Lord Bikhu Parekh chosen
from Britain for award of the Pravasi Bhartiya Samman patra 2005
Lord Parekh, who has risen to be one of the most respected Peer
and academics, has always taken deep interest in the Asian community
and is an authority on British Asian families and community relations.
He was the first to defend and define the Indian culture in right
perspective when the media here attacked the Indian business practices
and the customs generally during the Peter Mandelson and Hinduja
passport row. Yet he has never hesitated to adopt what is the best
in the British culture or praise its good points and virtues.The
perception behind the word NRI was wrong. Indians, he pointed out,
have been travelling to other countries for ages. Wherever they
may live, they are sort of an extension of India. Come to think
of it, there is logic in his description of the people of Indian
origin.
From right: Lord Parekh, Sarah Spencer and Antony Lerman,
members of the Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain
Lord Bikhu Parekh spoke on the history of peaceful coexistence
in India between Muslims and Hindus, on their shared culture and
traditions and the enormous contribution Muslims have given to
India.
Lord Parekh analysed the rise of Hindu communalism since the
1960s as a response to the disintegration of the caste system.
The demonising of Muslims was a means for high-caste Hindus to
protect their own interests and deflect the pressures for redistribution
of rights and wealth. By turning on the minority the so-called
puritan Hindu parties were using the innocent lives of Muslims
in a cynical bid to keep control of Gujarat and win votes.
He described his own experiences of anti-Muslim prejudice in
Gujarat both on the street, when he himself had been mistaken
as a Muslim and very nearly beaten up by Karshevaks and in the
ivory towers of academia, where he had witnessed Muslim students
suffering from enormous prejudice. Lord Parekh drew parallels
of his experience as a minority in the UK with the experiences
of Muslims as a minority in India and promised the Dawood his
every support in their rightful quest for justice.
He noted that large sums of money were unwittingly going to Gujarat
from Hindus in the UK and the USA to fund the activities of Hindu
chauvinists in Gujarat and appealed for this activity to stop.
Lord Bikhu Parekh
Academic and chair of the commission on the future of multi-ethnic
Britain
September 11 was certainly a turning point in the history of international
terrorism. Casualties were higher and more multi-ethnic than ever
before, the manner of inflicting them was spectacular, and the
targets were of great symbolic significance. The evident linkage
between the remote mountains of one of the most backward nations,
and the sophisticated nerve centres of the most advanced nation,
dramatically demonstrated humanity's inescapable interdependence
and shared fate. Will September 11 mark a turning point in the
history of the world? Only if each side learns the obvious lessons.
America cannot be both an ordinary state pursuing its national
interest and a world leader. The latter requires it to be even-handed
in its approach to international conflicts, treat all lives as
equally sacred, work through international institutions, respect
world opinion, and to use its enormous wealth to help create a
just world order.
It should not treat individuals and nations as mere pawns in
an international game, using and ditching them as its interests
dictate, as it has done in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq. Those
involved feel used and manipulated, and build up enormous anger
and hatred. The U.S.A. must, finally, stop turning limited political
conflicts into a Manichean war between civilisations or, worse,
between civilisation and barbarism. Such an approach demonises
and alienates its opponents, gives it a false sense of moral superiority,
and blinds it to the real causes of conflicts.
For their part, Muslim countries need to learn at least two crucial
lessons. Hardly any of them has been able to ensure a decent and
democratic life for its citizens. They must put their houses in
order, however painful it is, and stop blaming the west for all
their ills. They must also realise that the impact of modern ideas
cannot be avoided, and that they should radically re-examine their
traditional beliefs and practices. Hating the west for nurturing
and exporting modernity is silly and self-defeating. There are
some signs that the U.S.A. might be learning its lessons. Its
restraint so far, and its willingness to reconsider its past policies
and work through international institutions are encouraging. I
don't see such signs in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other vitally important
Muslim countries.
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