20 August 2016 By Dr. Javed Jamil 2. Developing a Comprehensive National Plan
for Socioeconomic, Ideological and Political Empowerment of Muslim Indians so
that they can play a meaningful role in the national and global affairs ''These are the kinds of the works that need to
be appreciated and implemented.'' -- Salman Khurshid, Former Minister of
External Affairs ''By providing the comprehensive
document covering every aspect of Muslim role in the country, Dr Jamil has
given a historical document'' -- K Rahman Khan, Former Minister of Minority
Affairs ''Dr Javed Jamil is a visionary who has given
a vision document the like of which has never been produced before'' –
Sirajuddin Qureshi, President India Islamic Cultural Centre, New Delhi Part C- Roadmap: Need for a
National Level Organisation of Muslims Last
Word The Man behind the Work Indian Muslim Community
is no different. In recent years, the community and its leaders seem to have
forgotten to see anything beyond what Sachar committees are showing them and
plan what Rangnath Mishra commissions are planning for them. There have been
initiatives at small scales in different fields. But there has been hardly any
national plan and national effort on the part of Indian Muslim Community to
determine their own course of action, enlisting the governmental support where
it is required and engaging in their own endeavours where they can and must
help themselves. This work is perhaps the first of its kind as it approaches
the issues of Muslims in a comprehensive way just as the Planning Commissions
do for the nation and from the perspective of Muslim way of thinking. Muslims
are no ordinary minority. They are not even a significant minority. They are
about 180 million people. These numbers demand a big planning followed by a
big effort. This approach paper endeavours to view the whole spectrum of
Muslim life in the country. I have taken care not to
present Muslims as a community that cannot simply survive without help from
outside. I have purposefully tried to present them as a social unit, which has
huge potential not only to make themselves a dynamic, vibrant and prosperous
community but also a people that can and must play a meaningful role in
national and international affairs. They have a strong belief system and a
religion that talks of ''promoting good and campaign against evils'' for the
peaceful existence of the whole mankind. They have their own perspective with
which they view the world. This Approach Paper presents their viewpoint
regarding various aspects of the system, which is in force within the country
and outside. The quality of system is extremely important because changing
individuals or society at large is not going to deliver if the system is not
right. A good system must be peace-promoting and health-protective and must
guarantee security to all the sections of the people. The system must be in a
position to assert itself and set the things right whenever they go wrong.
I know there will be people who will object to the approach
adopted in this paper. Some of them will criticise it because of their
preconceived notions developed on account of the influence of the existing
ideologies. Some may argue that it is not desirable to change the course of
history and Muslims must only try to benefit from what exists. I personally do
not believe in continuing with the status quo and feel that ideological and
social campaigns must be run to seek changes for making a healthier, purer and
more peaceful world. There is no reason why we should endorse anything not
good for society at large. We cannot simply become pawns in the hands of the
forces that rule the roost. At the same time, I will argue with equal
vehemence that we must also learn to make adjustments and to seek cooperation
and collaboration with others within the acceptable limits. While we must
continue our ideological drives for change, we must simultaneously continue to
do what we can do in the present conditions. I believe in comprehensiveness
and simultaneity of actions. Successful functioning of any system requires
multi-dimensional, multi-sectoral and multi-level approach on all fronts. We
cannot ignore any aspect. While we can have certain priorities, this does not
mean that we cannot work simultaneously on all the major fronts. This of
course requires sustained planning, division of work, coordination,
monitoring, setting up of goals, through analysis of achievements and failures
and readjustment of methods whenever required. Muslims do know that,
despite having emphasis on certain aspects of development, their vision is not
entirely different from the vision of their fellow countrymen belonging to
other religions; and this is why they have reasons to feel confident that
their vision of India will be realised one day with the support of all
Indians. Indian people are overwhelmingly religious, and all of them love
moral values and family system practised by religion. All religious
communities think almost alike as far as social and cultural values are
concerned. It is this commonness rather than communal hatred, which is
ultimately going to rule the nation. I had released
this document for the first time in May 2012 in a gathering attended by
several ministers and top Muslim leaders, academicians and Ulama. At that
time, I had said that this Approach Paper was still in a raw shape and needed
considerable refinement. This is why I had suggested that it must be
circulated without delay among the people who have the capability to plan and
think both at the macro and micro level. I requested the experts of different
fields to go into it and give their inputs along with the line of action
without compromising the basic principles of comprehensiveness, simultaneity
and distribution and coordination of work followed by sustained monitoring and
reassessment. The document generated huge interest
among intellectuals all over the world, especially the Muslims of Indian
origin. It was almost universally hailed as a historical document, the first
of its kind in Independent India. The document reinvigorated interest in the
issues related to the empowerment of Muslims, and many organisations and
leaders, in their own way, started programmes in that direction. For the first
time, people started talking about Muslim Vision, comprehensive empowerment
and roadmap of development. Since its release, there has surely been a renewed
and more aggressive debate on Muslim issues, with many organisations coming
out with their own vision papers and roadmaps. However, where I have failed,
is that I have not been able to create an organisation, which could have made
serious attempts to implement the roadmap in a comprehensive and coordinated
manner. There have been several reasons behind this failure, personal as well
as collective, which I do not intend to discuss at this moment. I do hope that
the future will see the failure turn into success. Insha Allah.
This book is a vast improvement on the document with
up-gradation and addition of several issues, researches and papers. I have
taken care to also incorporate the recent reports and papers on the relevant
issues. Kundu Report, papers by Abu Saleh Shariff, Dhereraj K Jha, Abdul
Shaban and many others have been used to present a comprehensive picture. What shall be the role of Muslims
in their dear country India that is progressing leaps and bounds on daily
basis, what shall be their destiny and the approach map to reach it, what
shall be the basis of their progress in the light of Muslim and Islamic
viewpoint and analysis, and what shall be the parameters of growth and
progress in the light of Islamic rules and within the framework of Indian
constitution – these are some of the salient features of Dr. Javed Jamil's
latest book titled ''Muslim Vision of Secular India: Destination & Roadmap''.
The book is an upgraded and modified version of the document under the same
name, which was released about three years back in the midst of huge
enthusiasm in the community. The approach paper is
important because it is the first comprehensive approach paper for trying to
analyze the Muslim Perspective of India's goals of development and developing
a national level multi-faceted, holistic strategy for the socio-economic
empowerment of Muslims within the parameters of Islam, Indian culture and
national interests, The paper not only makes a critical analysis of national
policies and presents a Muslim perspectives of the direction in which the
growth is taking place in the country, it also critically analyses the
problems of the country especially related to economic disparity, erosion of
human values, spread of social evils and overriding negative impact of
economic forces; and critically analyses the problems Muslims are facing and
discusses the various issues involved. It covers almost all range of issues
from religious education to modern education, employment, absence of Muslims
in corporate sector, problems in medium and small scale industries, issues
related to Islamic Finance sector, urban developmental issues, rural issues,
health issues, importance of NGO sector, empowerment of women within Islamic
framework, social and security issues, issues related to media and many more.
It presents a plan that views Muslims as second largest
majority capable of influencing all the policies and programmes being pursued
in the country; but at the same time it regards them as ''minority'' in India
from the constitutional point of view which should be given all the rights
that are their due in that capacity. Again it emphasizes that, as poor and
deprived, Muslims are part of the majority of the country which remains poor
and deprived in almost all walks of life. The Approach
Paper also discusses in detail the ideological perspectives of the issues
confronting the country and the community; and argues for a planning that
combines ideological and practical approach to achieve the ultimate objects in
minimum possible time. Another point that the paper
highlights is that the development of the country cannot be complete unless
(1) it involves and benefits all the sections of society in an admirable way;
(2) it takes along with it all the communities of the country without anyone
of them feeling alienated, discriminated or left out; (3) It covers all the
regions and states of the country; (4) It gives an equal emphasis on urban and
rural development; and (5) It ensures that the growth and development take
place without erosion of the moral values, strong family system, social peace
and Indian cultural framework. It presents a plan the Way the Approach paper
of the Planning Commission presents covering all the aspects of Muslim life.
The paper argues that we should make a plan without compromising the basic
principles of comprehensiveness, simultaneity and distribution of work
followed by sustained monitoring and reassessment. A
salient feature of the paper is the facts and figures that are collected from
several sources and their analysis for arriving at the possible solutions. It
has covered not only the Sachar Committee and Rangnath Commission reports but
also recent studies like the Kundu Commission Report and analysis by Saleh
Shariff. It argues that the political empowerment of Muslims should occur in a
way that not only Muslims get a due share in governance but they play a
proactive and meaningful role in all the national and international affairs.
It wants Muslims to develop into a dynamic, globally thinking community,
aggressive in making efforts on all fronts not only for their own development
but also for the establishment of a purer, healthier and more peaceful country
as well as the world. The Approach Paper gives more
emphasis on Solution rather than merely analyzing the problem and suggests
more innumerable measures in various fields. It emphasizes coordination
between the governmental and community institutions as most of these measures
require efforts at both the levels. He talks of empowerment on four fronts:
Ideological, Social, Economic and Political. The success cannot be achieved
unless Muslims focus both on their own role as well as the role of the
government. While dealing with ideological empowerment, he gives an aggressive
response to the machinations of the forces of Hindutva.
Dr. Javed Jamil's book will surely be studied with great
optimism. It remains to be seen up to what extent the Government of India make
use of this report. A blueprint or rather a roadmap to the progress of Muslims
in the country has already been prepared and it is upon the decision-makers to
see that adequate measures are taken for its implementation. The concluding
remarks by the author are worth reproducing here:
''This paper is in effect a preliminary description of Muslim Vision of India.
India of their dreams is the leader that guides the mankind to developing a
healthier, purer, and more prosperous and more peaceful world, with the fruits
of development reaching every human being living anywhere in the world
irrespective of his caste, colour, creed and faith. Muslims do know that,
despite having emphasis on certain aspects of development, their vision is not
entirely different from the vision of their fellow countrymen belonging to
other religions; and this is why they have reasons to feel confident that
their vision of India will be realised one day with the support of all
Indians. Indians on the other hand need to realise that India cannot reach its
destination until Muslim becomes active partners in this pursuit. Muslims need
the support of their countrymen and the countrymen must not fail them.''
Destination & Roadmap'' has attracted huge attention of Muslims
not only within the country but also at the international level.
A product of one of India's oldest and premier medical
institutions, King George's Medical College, Lucknow, Dr. Javed Jamil is a
physician by profession. However, such has been his grasp on issues related to
diverse spheres of life that people often mistakenly consider him to be a
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D). Dr. Jamil can very well be called a man of
theories. He has propounded several unconventional theories in different
fields. Though it can be argued that almost all his major works are rooted in
Islamic principles, he has presented his theses both in secular as well as
Islamic framework. It is no wonder that he distinguishes Atheistic Secularism
from Religious Secularism.
''The think-tank of the world of economic fundamentalism has
taken innumerable steps to strengthen their hold. They have sacrificed the
goddess of justice before the eyes of Statue of Liberty. They have transformed
through political manoeuvres the state into their estate. They have
incessantly and relentlessly been trying to organise a grand farewell for
religion. They have captivated the imagination of the people through the
media. They have got the attire of society redesigned so that it looks
gorgeous and inviting to their eyes. They have industrialised sex, in which
they have discovered the hen that always lays golden eggs. They have relocated
the entire educational set-up on the Wall Street. They have monopolised the
tree of economy whose fruits and shadows are only theirs; others can only
admire its beauty from a safe distance. They have taken science and technology
as their mistresses who are always keen to offer their glorious best to them.
They have nipped all the challenges in the buds by masterminding popular
movements. They have lynched 'civilisation', which has been given a new
incarnation; and now Bohemians are called civilised. Last but not the least,
they have been busy colonising the good earth in the name of globalisation.''
His main contributions are at three levels: Second,
he has presented alternative Islamic paradigms, concepts, definitions and
policies in many fields including health, economics, politics, physics and
social sciences. He is now credited with almost singlehandedly developing the
concept of Applied Islamics. Third, he has presented
comprehensive programmes for the empowerment of Indian Muslims. He succeeded a
shift from focus on merely the educational front to a comprehensive programme
of empowerment involving Ideological, Social, Economic and Political
Empowerment. This approach has attracted the attention of the scholars and
activists who are now busy developing it further. His
major achievements can be summed up as under: 1. He
was the first to organise a big political protest against Supreme Court
verdict in Shah Bano case. The success of the march galvanized a big national
movement leading to the change of the law by Parliament in accordance with the
demands of Muslims; 2. In 1990s, His book, ''Islam and
Family Planning'' changed the perception of Islamic scholars regarding the
issues related to Islam and family planning. He took a balanced view and
presented an Islamic Model of Family Welfare, which helped Islamic scholars in
arriving at a consensus. 3. He then published
''Islamic Model for Control of AIDS'', in which he criticized the
international AIDS control programme arguing that it was influenced by the
interests of the market forces, and a campaign against commercialization of
sex is essential to safeguard sexual health. He also suggested the inclusion
of circumcision in the programme, which the WHO did several years later. He
also described how the Islamic concept of Iddah can be helpful in fighting the
menace. 4. With his book, ''The Devil of Economic
Fundamentalism'', he for the first time challenged the international economic
ideologies of Capitalism as well as Socialism, showing how dangerous these
ideologies are for holistic peace. This became the central theme of all his
coming works, and has the potential of emerging as the biggest philosophical
revolution in future. He presented an alternative paradigm of ''Peace
Economics'', which is of course based on Islamic principles.
5. He gave a new dimension to the applied studies of Islam,
what he called Applied Islamics, in which the focus is on the critical
appraisal of the world policies, programmes and concepts and presenting
Islamic alternatives. 6. In the first decade of the
21st century, he launched a big attack on Westernism attacking its political,
economic and social policies describing it as an ideology of hegemony. His
works, ''Westernism: An Ideology of Hegemony'' (circulated on Net forums, not
yet published), ''Islam means Peace'' and ''Muslims Most Civilised, Yet Not
Enough'' attracted the attention of the international scholars, especially
Islamic activists. His call for abandoning defensive and apologetic approach
and for an ideological onslaught on New World Order gave rise to a new
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