Rampur town wears a poignant air. Its magnificent Raza library whose elegant minarets are decorated with a gurdwara, church, mandir and masjid, seems forgotten in the scorching political and religious divisions of western UP. Once Maulana Azad’s constituency, today caught in a fierce electoral contest, plural Rampur is now polarised Rampur.
Rampur’s past and present are a metaphor for the Muslim predicament: individuals who once laid claim to subcontinental plurality and linguistic and cultural commonalities are today caged in exclusively mono-religious identities. A Muslim is now defined exclusively by the minority tag.
This assault is apparently happening in the name of ‘Hindu’ assertion. Yet Hinduism has always upheld diversities. In fact, it gives centrality to the freedom of the individual (the ‘atma’) Read More
