India going through difficult phase, but no one can finish its secularism: Farooq Abdullah

NEW DELHI: India is going through a “difficult phase”, and Muslims have “fear”, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah said, as he also stressed that no one can finish secularism in India.

He was speaking at the launch of book “The Lion of Naushera”, a book on the life of Brigadier Mohammed Usman, the highest-ranking officer of the Indian Army killed in action during the Indo-Pakistani War in 1948, written by Ziya Us Salam and Anand Mishra.

“India is passing through a difficult phase, the Muslims have a fear, but the fear is there because the larger society is not of communal thought, but it is suppressed,” Abdullah said at the book launch.

“But I don’t believe India will not get out of it. That day will come…” he said, and added, “No one can finish our secularism,” he said.

Abdullah Muhammad Ali Jinnah wanted Kashmir to join Pakistan, but Sheikh Abdullah chose Gandhi’s India.

“Jinnah believed Muslims are fools, Kashmir will come with us…. When the raiders came, the King did not have a huge army. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, all Kashmiris stood together to face them,” he said.

“Look at the what they got for joining hands with India… What would we tell the jawan who’s born in this century, what was the situation then,” he said.

“Which country did we join hands with, they have no love for us… Today there’s an elected government, but who has the power, lieutenant governor,” he said, calling him a ‘viceroy’ appointed by Delhi.

“When Jinnah came to Kashmir, he told Sheikh Abdullah this is not the place for you, they will not do justice to you. Sheikh Sahab told him in a full meeting that the path of Pakistan is not of us. India is the path of us, which is Gandhi’s nation,” Abdullah said.

“He said, tell me, where will the pandits go? Where will the Sikhs, the Buddhists go? Do you have a place there or not? Yes, we will keep it. Absolutely. Today, look at the situation (in Pakistan),” he said.

He said this should be told to those who say “Muslims cannot be trusted”.

Former vice-president Mohammad Hamid Ansari, who is also a relative of Brigadier Usman, said his sacrifice has a revered place in India’s history.

“His exceptional leadership during the 1948 war, unwaveringly committed India to the nation, and the ultimate sacrifice offered by him, has a revered place in our history,” Ansari said.

He called the book a “timely reminder to the present generations of the heroism of those who in a critical moment in our history successfully defended the integrity of our country.”

“It is also, in the words of historian Ramchandra Guha, a symbol of inclusive secularism, and needs to be reiterated,” he said.

RJD Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha said Brigadier Usman had a choice, and he made a choice to stay in India at the time of partition. “We live in a mostalia. Brigadier Usman gives you that nostalgia about India that we apparently have lost,” he said.(Agencies)