampant mob violence. While the strength of the alliance came mainly from Muslim extremists, they were also the greatest liability for the other camps as the public demonstration of Islamic extremism only worked towards consolidating public opinion in favour of the government.
To be sure, it was a very volatile alliance from the very beginning. Unlike the Hindutva camp, which is united by shared blood, history, culture, traditions and heritage, it’s only opportunism that is holding the Liberal Establishment together. The Opposition parties tolerate Islamic Extremism as it fetches them votes. The mainstream media largely acts as the propaganda wing of the Opposition parties. It’s only the Far-Left Mafia in Universities that sympathize with Islamic Extremists as the former is stupid enough to believe that the latter has genuine grievances and both of them share the same hatred towards the Hindu Samaj. Moreover, in Urban areas, Muslim mobs provide the Leftist intelligentsia with the muscle power that it desires.
It was only the promise of a victory that was holding them all together. However, since the General Elections of 2019, it has been one defeat after another and the CAA was the last straw. The Liberal Establishment decided to mount one final push but it, too, did not achieve the desired results. Let us be clear here, the anti-CAA protests were a catastrophic defeat for the Liberal Establishment. Public opinion has definitively consolidated behind the government and the Establishment is recognizing this.
Thus, we are witnessing this alliance of opportunism fall apart right before our very eyes as every distinct group looks to preserve their own interests. It is quite unlike the Hindutva alliance where every subgroup realizes that it floats and sinks as a collective. Here, it is just an alliance of convenience. When confronted with a defeat, every subgroup of the Liberal Establishment looks to secure its own interests first. And that is how the carefully constructed alliance unravels.
The first instance of it was demonstrated when Aysha Renna, one of the faces of the Jamia protests and someone who has supported terrorist Yakub Memon in the past, was heckled by Communists after she spoke out against Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan. She was forced to issue a public apology over her remark against Vijayan.
The second instance was when senior Congress leader Shashti Tharoor spoke out against the rampant display of Islamic Extremism in the anti-CAA protests and was thoroughly rebuked by the new leaders of the Muslim community. Tharoor had only remarked that the slogans of “There is no God but Allah” went against the ethos of pluralism and diversity they were trying to protect.
Shashi Tharoor’s comments was an act of self-preservation by the Congress party. The party realized that the overt display of Islamic Extremism could cost them a lot in future elections and hence, had to disassociate themselves from it. But the new Muslim leaders stepped in and these new leaders are now trying to assume the leadership of the Muslim community and ensure that the votes do not continue to flow in the account of the ‘secular’ parties anymore.
Shehla Rashid stepped in and claimed that the anti-CAA protests were a Muslim struggle and it was the liberals who were trying to hijack their movement. The message was clear, the new Muslim leader no longer wants to outsource the leadership of the community to the ‘secular’ parties. They now want to become the face of the community and their political representatives themselves.
The hardline stance by Shehla Rashid and other Muslims has forced Shashi Tharoor to backtrack from his earlier statement regarding Muslim extremism because at the end of the day, the ‘secular’ parties desperately need the Muslim votes to stay relevant. The Congress party is now stuck between a hard place and a rock. There is no good outcome for them out of this.
Meanwhile, Shehla Rashid’s stance doesn’t appear to be particularly smart as well considering the fact that Muslim identity politics will hugely consolidate support for the BJP and there’s no good thing that could possibly come of this. The slogans of “Ladhke lenge Azadi” and “Chheen ke lengey Azadi” ended up with one Muslim protester shitting his pants quite literally. As crude as it may sound, it’s the truth.
Furthermore, the demonstration of Muslim Extremism during the anti-CAA protests gave the BJP governments sufficient leeway to brutally put down the protests. In the end, the Maulanas were left begging for mercy and tons of others were left with severe injuries that would take a long time to heal. The major lesson to learn is this: Muslim identity politics will no longer work in India. The people of this country have decided it is not something that they will tolerate any longer. Therefore, any attempt at Muslim identity politics will only benefit the BJP and give them more leeway in dealing with any potential outburst of violence.
Worryingly enough, Shehla Rashid also appears to have delivered the final nail in the coffin for the Dalit-Muslim Unity Project. She is now advocating for the invasion of Muslims into benefits reserved for the Dalit community. She claims ‘Dalit Muslims’ should be granted the opportunity to receive benefits under reservations for the Dalit Community.
You want to be an ally? Sure!
Please start by demanding that Dalit Muslims get reservation under the SC category – an instance of faith-based discrimination against Muslims by the Indian state.
— Shehla Rashid (@Shehla_Rashid) December 30, 2019
In reality, there is nothing called Dalit Muslims. As ‘Eminent Historians’ keep telling us, Caste is intrinsic to only the Hindu faith and the egalitarian nature of Islam is what forced many to convert in order to escape the oppressive caste system. Therefore, people cannot turn around now and claim that caste is a feature of the Muslim community too.
Read: 25 crimes that prove that the Dalit-Muslim unity is nothing but a farce
More fundamentally, Shehla Rashid’s demands mean that Dalits will now have to sacrifice their share of reservations and accommodate Muslims in order to achieve Dalit-Muslim Unity. The Dalit Community was already turning more and more towards Hindutva and this demand by Shehla Rashid, that Dalits sacrifice a portion of their reservations for Muslims, will further drive a wedge between the two communities.
All in all, the entire edifice of the Liberal Establishment is crumbling apart and every group is struggling to preserve their own interests at the expense of the other. Liberals thought they could milk Islamic Extremism for votes. The Islamic Extremists believe they could use Liberals to further their own extremist agenda. The Leftist intelligentsia was under the illusion that it could be used to usher in an era of revolution where unicorns farted rainbows. At the end of it all, however, the only one that gets to benefit from all of this is the BJP. Members of the ruling dispensation must be watching all the events unfold with popcorn in their hands.
