It took 50 years of incessant drive,16 years of patience and not a little battle with words for “Hindutva and Minorities” in India to reach the readers. The Lifetime Achievement Award, conferred by the Radiance Views-weekly came in faster, if not easier. Really a quick look across its 600-odd pages proves every year was a year of painstaking research for Syed Ausaf Saied Vasfi, every decade a landmark in the nation’s quest to keep alive its pluralist ethos.
The book has just hit the stands and Vasfi can barely stop smiling. “It is a humble effort at sharing with the readers whatever I have learnt from my teachers and distinguished people in the field,” says the author, recollecting how it all started with his journey from Bhopal to Delhi in the early ‘60s with not much more than a few rupees to last the initial days. He did the hard early rounds before going on to carve out his own niche with Radiance Views-weekly. Simultaneously, he began to be taken seriously as a writer of note on Muslim affairs, and those involving their standing in the nation where some Hindutva elements have never been far from provocation. At the same time there were elements within the Muslim community who were not well disposed towards progress. The author, like a true non-participant observer, watched both from close quarters, and soaked it all in.
The result is “Hindutva and Minorities”, a book dedicated to Inamur Rehman Khan, the man who played a significant role in his life. Says Vasfi, “He taught me how to hold the pen, understand what is deen , governance, politics and diplomacy. He taught me the reason for my existence.”
The lessons Rehman imparted were well learnt as one can make out from chapters like ‘BJP’s Identity Crisis’, ‘Vajpayee Again Unmasks Himself’ and ‘December 6, 1991: An Ever Bleeding Wound’. Soft spoken but always persevering in his argument, Vasfi opts for simplicity of expression to get across to the reader. Not for him a trace of sensationalism or an attempt at fudging the facts. Over the years, this approach to contemporary issues helped him to be taken seriously in the corridors of power. A widely-travelled man who was at the receiving of the Government’s ire during the Emergency, he retains a quiet, understated sense of humour. In his lucid ways, he believes the nation will overcome the current challenge just like it overcame the Emergency. The nation will outlast the Shahs and Modis, he believes.
