The heterogeneity of India’s largest minority appears unfathomable to those who laud Col Sofiya Qureshi but have stayed mum on the recent achievements of two authors and seek to silence a dissenter

(Clockwise from top left) Basharat Peer, journalist; Ali Khan Mahmudabad, academic. Pics/Wikimedia Commons; Colonel Sofiya Qureshi. Pic/PTI; Booker Prize-winning author Banu Mushtaq. Pic/Facebook

Hindutva’s limited imagination explains the hypocritical responses of its followers to three Muslim writers and a colonel, all of whom blazed a trail last month. Hindutvawadis swooped down, predator-like, upon academic Ali Khan Mahmudabad for his social media post, and extolled Colonel Sofiya Qureshi for her media briefings on the recent India-Pakistan clashes.

Their relative silence on two other writers in the news — Banu Mushtaq and Basharat Peer — shows they are psychologically disabled from comprehending the heterogeneity of India’s Muslims community — and the deeper meanings of patriotism. Their psychological disability arises from them having been weaned on the belief that all those Muslims who oppose Hindutva are not only their foes but also of the nation.

Banu Mushtaq won the coveted International Booker Prize for Heart Lamp, a collection of 12 stories. This is arguably as great an achievement as any of India’s cricketing triumphs, which Bharatiya Janata Party leaders never fail to celebrate. But for the Yediyurappas, both father and son, none of the BJP leaders applauded........

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