Konkani Muslim Economy and Society Today (Part 11)
As a minority within a minority, the Konkani Muslims do not exhibit political preferences greatly different from Muslims of other ethnic, linguistic, or sectarian backgrounds. Thus in the 1930s and 1940s, many supported the Muslim League, exemplified by the cases of Aziz Abdulghaffar Kazi (MLA 1937-46) and Waziruddin Ahmad Parkar (MLA 1946-52) just as men like Muin al-Din Haris, (1907-83) a member of the Maharashtra State Legislative Assembly remained a firm supporter of the Indian National Congress.
His example has been followed by men like Ghulam Mustafa Faqih, (1909-94) (Minister in Maharashtra state cabinet), Husain Dalwai, former MLA, as well as Rafiq Zakaria. Born in 1920, Zakaria is the author of several books on Islam and Muslims in India. He held Maharashtra state cabinet posts for a number of times (minister for public health, in 1960s and 1970s) as well as the inspiration behind founding of Muslim educational and charitable institutions such as the Mawlana Azad College in Aurangabad and Maharashtra College in Mumbai. Politically the most successful Muslim to date has been Abd al-Rahman Antulay, (b. 1929) becoming Chief Minister of Maharahstra (between June 1980 and January 1982) and later on elected to Lok Sabha, the lower house of Indian parliament in 1996 from the Kolaba constituency on a Congress Party ticket, though defeated in 1998 elections.
He also served as minister for health during the prime ministership of Narasimha Rao, 1995-96. The integration of the Konkani Muslim society within the larger Maharashtrian society no doubt played a part in Antulay's election as Chief Minister of India's most industrialized state, besides his own superior organizational skills and the leadership qualities, although he claims to have been victimized in a bribery case due to his being a Muslim.
The long era of Congress Party rule from 1947-95 was generally one of peace in Bombay except for two major riots in Bhiwandi (1970) and Bombay (1984).
The major outbreak of anti-Muslim violence in January 1993 shortly after the Babari Masjid demolition in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992 was the worst since independence. However the coming to power of the blatantly anti-Muslim Shiva Sena party has sent shock waves among Muslims communities of all categories in Maharashtra.
There is a concerted attempt by the Shiva Sena government to erase aspects of Muslim culture in the state including those associated with the sufis, as exemplified by the attempt to claim the dargah of Haji Malang in Kalyan as one belonging to a Hindu Macchindranath.
