– MA Moid
Few years back a young German woman researcher landed in Hyderabad to conduct a study on a topic related to Hyderabad’s Muslim women as part of her academic requirement. After a stay for a couple of months and completing the project she was about to leave. At this stage I was feeling curious about her experiences and opinions about Hyderabad’s Muslims. I wondered how a foreign researcher handles her research and her relationship with her subjects in the context of the existing stereotypes about Hyderabad’s Muslims and the old city. I decided to ask her a few questions. “Did anybody offer any opinion or advice before you started your field work?” She replied, as I expected, “Yes my host (Hindu) did. When he came to know that I will be visiting old city and interacting with Muslims he felt nervous. He advised me to be extra careful and warned me that Muslims are violent and unpredictable, quarrelsome and illiterate, backward and ill-mannered etc. and the old city is the place where frequent communal riots break out”. I asked her, What happened did this advice influence you? She said, “I became really nervous and hesitant at the beginning. I thought that this is a new country and I will be interacting with the people of Hyderabad for the first time so I thought it is better to be cautious”. I asked, “Well, now you have successfully completed your project after spending so much time in old city among Muslims, what happened to your caution?” She said, “I already had the experience of working with Turkish women in Germany. I knew a bit about Muslims. This helped me in overcoming my apprehensions quickly”. I asked her “then how did you find the Muslims of Hyderabad?” “I found them to be exactly opposite to the fearful characterization of my host! It was so easy to interact with them. I was very comfortable with the people of the old city except for the traffic, chaos and the irritating salesmen who keep insisting on visiting their shops. I found the women well-cultured and friendly. A few of them invited me to dinner, family functions and even gave me gifts” she replied. “I have become friends with so many. I would love to come back again to Hyderabad if I could”.
I always remember this conversation while thinking about perceptions and realities of Hyderabad. I try to think about the ‘host’s’ perceptions and opinions, (this host was also an old resident of Hyderabad) and wonder how and why people develop such opinions about Hyderabad. I realize that the negative opinions about Hyderabad’s Muslims are of four types. According to the first the Muslims are aggressive and violent; second, they are backward, i.e., ill mannered, outdated and living in past; third, they are unreliable and unpredictable and lastly they are communal.
Thinking about the history of Hyderabad, I felt that five phases of violence can be noticed that were intimately linked with Muslims and influenced the opinion about them.
Things began in the turbulent decade of 1930 and 40s when people started thinking communally on Hindu and Muslim lines, as the new political developments made them see each other in new light. The old perceptions and opinions, which look so innocent and naive now, gave way to new perceptions about each other. The Seventh Nizam—the last ruler of Hyderabad is now being seen as unjust and biased, and the Muslims are seen as communal. With the Razakaars activities in 1947-48 the Muslims began to be seen as aggressive and violent. This was the first phase of violence that has influenced the opinion about Muslims for many decades to come. It is still used to taunt and pressurize Muslims.
The second phase of violence came in the form of the Police Action which was completely one sided and against Muslims. However, surprisingly in popular memory it doesn’t find as important a place as that of the Razakaar atrocities.
In the third phase that followed Police Action we see internal quarrels among Muslims. The rise and presence of rowdies, pahelwans, bhais, and other criminals and their mutual fights on the issues of land grabbing, assertion of their hegemony and revenge for nearly three decades created negative impression about Muslims and the old city. Domestic violence too was common in this period. As it is clear the Muslims themselves were its biggest victim. This aspect created the image that Muslims are quarrelsome, violent to their own women and families and old city is a place where undesirable elements live.
The fourth phase of violence can be associated with election related situations and communal riots. Mobilizing the votes of the community to win the elections became a compulsion for both Hindus and Muslims. The communal riots and electoral violence were merged and used for both purposes. The communal conflict has long existed but the active rioting period was between 1978-92 i.e., for fourteen years. These riots mostly occurred in the old city and as usual Muslims were always arrested, creating an image of the old city that it is a dangerous place and Muslims are communal and rioters.
The fifth phase began after 9/11 (2001) when the terrorism became a big issue all over the world. The agencies suddenly started finding all kinds of terrorist and sleeper cells belonging to different extremist organization, ISI agents, al-Qaida sympathizers and now ISIS supporters, conspirators who were planning to kill top politicians etc., in the old city of Hyderabad. The arrests that were made were highlighted so much in the media that the locals too started fearing the old city.
Now going on to the second image of Muslims that they are backward, illiterate, ill mannered, rude etc., I find a strange contrast. Till 1948 Hyderabad was the most desirable place for poets, writers, intellectuals, academicians, experienced administrators etc., from all over India. The Nizam’s government, its education department and especially the Osmania University was the biggest employer of such people. There was a brain drain into Hyderabad State. But after Hyderabad was acceded to the Indian union the Muslim percentage in government jobs was reduced to a minimum and there was a huge drop out of Muslims at all educational levels as most of the Urdu medium schools were closed. The other economic changes made it impossible for Muslims to invest in cultural and educational activities resulting in a sharp decline in Muslim cultural traits and habits.
The third image of Muslims as unreliable emerged soon after the Military administration took charge of Hyderabad State after the Police Action. The new administration assumed that the Muslim employees and the populace may not cooperate with the new administration as their loyalty will be more with the Nizam or Pakistan. It is likely they thought that it was safer to suspect Muslims in order to succeed in their mission rather than trust them and fail. This led to the removal of Muslims from responsible positions and the suspicion among populace that these Muslims may secretly be organizing themselves for a revolt or revenge. These suspicions in the administration crystallized into a tradition that influenced the perceptions and understanding of old city and Muslims.
The image of Muslims as communal has a longer history, but when Muslims started supporting the local Muslim political party MIM after its revival, and avoided voting for other political parties they were considered communal. The communal riots too contributed to this image significantly.
Now the question is how local Muslims look at these images, how they explain it to themselves? I found the answer to this question to be interesting and informative. On the one hand, the Razakaar episode and the accession of Hyderabad state to Indian union is seen by Muslims as a conflict between the moral and the political sense. Hyderabad patriotism is seen as a moral responsibility and thus struggling for separate Hyderabad was highly legitimate. On the other hand, the one who supported Hyderabad’s accession was seen as driven by a new vision of a unified Indian that had great potentials for all its citizens. In this framework, the internal violence within the community is seen as a result of collapse of all value systems that governed Muslims lives. It is recognized as arising due to the neglect of the government to the Muslim predicament and a case of aggression turning inwards.
The communal riots were seen by Muslims as an attempt by right wing Hindu forces to further subjugate the Muslims and prevent their conditions form improving, thus perpetuating Hindu dominance. Muslims’ own resistance to riots was seen as self-defense and a means not only to protect life and property but also to save their self-worth in their own eyes and as an opportunity to create unity among themselves. Similarly, the electoral violence was recognized as a means to consolidate the Hindu votes (and scare the Muslims away from voting) by the Hindu oriented party. Against this, it was necessary for Muslims to force themselves into the mainstream, take charge of their own lives, and become part of the democratic system so that their own rightful share can be acquired. Also, the threat of violence made them present oriented and encouraged them to confront their existential challenges head on. Indulging in escapism was suicidal and unavailable. They felt that through the rout of resistance to the imposed violence, if they could take charge of their present then so be it, as they realized keenly that the terms of survival are set by others and not by them.
Similarly, the accusation of being communal is rejected by Muslims. Muslims of the old city strongly deny that they are communal. They blame the mainstream for failing to understand the individual and collective insecurities Muslims are thrown into since independence; the collective responses of Muslims to their predicament has through specific demands of better services by government, need for security, need for protecting their identity. Though these are central features of the popular politics, they are termed as communal.
Thus, the subject of the stereotypes of Hyderabad’s Muslims and their own reaction to them provide an interesting insight in to the recent history of the region. It also reveals the structure and extent of violence the Muslim community of Hyderabad faces in the present time and the options available to them to deal with it.
Moid works at Anveshi Research Centre for Women’s Studies and can be reached at moidma@gmail.com.