Anwar Moazzam
The book under review is a useful contribution to the huge amount of literature available on the so-called ‘Hindu-Muslim problem’. Amrik Singh avoids the Right and the Left lanes and approaches the problem as an intellectual in search of the ways and means to build up a powerful, united and plural Indian society.
In doing so, he has consulted vast material on the political, religious and cultural history of medieval India, as well as a host of national and communal issues of the 19th and the 20th centuries. He has attempted to construct a roadmap for the goal of a peaceful future for the Indian people.
In 15 chapters he covers almost all the major issues that have played a key role in shaping the political and cultural landscape of India, from the medieval to contemporary times.
Although such an expansive coverage does not help him in identifying theories and trends in these areas, he uses select issues and concepts to develop his own ideas regarding the most debated aspects of the Indian reality, including, for instance, the nature of the advent of Islam, the socio-religious impact of Muslim rule in North India, nationalism, communalism and the role played by the Indian National Congress, the Hindu movements and the BJP in the managing (or damaging) of secularisation and democratisation of society and state in India.
However, his focus is mainly on the communal and secular forces operating in the country.
He believes that Muslims would not be able to play an effective role in development activities because of their educational backwardness, narrow and shortsighted policies of the political parties and their governments, the complete hold of the mullah on the lay Muslim population (although the clergy is not a recognised class, according to Islamic teachings) and the failure of enlightened Muslims to check the past-oriented and unrealistic influence of the mullahs on the lives and thinking of illiterate Muslims.
He points out certain Middle-Eastern Muslim societies are showing signs of positive change in the context of modernisation and suggests that Indian Muslims would also change, provided threats to their security posed by the Hindu right, and allegations of their not being loyal to India, are removed, and they themselves come out of their minority complexes.
According to the author, existence of communal and caste consciousness has become so widespread that no political party, whether right or left, can ignore this electoral factor.
In his view, the Congress and the BJP have used Muslims as vote-banks and both are responsible for the communal riots against the Muslims and the Sikhs.           
He suggests, however, that instead of remaining a prisoner of the past, a community must rid itself of its obsession with the past and look to contemporary constructs for development. In his view, Indian political parties must try to build up a plural and secular democracy, providing no room for communal and caste categories or movements driven by Hindu or Muslim religious identity.
The writer is former head, department of Islamic Studies, Osmania University.
The Hindu Muslim Divide: A Fresh Look,
Amrik Singh
Vitasta
238 pages
Rs.345