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 Excommunication
of Muslims in Malegaon: Half-baked stories to strengthen
stereotype:
However reading about the
ex-communication of five Muslims by a group of Maulvis in Malegaon
made me think if the ....
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The Pain
in Malegaon |
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 Dying Textile Industry:
Govt. refusing to lend a helping hand despite repeated pleas:
But their demand
to delink the subsidy from the bank
....Read
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 Pollution in Malegaon
Hazardous emissions no case for MPCB:
Blessings though these factories might be for their owners. But for
the people living in this part....Read
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 Decisions and Implementations
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The GAP widening day by day:
Perform or perish. It was the warning given to the new Ministers who
took the....Read
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-
Whose purpose are they
actually
serving?:
Instead most of these funds are either lapsed and lay unused or if
at all they....Read
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 Such things happen only in Malegaon-Denied
the
wages,
teachers
are forced to work in
powerloom factories during the night:
The life has...Read
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 A Living Hell:
Established in 1863 Malegaon Municipal Council till a decade ago was regarded as one of the richest Council
in Maharashtra. It was so....Read
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Malegaon:
Despite the assumptions and fabrications that
your story regarding excommunications of 5 Muslims in Malegaon has
and notwithstanding the fact that the incident of which you are
creating such a hue and cry could have been treated as an aberration
seen in any society in India or abroad, hats off to you, Mr.
Wajihuddin for the sense of responsibility as a journalist you have
shown. It is - and has to be – on the expected lines from a senior
journalist like you to become “restless” after learning the pain of
the people. And this is what you did after learning the “sorry
state” of those “5 Muslims” in Malegaon who have been so “cruelly
and unjustly” excommunicated by the “Maulvis”. No sane person would
sit quiet if there is danger to someone’s life. What you did and the
haste you showed in reporting the incident hence is laudable. No
matter if you failed in verifying the facts before filing your
story.
However, Mr.
Wajihuddin, there are more than half a million people in Malegaon
who are also facing threat to their lives though because of some
other reasons. There are, Mr. Wajihuddin, thousands of people in
Malegaon who are discriminated against and are forced to live under
pathetic and inhuman conditions that you must have noticed while in
the town after the two tragic blasts and recently to attend a
marriage ceremony. It is strange that your “conscience” did not
force you to file any story on the sorry state of such a huge
population.
While reporting on
Malegaon, Mr. Wajihuddin, the series of communal riots that became
fate of this Muslim dominated town soon after the Independence, was
normally in the minds of journalists till “the politics of communal
riots was replaced by that of bomb blasts”. Defending the Muslim
accused who are falsely implicated in the blasts and highlighting
the plight of their families would be too much to expect from a
journalist attached with the media house you are associated with.
However, in contrast to the general propaganda that the Muslims in
Malegaon have always been responsible for inciting communal tension,
Justice Patil Commission reportedly has the other side of the story
in his report. Why as a journalist you do not file a story that
could pressurise the state government to table the Commission Report
in the assembly. Why don’t you, who seem to be so worried about the
“image of Indian Muslims”, create hue and cry out of this so that
the truth about the communal riots in Malegaon is made public and
the blot on the face of being communally intolerant on such a large
chunk of Muslim population is removed?
While in Malegaon,
you must have noticed complete breakdown of local administration.
You must have realised the dearth of basic amenities in the town.
You must have taken a ride or two on the streets and by lanes in
Malegaon. Don’t you think that a town with a population of more than
half a million people deserve better roads, better infrastructure,
better access to civic amenities and to quality professional
education. Why the pain and the daily sufferings of this huge
population failed to move you to write similar reports?
During your stay in
the town, you must have been told about the sorry state of hundreds
of teachers in Malegaon who are denied their salaries for months.
You must have been told that because of the delay in the salary some
of the teachers could not manage their medical treatments and have
actually died. Even then, your “sense of responsibility” as a
journalist did not force you to file any story?
During your stay in
Malegaon, you must have witnessed the indiscriminate power load
shedding that has left thousands of poor labourers starving. You
must have been told that the prolonged power load shedding in
Malegaon is the result of someone else’s crime and the Muslims in
Malegaon are being punished for something they are not responsible
of. It is surprising even then you did not take any pain to write a
story.
Agreed, the country
has given the right to preach one’s belief to every individual and
if anyone tries to eliminate this right, you as a journalist have
every right to make it public and criticise. But, why you single out
a particular incident - that too on the basis of assumptions and
without verifying the facts - while you chose to remain silent on
several other occasions and even after learning about the incidents
that threaten the future of thousands of people?
Lastly, you rightly
quoted a columnist who says, such acts like the one the “Maulvis”
did in Malegaon tarnish the image of Indian Muslims. But, don’t you
realise, the manner you chose while reporting yesterday, and the way
you generalised and exaggerated the details pertaining to the
incident, can also be used as tools to malign the image of Indian
Muslims and strengthen stereotypes against them?
From a Malegaon-ian
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