"Could Syed Shahabuddin be a communalist? After all, he played a key role in the three main "Muslim communalist" issues of recent years: the Babri Masjid campaign, the Shah Bano case and the Salman Rushdie affair (it is he who got The Satanic Verses banned in September 1988). Surely, he must be India's communalist par excellence? Wrong: if you read any page of any issue of Shahabuddin's monthly Muslim India, you will find that he brandishes the notion of "secularism" as the alpha and omega of his politics, and that he directs all his attacks against Hindu "communalism". The same propensity is evident in the whole Muslim "communalist" press, e.g. the Jamaat-i Islami weekly Radiance. Moreover, on Muslim India's editorial board, you find articulate secularists like Inder Kumar Gujral, Khushwant Singh and the late P.N. Haksar."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Syed_Shahabuddin
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Syed Shahabuddin
Syed Shahabuddin (4 November 1935 – 4 March 2017) was an Indian politician and diplomat from Gaya, Bihar. He began as a diplomat working for the Indian Foreign Service, but later became well known as one of the most articulate Muslim politicians of independent India. He switched careers after the Emergency, at the time when the Congress began its decline and Hindu nationalism first started its ascent to power. He served three terms from 1979-1996 as a member of the Parliament of India. He was kn
7 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Syed Shahabuddin →
Related Quotes
"The 'progressive' people in this country show a remarkable eagerness to see communalism even in the most harmless obs…"
"Because Hindus fear the Muslims, they have fallen on the path of secularism. Each time they were conquered by Muslim …"
"The law protects the Babri Masjid even if it was constructed on the site of a temple after demolishing it, but in the…"
"If it is proven that the Babri Masjid has been built in forcible replacement of a Hindu temple, I will demolish it wi…"
"Syed Shahabuddin's Muslim India (27.3.89) declares: "They (Aryans) don't belong to India and hence, don't love India.…"
"The Ayodhya dispute and the Rushdie affair are indeed connected. The ban on The Satanic Verses was part of a package …"
"PHFI is a private society cleverly disguised as a public-private partnership since some of the people in the governin…"
"The PHFI appears to have a conflict of interest in advising the government of India and directing the immunization pr…"
"In days of yore, there reigned in the extenfive and populous empire of Hindoostan, emblematic of Paradise, a Sovereig…"
"The lady, on hearing this melody, like the nightingale, having expanded the wings of curiosity in search of this flow…"