Personality: K.M. Ashraf

I have been poking about a recent translation of K.M. (Kunwar Muhammad) Ashraf's book, An Overview of Indian Muslim Politics (1920-1947), published originally in Urdu in 1963. I thought I would peruse through this, since I am still waiting for the library to get me two other works of his: Indian Historiography and Other Related Papers, a series of lectures delivered in the 1950s and early 1960s, and his two-volume book, Hindu-Muslim Question and Our Freedom Struggle, which was first written in 1946, as a document detailing the beginnings of the Pakistan demand of the Muslim League. (It, too, was originally published in Urdu).

K.M. Ashraf (1903-1962) was a Marxist historian, a leading member of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and a member of the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) from 1934-35. He served as political secretary to Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru when they were presidents of the Congress Party. K.M. Ashraf was one of several left-leaning, secular Muslims who were drawn into the Congress Party during the 1930s as a result of the Muslim Mass Contact Campaign, which was, in Aijaz Ahmad's words, "the first mass-initiative undertaken by the Congress on the principle that a non-Muslim could lead the Muslims directly, without conceding this constituency to a Muslim even of the same party." (pg. 13, Lineages of the Present)

Originally from a Rajput family, and educated in Moradabad, U.P. before studying at Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia, he obtained his PhD in Medieval Indian History from the London School of Oriental Studies (now, SOAS). His book, Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan is based on his PhD thesis.

In 1941, Ashraf was arrested and put in Deoli Detention camp for two years. Shortly afterwards, when the CPI became legal, Ashraf worked at its headquarters in Bombay, where he wrote two books: Hindu-Muslim Question and Our Freedom Movement (1857 - 1943) and Historical Background to Muslim Question in India (1725-1943). Well versed in Persian and Arabic, Ashraf was also a scholar of Islamic studies. In 1948, while he was ill in Karachi, Pakistan, Ashraf was arrested (presumably for his Communist affiliations); he then spent the years 1949-1954 exiled in London. Upon returning to India he taught in the University of Kashmir at Srinagar and the University of Delhi. In 1960, he went to Berlin as a Visiting Professor and stayed there until his death in 1962.

According to Jaweed Ashraf, K.M. Ashraf wrote An Overview of Indian Muslim Politics during a period when the Jamaa't-i-Islami was very aggressively promoting an ideology of the 'Government of God' (Hukumat-I-Ilahiya) as the Islamic alternative to a democratic form of governance. He drew criticism both from "Islamists" and socialist intellectuals. One of Ashraf's chief contentions was that Muslims came to have a distinct cultural identity due to the historical particularities of "Muslim rule" (ah, that good old sultan-scholar-saint triumvirate) as well as nineteenth century social and political movements in India, not due to Islam.

In 1960, he wrote:

I do not think that today the question concerns only the selfless sacrifices of the Muslims. It is obvious that the real question today, as has always been the case, involves fruitful political action of the Muslim masses. Very often Muslim sacrifices in the past had amounted to suicide. During contemporary times it is on these sacrifices that the palatial edifices of Muslim landlords and reactionaries are built upon. It is again on these 'sacrifices' that the poverty and destitution of Muslim masses is grounded. Before sacrificing further Muslim masses shall have to think if this invitation to 'sacrifice' does not again amount to their 'impermissible' (haram) death. (pg. 11)

The translated edition of Overview of Indian Muslim Politics (1920-1947), put out by Manak Publications in 2001, includes a forward by Sajjad Zaheer, preface by K.M. Ashraf, and in lieu of an introduction, written by K.M. Ashraf's son, Jaweed Ashraf. Contents include: 1. Background of Indian Muslim Politics: Rebellion of 1857 and Leadership by Feudal Elements; 2. First Stage of Modern Muslim Politics; 3. Second Stage of Indian Muslim Politics; 4. Third Stage of Muslim Politics: Period of Confusion and the Demand for Pakistan; 5. Real Reasons of our Political Backwardness; 6. The Ideology and Practices of Jamaa't-i-Islami; 7. Khilafat-i-Rashida and Democracy; 8. Islamic Monarchy, Imperialism, and Revivalist Movements in Islam; 9. Contemporary Demands and Progressive Muslim Thought.

In the introduction, Jaweed Ashraf, commenting on one strand of Ashraf's argument, claims that contemporary pan-Islamic movements (generalization noted) not only have a skewed understanding of history, but lack historical consciousness altogether because they "aggressively propagate a vision of Muslim society based on time-space, and history-independent identity of Islam, modeled on Arabian tribal norms, as if these are intrinsic of Islam itself." (pg. 18)

This vision of the past, Javeed Ashraf goes on to say, does not compute (as Marxists are wont to do) that modern Muslim society developed in stages: the march from tribal to feudal to monarchical, and on to capitalism. Revivalists who are trying to consolidate power under the "Rule of Islam", Jaweed writes, are taking a retrograde step, rather than offering a viable alternative to capitalism, because "these forces are today trying to somehow hide...the positive historic role of Islam" for it was through Islam, that "Arab society moved forward from tribal to feudal, while now Islam is being used to drag society backwards from capitalism to feudalism and from democratic system of governance to autocratic rule." (pg. 19)

In chapter 6, K.M. Ashraf argued that the ideology of the Jamaa't-i-Islami was influenced by a fascist vision of the state, and that its founder, Maulana Abul Maududi, presented "Islamic teachings as if evolution of the Muslim society is not at all a time and space bound historic reality. According to him the perceptions of Islam are altogether unconcerned with either the limitations of history or the evolutionary of society." (pg. 140). Ashraf cites Maulana Maududi from a December 1934 issue of the journal, Tarjuman-al-Quran, explicating upon the reasons for the successes of Hitler and Mussolini, using them as examples of instilling organizational discipline. (pg. 141)

At the end of the chapter, K.M. Ashraf writes of the Jamaa't:

We know that in India the Jamaa't is today praising the Swatantra Party. Before this support to the feudal elements they were instruments in the hands of the jagirdars and the capitalists during the freedom movement. In order to understand their position concerning internationl relations of India it is enough to recall that these days (in 1960, Ed.) Maulana Maududi is the talk of the two ni n America and the American circles are presenting his teachings to the world as if these ideas have descended from the very Heaven. They are doing so for the simple reason that the Maulana is a supporter of American capitalism and an enemy of workers organizations and socialism. In order to warn simple Muslims of the disruptive activites of the Jamma't-i-Islami we can only tell them what the Qur'an has said: a'sa, an tahabbu ashi wa hosh lakum (often you fall for something that is harmful for you). pg. 145

There is more yet to to come on K.M. Ashraf.

Random Thought #1: Notes from Underground

Don't ask why, but I am reading Dostoyevsky's Notes From Underground (1860s) in fits and starts, each day. Keeps that cynical edge well intact. He is, after all, an anti-enlightenment man...or perhaps to ceremoniously initiate this blog, a little quote is in order:

"Oh gentlemen, after all, perhaps I consider myself an intelligent man only because all my life I have been able neither to begin nor to finish anything. Granted, granted I am a babbler, a harmless annoying babbler, like all of us. But what is to be done if the direct and sole vocation of every intelligent man is babble, that is, the intentional pouring of water through a sieve?"

It is said Dostoyevsky wrote the novel during the lowest point of his life. Courtesy Lesson 8: Dostoyevsky, Notes from the Underground: his first journal, Time, had recently failed, his new journal was threatened with failure, his wife was dying, his financial position was becoming ever more difficult and embarrassing, his conservatism was eroding his popularity with the liberal majority of the reading public, and he was increasingly the subject of attack in the liberal and radical press. He remarked that the tone of the novel was "too sharp" and "wild" and that "the poetry will have to soften it and carry it off."

In any case, here is Virginia Woolf on the problem that not-knowing Russian can pose.

Have you thought about the Khaksars...lately?

A new edition has been launched of "The Constitution of Free India, 1946 A.C." which was written by Allama Mashriqi, leader of the Khaksar Movement (Khaksar Tehrik) in British India. (It seems like the Allama's grandson has done quite a bit of documenting). Originally published in 1945, this little text comes out to a neat 160 pages. An alternative constituting may whet some people's appetite. Their flag looks like the E.U.'s worst nightmare of the Turkish flag.

Personality: Haji Mastan

So, apparently, Amitabh Bachan's character (Vijay Varma), in Deewar (1975), is based on the life of the late, great Haji Mastan Mirza.

He was popularly known as just plain Haji Mastan, and was a notorious Mumbai gangster during the 1960s and 70s. He became the first celebrity gangster of the city, and extended considerable influence upon the Hindi film industry, had ties to the legendary actor, Dilip Kumar. There he is above, looking quite nonchalant, on the far left. Actress Saira Bano seems visibly, though only slightly, perturbed.

Haji Mastan started off as Umar Ansari; he migrated from Uttar Pradesh at the age of 17 to Bombay, in 1955, where he became a small-time thug in Pydhonie. His contemporaries included one Vardhabhai, who, during the 1960s, controlled bootlegging in the Bombay dockyard. Vardhabhai was always able to give the authorities a run for their money. Haji Mastan specialized in smuggling gold and silver, and later invested his money in construction and real estate business. His hold was limited to the South Mumbai and the dockyard area. Evidently, he was a man of style. The imposition of the Indian Emergency in 1975, broke up the monopoly that the gangs of Vardhabhai and Haji Mastan exerted, and provided opportunity for young blood (unemployed youth and petty smugglers) to come up.

By the 1980s, Haji Mastan became a self-styled Muslim leader forming the Dalit Muslim Surakhsha Maha Sangh in 1985-86. Anyone know anything about this organization? The most I could come up with was that Haji Mastan's son, Shekar Sundar Mirza, who was arrested a few years back, is the chairman of a political party, Bhartiya Minorities Suraksha Mahasangh (BMSM).

Oh, and Haji Mastan exerted quite a bit of influence on the political leadership of Maharashtra.

Film Review: Sarkar Raj

"...govinda, govinda, govinda, govinda, govinda, govinda, GO-vin-daaaaa......" go-in-daaa...theaters and watch this film...

It was all in all highly entertaining, even though, this Bachan-Rai (i.e. father, son, and holy daughter) dirty-politics thriller should not get rating of more than 3 stars.

And, it is official: I can no longer stand director RGV (Ram Gopal Varma). For starters, he keeps upping the Muslim body-count in his films. RGV, well-known for films, Satya, Company, Sarkar--all about the dark, politically turbulent Mumbai underworld competing with/running over the state for its share of power and violence--has lost even the ability to cover up loop-holes of the plot. As if Sarkar (i.e. government) wasn't enough, RGV had to go and get seriously rajniti about it all--and the film can be quite didactic in several parts, what with father teaching son, and son teaching father about the sinews of progress. We are supposed to feel sorry, in the end, for the losses that dynastic emperors must endure. The union between corporate interests and right-wing Hindu capital in Sarkar Raj is celebrated with more than a few honorary bullet-holes: main theme here is our traitors are everywhere. And, be especially wary, for a hissing Muslim hood-ster could be waiting right around the corner biding his time before he pops you. Curious about how the BJP is defining Rajniti? It's here.

Sarkar Raj, sequel to 2005 hit, Sarkar, is about populist leader Subhash Nagre (Amitabh Bachan), a.k.a. Sarkar (lit. government), the possibly single most powerful man in all of Mumbai. Nagre's character is modeled on Bal Thackeray (and family), leader of the right-wing Shiv Sena; he is a God-father-esque patriarch who, like Marlon Brando, always gives his clients "an offer they can't refuse." But it's not just that: Nagre also has a political philosophy, elaborated in Sarkar Raj. "To take a life is a crime. To take it at the right time, well, that is good government." (Poor translation of rajniti, I know...but we can chat about all that later.)

In the first, like the second film, the narrative moves forward by wedging Sarkar between 1) the nasty politics of rival underworld competitors below, who typically join hands to violently overthrow, that is, eliminate, Nagre, 2) the corrupt business and state interests from above, who threaten to devalue Nagre's economic net-worth, and 3) his very enormous political constituency, who can turn for, or against him depending on just how much the media spins it. In the world of Sarkar, there is no distinction between civil and political society (see Partha Chatterjee blurb): it's all political. Having tea with Sarkar--even if you are lucky, desperate, or well-connected enough--is pretty loaded (there are armed guards standing around him at all times), but that is as civil as it gets. Nagre's entire family constitutes the extended members of a political party with internal factions that have the capacity to self-implode in expressions of fratricide. (I have to admit, I really miss Vishnu, though I think it's Kay Kay Menon's acting I miss more). All in all, just another day in the life of a hardcore, right-wing Hindu populist organization.

Sarkar Raj's story has strong parallels with the fall of Enron, and is also a commentary on the recent Nandigram crisis in West Bengal. Basically, smart, savvy, sexy, second-in-command CEO (see-eee-oh me in my new power suit), Anita Rajan (Aishwarya Rai) owns an international power company. Dear Anita is planning to build a new facility, a gi-normous, mega power plant in rural Maharashtra and the only way she can build it, is if she seeks permission from Nagre. Problem 1. the power plant will forcibly remove over 40,000 people from their villages and Nagre rightly thinks this is outrageous. Problem 1, however, is solved when Subhash Nagre's son, the U.K. educated, business-savvy Shankar (Abhishek Bachan) sees the project as progress for Maharashtra and convinces his father.

Problem 2. Now Subhash Nagre's mentor, grand village patriarch, Rao Saahb (Dilip Prabhavalkar) of Thakurvadi--the area where the plant is to be built--must be convinced that the project is a worthwhile endeavor. Problem 2 is solved, well, sort of, when the Gandhian Rao Saahb consents to Shankar's request. Yes, he and Anita can go about the country-side in a propaganda campaign, explaining to the villagers, just why the power plant is a good thing. (This is, um democracy?) We hear mainly inspirational music in the background, and peasants nodding their heads in agreement. (Why is it a good thing, exactly? The film repeatedly reminds us that this project "will solve all the electricity problems of Maharashtra forever" and if we have any doubts, we can sit down with Nagre and co. and read the reports for ourselves).

Problems 3, 4, and 5 quickly arise: 3) Rao Saahb's grandson, a fiery leftist (for the left can only yell, whereas the language of capital is calculated calm) is going on a counter-propaganda mission, warning Thakurvadi residents that Subhash Nagre is after what little land they have and the power plant will end up displacing them; 4) an evil Muslim under(over)lord, Hassan Qazi (Govind Namdeo) is conspiring with a Gujarati industrialist and a bought-out petty politician to eradicate Nagre's empire for they want a share in the multi-crore project. Note: dramatic music ensues when Hasan Qazi tells Nagre, 'Sir, I am your biggest fan." 5) lastly, the Nagre blood-line is threatened with extinction and Anita's father, the CEO of Sheppard Co. is plotting with Shankar's enemies to move the power plant project to Gujarat and eliminate Shankar if he has to...

At some point Subhash Nagre does have a heart attack. And Anita, of course, tries to get her smack on with Shankar. But don't worry, the repetitive musical score will so emotionally black-mail you, you may not notice the dead bodies piling up, and you will not anticipate in any way whatsoever, until the very end, just how ridiculously deep the conspiracy theory can go...the trailer's here.

Films, Flims, Slims

A new documentary, A Jihad for Love, was recently released and is gradually making the rounds. I am still looking up show times. Directed by Pervez Sharma, it documents the stories of gay Muslims from South Africa to Turkey...You can read about the doc, here, see Amy Goodman's interview with director Pervez Sharma here.