The Widening Divide   by: Dr. Rafiq Zakaria Reviewed by: M.V. Kamath " Muslims must now convince Hindus of their love for their country and that it is as deep as that for their religion, and instead of resenting the taunt of disloyalty, they should try to dispel it". Dr. Zakaria Is there a divide between Hindus and Muslims in India? If there is one, is it widening, is there any way of bridging it? And if there is a way, who is to undertake it? It is now an accepted fact that there indeed is a divide, that this divide has been widening ever since the demolition of the Babri structure and that there has been no serious effort to bridge it. The pessimism is understandable but unwarranted. Many Hindus have blamed Muslims, especially the extremist among them, for widening the divide and the compliment has been returned. That is not likely to take the country anywhere. On the face of it the situation looks bleak but of late there seems to be a new awakening among Muslims which is very happy development. Liberal Muslims are speaking out like Maulana Wahiduddin Khan who wants Muslims to look beyond the Babri Masjid demolition. There is no doubt that the demolition of the Babri Masjid jolted them into a sense of reality. Muslims clearly have been feeling, as Maulana Khan recently wrote, not merely frustration and despondency but "a deep sense of humiliation". But according to the Maulana it is also "an undeniable fact that both Hindu and Muslim public have put the issue of Ayodhya behind them and that "it is high time now that both communities diverted their full attention to more constructive acitivities." This is where a book just published and written by Dr. Rafiq Zakaria called The Widening Divide, makes eminent sense. Says Dr. Zakaria: "The Hindu communalists may be criticized, attacked and condemned but they can no longer be ignored. They have to be brought round even if it takes a long time and in the process, we of the older generation may all be dead." Dr. Zakaria's book is an important contribution towards bridging the gulf between Hindus and Muslims. One does not have to agree will all his conclusions, but there is here a genuine, sincere effort to accept Muslim misdeeds in the past, even while explaining them in the context of their times. He is strongly critical of the "tinpot agitators" in his community and deeply regrets that even after fifty years of Independence "the impression continues to persist that the communalists are more representative of the Muslim masses than the secularists". He reminds his readers of those times when there was amity between Hindus and Muslims, when Vijaynagar employed thousands of Muslims in both civil and military establishments, when an entire contingent of Rana Sanga was Muslim and in Shivaji's army a substantial section was adherent of Islam. He is critical of Aurangzeb, insisting that he had no right to destroy temples or to impose jaziya on the Hindus because his wars were not religious but for imperial advancement. He is all praise for Shivaji for not being a bigot or fanatic. He is critical of the British for widening the alienation between Hindus and Muslims. He is even more strongly critical of Jinnah for "poisoning" the Hindu mind against the Muslim, though he does not spare Nehru for his role in rejecting the Cabinet Mission's plan. According to him, the Viceroy, Lord Wavell "would have managed to bring Jinnah around, if Nehru and Patel were more flexible". For all that, he is in full agreement with Maulana Azad who told Muslims after Partition had taken place that "the debacle of Indian Muslims is the result of the colossal blunders committed by the Muslim League's misguided leadership". Dr Zakaria claims that "Muslim phobia has become the central point of Indian politics" but does not hesitate to simultaneously point out that "Indian Muslims, on their part have done little to help remove it" and that "on the contrary, due to the behaviour of some of their leaders, the situation threatens to become explosive and deteriorate further". It is Dr Zakaria's view that Indian Muslims see the demand for a Uniform Civil Code pursued by the champions of Hindutva "as an attack on their traditional values which are an integral part of their religion". It may be a wrong assesment of the demand, but it exists and Hindus must give due recognition to it. The sad thing is that because of the misunderstanding, the pace of reform among Muslims has slowed down causing as Dr Zakaria puts it "unncessary animosity on either side" with Muslims doubting the bonafides of Hindus and Hindus resenting the "obstinacy" of the Muslims. Dr. Zakaria himself thinks that the orthodox mullahs have thwarted the advancement of their co-religionists by "misquoting scriptures and sticking to outdated forms and practices". And he condemns them by quoting Prof Ziauddin Sardar of King Abdul Azis University, Jeddah, who made the point that the mullahs "have closed and constricted many inquiring minds by their insistence on unobjective parallels, unending quibbles over semantics", having "divorced themselves from human needs and conditions". Dr Zakaria's views are not one-sided. He is equally critical of Hindus whose zeal for a uniform civil code, he says, is more hypocritical than imbued with a zeal for reform. Hindus may deny it vigorously, but it would be a mistake not to read Dr Zakaria with due respect. He is presenting a Muslim point of view. Here is a man who dares his own co-religionists, tells them, for example, that their opposition to Vande Mataram is irrational, that they should not feel offended if a Hindu dignitary begins a project with puja, that the Mulayam Singhs and Laloo Yadavs have succeeded against Hindu communalism not because of their anti-communal stand but due to their pro-casteist pincer movement, and that the past, with all its faults, must now be forgotten and that Muslims "must now convince Hindus of their love for their country and that it is as deep as that for their religion" and "instead of resenting the taunt of disloyalty, they should try to dispel it." Towards the end he tells his coreligionists that "it is time they gave up their suicidal tendency of getting excited over temporary irritants which invariably lead to a Hindu backlash against them" and of constantly talking about "preserving their identity". Here is a voice speaking both to Muslims and Hindus. It should not go unread.