The idea of ‘good gesture’ questioned by former General Secretary of TISS-SU, Fahad Ahmad on the recent comment on Babri Masjid Case by the Former Vice-Chancellor of AMU, Lt. Zameeruddin Shah
Dear Sir,
Hope this letter finds you in good health.
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As an ex-student of my Alma mater, I am presenting my views in this letter with reference to your initiative under the banner of “Indian Muslims for Peace‟ in which you have proposed that Muslims must hand over the disputed land in Ayodhya to Hindus as a “goodwill gesture‟ for construction of Ram temple to ensure communal harmony.
I appreciate the fact you came forward and reflected on the current conditions of Muslims which you were not able to do while serving the army because of various restrictions.
I must submit that the demolition of Babri Masjid will always remain a clot on Indian democracy, in the manner that black day was deliberately planned by the right-wing fundamentalist is not less than 9/11 incident of USA.
Through this letter, I would like to ask a few simple questions to you which I hope you will be able to answer. When this idea of showing “good gesture‟ will end, we choose India as our country wasn’t that enough to show the good gesture? Only those states were divided during partition where we Muslims were in majority (Bengal, Punjab) and we accepted it because of geographical stability of the country wasn’t that enough to show the “good gesture‟?, Muslims are being killed earlier in communal riots and now in mob lynchings but we always used the constitutional ways to address our issues wasn’t that good gesture? Those who demolished Babri Masjid later became the prime minister and home minister
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We never showed any disrespect to them as they were on the constitutional post wasn’t that good gesture? I can write thousand more good gesture acts from the Muslim community which they do in their daily life interactions to make our country a better place to live but it never ended the discrimination which they faced and now, they are being on verge to become the second class citizens of India. After showing all these good gestures nothing has changed for Muslims in India. Various researches narrate their marginalization story. It seems there is some problem with our approach, someone rightly said: “The ignorance of the Majority threatens the existence of minorities, the reverse isn’t” (“Umar bhar Ghalib Yahi Bhool Karta raha, Dhool Chehre pe thi, aur Aaina saaf karta raha”). Famous sociologist of JNU Dipankar Gupta in his book “Justice before Reconciliation‟ said “the idyllic image of inter-religious co-existence needs to replace by the awareness of the existing conflictual among Hindu-Muslims of India So that both communities can understand their differences and start respecting each other and stop making any prejudice. So, this debate of showing unnecessary good gesture is very old and not going to add anything. We need to find better ways to tackle the issue of communalisation of our beloved country and we need to save it from those who are planning to create chaos in Indian society. If you still believe that one more “good gesture‟ is required from the Muslim community than I would like to know how this good gesture will resolve the following issues pertaining to Indian Muslims.
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Lastly, I would like to suggest if you are in any negotiation with the government on behalf of Muslims on Babri Masjid Case than make sure that the morale of Muslims should not be compromised, and any deal which so-called Muslims intellectuals are plaining to make should get something for Muslim masses as well.
Looking forward to listening from you.
Thank you Regards
Fahad Ahmad
AMU-Alumni
Former General Secretary TISS-SU
Source: open letter by Fahad Ahmad, former General Secretary, AMU Students’ Union, October 2019. Related: AMUSU election 2026.
