Nuke deal & Indian Muslims

ON what basis did a CPM leader observed that Muslims are against the Indo-US nuclear deal? What survey has Mayawati, the BSP supremo, conducted to assure herself that Muslims of India do not approve of the deal? Why should anyone think that Muslim community is a monolith and thinks like one just because it is one in asserting that there is only one God and that Muhammad (p.u.b.h.) is His Prophet.
The Indian Muslim is as sure or unsure of the nuclear deal being in national interest as anybody else. An average Muslim understands the intricacies of the deal only as much as an average Indian and is therefore in no position to form an opinion on it any better than the rest.
In fact, as of today, one wonders if an average Indian on the street understands the deal enough to form his own opinion. Leave alone an average Muslim whom Justice Rajinder Sachar has certified as the least educated and therefore is the least knowledgeable.
We have noticed that Manmohan Singh had to dispatch National Security Adviser M. K. Narayanan to give a lesson or two to the Samajwadi Party’s Amar Singh on the intricacies of the deal. And now the leaders of the UNPA, the third front, are soliciting the assistance of an expert to understand the prime minister’s clarifications on the deal.
The only pertinently significant statement on Muslim opinion on the deal is from Asaduddin Owaisi, a member of parliament. He has said, “Political parties opposed to the Indo-US nuclear deal are spreading canards that Muslims are also against the deal. The Muslims are not against the nuclear deal. If the deal is good for the country, it is good for the Muslims of the country as well.”
Dr Mookhi Amir Ali
Via Email