One word can make you a terrorist!

Aam Aadmi Party believes that religion should not be used to divide people. We believe that politics and politicians should focus on issues that are concerned with the welfare of the state and the well-being of the citizens. A ruling party ghettoizing a community to use it as a vote bank is a crime that is as bad as a ruling party inciting violence against a community.

Shazia Ilmi had a meeting with the Aman Committee in Mumbai and her unfortunate use of words has created a controversy. Everyone who has followed Shazia’s public life knows that she not remotely connected with communal ideas or actions. But we are being fed this propaganda through edited video clips. The theatre of the absurd is being played out with the media (which seems to be on the same diet as paid trolls) spewing out the kind of outrage that Togadias and Owaisis deserve, on this progressive woman.

Yes her choice of words is wrong, yes she seems like she is saying she wants Muslims to be communal. No the party does not endorse it. There are people who have staked their reputations, livelihoods and their very lives to be part of this movement and it is their right to expect the leaders to be responsible when they speak. The party should discipline all those whose words and actions damage the credibility of the party or compromise its ideals.

Though no one will care to hear a sane voice once the electronic media has raised a din, I will attempt to explain what she said. The meeting with Aman Committee – a respected group working towards maintaining peace between communities, was arranged by youngsters from First Time Voters, whose endeavour is to bring politicians and society together. Their representatives, and the representative of AAP, were present at this meeting as well as a number of other people, from both communities.

Shazia was attempting to say that Muslims are frightened into giving votes to the so called secular Congress which has by and large let them rot in their ghettos so that they can keep using them as fodder. Muslims are not communal, they never vote for any Muslim party, they vote for so called secular parties as they are frightened of their plight if the Hindu fundamentalists take control. Shazia said they must give this secularism/fundamentalism issue a backseat and think of their community – how it will be fed, clothed and developed. They must fight against corruption as that is the biggest stumbling block in their progress. So if thinking for what is best for their community is called being communal, then so be it. They must give up being secular (voting based on secular/communal politics) and become communal (vote based on selfish agenda of welfare of their community).

67 years of misrule, and the target of the media and status quoists is this one year old party which wants to end this misrule, not the two national parties who have reduced us to this state. Prime time politics has no use for explanations and logic, there is no room for irony, sarcasm or any nuanced ideas; in this volatile atmosphere one word can wipe out credibility. One word and a progressive patriot can be equated with someone who only job is spreading hate & perpetrating violence. Given such a manipulated atmosphere, the AAP leadership needs to set standards of what can be said and what cannot, we need to set examples of conduct that will take this nation to the next level.