Gujarat has not been fair to its Muslims

The reported statement of an eminent cleric from Gujarat asking Muslims of the state to leave the 2002 riots behind and take advantage of the state's development has unleashed a flurry of arguments and counter arguments.

The intense views expressed by different people have vitiated the atmosphere, mainly among Indian Muslims. I am not sure what the statement exactly was but a large number of Muslims believed it was reported accurately.

The controversy brought to the fore some disturbing but not new questions. Are Muslims beneficiaries of the development in Gujarat? Is discrimination against Muslims a matter of the past? What would be the impact of that cleric's purported statement on efforts to change the image of the Gujarat chief minister?

Before addressing these questions, I would like to examine the claims made about Gujarat's development under the current government in the state. Is the development a reality or just a myth?

The per capita income has gone up in Gujarat. But that has been happening ever since Gujarat was created as a separate state in 1960. Infrastructure development is visible and a few important industries have come up.

MoUs for investment running into thousands of crores of rupees have been signed but only 24 % have been realized. The important question, however, is have a majority of the people of Gujarat really benefited from the development? My answer is an emphatic no.

Can a state where 45 % of children are undernourished, 74 % of women are anaemic, 1/3 rd of the population is illiterate, and every tenth person perceives himself as a second class citizen, be called a developed state?

If Gujarat has really developed, why is it placed 13th among 17 states of India on the India State Hunger Index? (This is as bad as Haiti!)

It is alarming but, sadly, a comatose state cannot be alarmed. Hence it is obvious that if the per capita income has gone up, the resulting wealth is concentrated in the bank accounts and homes of a few people.

And there must be some Muslims among these privileged few.
But the bigger truth is that a large number of 'invisible' Muslims share the poverty and the concomitant hunger and miseries with a large number of people of other communities in Gujarat.

Muslims, however, certainly suffer some explicit discrimination just because they are Muslims. Between 35,000 and 50,000 Muslims uprooted during the communal riots of 2002 still exist in subhuman conditions in 86 colonies built by voluntary agencies, mainly Muslim organisations.

The state government provided no support at that time nor does it do now. The uprooted Muslims do not have basic amenities, no educational or health facilities and scant opportunities for livelihood.

Apart from these, thousands of Muslims left their homes and settled in huge ghettoes, preferring a sense of security to basic amenities, opportunities for livelihood or dignity.

These ghettoes are yet to register their existence on the consciousness of the state government or even on the physical maps of different areas of the state.

Under the prime minister's scheme for minorities, 64,000 students (including Christians, Sikhs and Parsis) are entitled to pre-matriculation scholarship. Gujarat is the only state which has steadfastly refused to implement this scheme for the last 3 years, thus depriving 1,92,000 students of the benefits of this scheme.

The literacy rate among Muslims of Gujarat is higher than the average literacy rate of the state. But the credit for that goes to Muslims themselves as the community has been running hundreds of schools in predominantly Muslim areas.

When a large part of civil society and the state government abdicate their responsibility to address the needs of a particular group, it finds its own ways to address them which may not be ideal.

The state government has floated some schemes for BPL (below poverty line) card holders. When Muslims approach the authorities with genuine BPL cards, they are refused benefits because "your name is not in our list."

And the authorities refuse to add their names to the list! And even when a revised list is prepared, the Muslims names are still missing. In a recent Survey of Slums of Ahmedabad (2009-10), a couple of sizeable Muslim localities are excluded.

There are many Muslims in the civil service of Gujarat. True, but where are they placed? Admirers of non-discriminatory development and an unbiased state government owe an explanation for this sad reality.

The perception of Muslims that they are excluded from the state's development has a strong basis.

(The writer is a social activist)