Lal Salaam is back, but where's the Muslim youth?

Just when it seemed that greetings like Lal Salaam and propitious images of surkh savera, the eagerly awaited dawn of revolution, have been laid to rest in the avalanche of free market economy and emergence of intolerance towards thought and speech, they rose from the ashes like the proverbial phoenix.
But will the Lal Salaam be a flash in the pan or will it lead to a countrywide social justice movement? Answer to that requires time to ascertain.One thing, however, is for sure. The cinders that rose from the suicide of Rohith Vemula at the University of Hyderabad have been burning bright at JNU. The controversial arrest of JNU student union president Kanhaiya Kumar and his comrades on sedition charges, the violence unleashed by a section of Delhi lawyers, the political histrionics in between and their final release on bail, still has the government on tenterhooks. So far it has not shown any signs of sensible tackling of the dissent among students and academics.
This form of Lal Salaam does not talk of violence. It talks of azaadi from exploitation and all things related to it. Student leaders believe that their struggle will make India a better place to live for the poor and the marginalised.
If one breaks this large picture down, there comes to light several smaller pictures that have their own story to tell.
One such picture is that of Muslims. Among the comrades closely associated with Kanhaiya are Shehla Rashid, vice-president of the students' union, and Umar Khalid.
Shehla describes herself as "a Kashmiri, a woman and a writer in that order" and is the first Kashmiri woman to hold the post she does in the union. Shehla took up the reins of the union when Kanhaiya went to prison. Her feisty 15-minute speech against discriminatory laws established her as someone committed to help the most vulnerable.
"The story of Shehla Rashid is exemplary. Today she is a mainstream activist in JNU. She talks less about Kashmir. Her focus is on the entire country," a former Kashmiri student from JNU said.
The narrative of Umar Khalid is different. His father, Dr Qasim Rasool Ilyas, has been with the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind for many years. He brings out an Urdu magazine 'Afkaar-e-Milli' and is also president of the Welfare Party of India, an affiliate of JIH. Umar grew up in an "Islamic mahol" but slowly drifted towards Leftist ideology that pained his parents.
Ironically, during the initial turmoil at JNU, the police linked him to the terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed and unhesitatingly called him a terrorist. Delivering a speech after his release from prison Umar said, "I felt it was not me alone who was on trial but the entire Muslim community."
The Shehla-Umar narratives throw up several questions. What are the Muslim youth in the country doing? What are their aspirations? Do they follow any ideology? Are they part of any movement for the underprivileged? Or are they living in their own cocoons?
There is no political party comprising Muslims that has an all-India presence. The Muslim League is confined to Kerala, some extent Tamil Nadu, and the MIM is limited to Telangana with fledgling presence in Maharashtra. Neither has a youth wing.
On the other hand, there are two major socio-religious organisations in India. The Tableeghi Jamaat, which essentially prepares Muslims for life hereafter, is one among them. It does not claim to have any social or political programme to pursue. The other group JIH has a youth organisation called Students Islamic Organisation of India. As the name suggests SIO works only for and among Muslim youth with limited reach.
Over 30% of Muslims in India comprise people between the age of 18 and 35 years. They have no leadership and their participation in national issues is minimal. This rudderless mass is vulnerable to exploitation. It could also be vulnerable to radicalisation.
A research scholar at UoH, Safiya Akhtar (name changed), interestingly, said that Muslim students at the university did participate in the recent protests. But they preferred to remain behind the scene for fear of being targeted. "If a Dalit student is attacked, there is a whole community to support him. But what if a Muslim comes under attack from authorities," she questioned, while admitting that those like Shehla and Umar were influencing youth from every section of society.
Muslim leaders and youth could also draw some lessons from there.