Read on Twitter
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan had a feudal-casteist orientation and is an icon of the Ashraf (high caste) Muslims. He looked down upon the subjugated caste Pasmanda Muslims with contempt and pejoratively addressed the weavers as 'badzaat'. 1/n
#Sir_Syed_not_a_Pasmanda_hero
#Sir_Syed_not_a_Pasmanda_hero
After the popular anti-colonial insurrection of 1857 he started collaborating closely with the British colonial regime in order to secure the interests of the Ashraf classes. 2/n
The ideas of Sir Syed laid down the foundations of Muslim nationalism/communalism and inspired the notion of an exclusivist Muslim identity. 3/n
The discourse of Muslim communalism produced a legitimating vocabulary for Hindu communalism and strengthened it further. The symbiotic relationship between these contending communalisms eventually found its logical culmination in the Partition and establishment of Pakistan. 4/n
The 1946 elections, dubbed as the consensus on Pakistan, in which the Muslim League won handsomely, was marked by a restricted electorate and nearly 85-90 per cent of the Muslim population (Pasmandas) was excluded. 5/n
Mostly, propertied and educated Muslims, the high caste ashraf, voted for Pakistan; the vote of subordinated Muslim caste groups wasn’t even put to test. In fact, lower caste Muslim organisations like the Momin Conference were actively contesting the two-nation theory. 6/n
The ‘Hindu-Muslim’ binary was solidified at a great cost to the Pasmanda-Bahujans. The Indian ruling class has consistently employed communal euphoria and violence as an instrument to repress the social justice demands of the subjugated Bahujan castes across religions. 7/n
The Pasmanda activists pronounce Sir Syed Ahmad Khan guilty for being the chief architect of the regressive politics of Muslim communalism. Sir Syed is an ashraf icon, not a Pasmanda icon. 8/n
