Here are given some of the basic steps which Bangla Speaking Muslims of West Bengal can take and achieve more in coming days.

1. Bengali Muslims: The Road Ahead
Abu Siddik
Dept. of English
Plassey College
https://abusiddik.com/

2. কান্ডারী হুশিযার!
দুর্গম গর্গি কান্তাি মরু দুস্তি পািাবাি হে!
লগিতে েতব িাগি গিশীতে, যািীিা হুঁগশযাি।।
দুগলতেতে েিী, ফু গলতেতে জল, ভু গলতেতে মাগি পে-
গেুঁগ়িযাতে পাল হক ধগিতব োল, কাি আতে গেম্মে।
হক আতো হজাযাি, েও আগুযাি, োুঁগকতে ভগবষ্যে,
এ েু ফাি ভািী, গদতে েতব পাগ়ি, গিতে েতব েিী পাি।।
Aakar Patel https://bit.ly/2QoCM8y

3. Top
• Be Frontrunner
• Never ask for doles
• Be warrior in your field

4. Ugly Reality
• Khushwant Singh
• V S Naipaul
• N C Chaudhury
• Muslims are ruler in odd 50 countries, but
here in size next to Indonesia, but you are
RULED

5. Shed ‘ghetto’ mentality
• Muslims must try and become an integral part
of the mainstream, not losing identity.
• Get out of ghetto mentality
• Arm themselves educationally & socially and
harness intelligence and energy

6. Competitive & Competent Edge
• Computer, Science education, technology,
Economics etc.
• Be at tandem with globalized outlook
• Excellence
• Merit
• Perfection

7. Who Are the Warriors?
• Not clerics, political leaders, academics,
journalists alone
• “O Indian Muslims, if you don’t take care of
yourself now/ Your story will not be there in the
human annals.” (Iqbal, qtd. In Zakaria)
• Everyone has to fight his destiny
• 1= 1000 or even more

8. Stop unnecessary criticism
• Voicing meaningless grievances, wailing,
fretting & fuming

9. Be Creative/ not to be Pariahs
• Present Islam as peaceful, dynamic,
progressive
• People must be manifestation of these
qualities
• Disarm jihadis, disown bigots (Zakaria)

10. Riot
• The only safeguard is to create a congenial &
harmonious atmosphere which may thwart
recurrence of riot.
Minority community –the worst sufferer and
they get no justice. Every case
• “Know Your Neighbour” by Sabir Ahmed is a
good gesture in this direction.

11. Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan Model
• Befriend the British
• Learn English
• Discourage agitational activities
• Act the way situation demands
• (Elites & Religious Leaders or Political Leaders
will not help.)

12. Ijtihad
• Independent thinking –found in Sir Sayyid and
Allama Iqbal– greatest influence on the
thinking of Indian Muslims in late 19th and
early 20th century.

13. Let’s humbly accept
• “God never changes the condition of a people
unless they themselves want to change it”

14. Ego
• Erase ego
• Shed snobbery
• Act without interest
• Be an inspiration for others
• Appreciate your brothers and sisters on social
media

15. Jewish Model
• The most persecuted in the West redeemed
their destiny by contributing in every walks of
life.

16. Focus on Common Interest
• Focus on shared joys and sorrows
• Raise issues of commonalities not differences
• Goodwill, mutual trust, confidence to be
instilled

17. The Crude Reality
• “Koyee ummeed bar nahee aatee
Koyee surat nazar nahi aatee”
(Ghalib)

18. Vande Mataram
• Singing Vande Mataram –what’s wrong?
• Sung by all Muslim leaders during freedom
struggle.
• ‘bow’ to the motherland not ‘prostrate’
clarified by Zakaria.

19. Polygamy & Family Planning
• Gross misrepresentation
• Higher among Hindus
• Muslims are not averse

20. Needs in Brief
• Bear ‘historical baggage”
• Shed Pan-Islamic view
• No Nehurus , no Ghandhis (Jinnah & Savarkar,
Table Turned, Vendetta Politics)
• Wrong doers are elite Muslim Rulers, not you.
• Feel proud as son of the soil
• Stop raising issues which have nothing to do with
day to day life
• Join hands with Liberal Hindus to flourish your
space.

21. Sikandar Ali Wajd
• “Other have gone beyond the moon and the
sun/ While we are still struggling with first
rays of the sun.”

22. “Power”
“She died a famous woman denying her wounds
denying
Her wounds came from the same source as her
power”
(Adrienne Rich)

23. Sardar Patel
• As water of the river cannot be separated so
also Hindus and Muslims.
???
Where do they go?
There is no land so vast to shelter them
So keep some in ‘detention centre’.

24. Yes!
• It’s in your own hand!
• Only Muslims can change their perception of
‘otherness’.
What can we alone do?
The community must respond to exigencies and
act thereof.
Otherwise perish!

25. “Renewal From the Fall”
“Without grinding wheat there can be no bread
No alchemy can turn gold into lead
………..
The builder has to dig the ruins to build
Anything new
………..
The garden’s only filled
With roses when the gardener digs the weeds
And turns the soil to plant the new year’s seeds.”
--- Rumi