In a patronage democracy where resource distribution depends on the discretion of elected officials, it pays to stay close to the power centres in government.
Ahmadbhai Shaikh is a muezzin in a mosque in the Behrampura area of Ahmedabad. If not reciting the ‘azaan,' he is busy helping Bharatiya Janata Party workers in his ward to campaign among members of his community. His reason for shifting from the Congress to the BJP is “the hope that our drainage problems will be solved, after all these years.” As one who was lucky to escape the arson and looting in the city in 2002, he merely calls that a “period of misfortune.”
It was nine years ago that Gujarat's biggest wave of Hindu-Muslim violence was triggered in Godhra. The burning of the Sabarmati Express marked the beginning of an anti-Muslim backlash that continued intermittently for the entire year amid allegations of State complicity. That period reinforced existing residential and symbolic segregation of Muslims in cities like Ahmedabad.
Nine years later, the victims of the violence are embracing their perceived perpetrators.
As has been already discussed extensively, Gujarat's Muslims voting for the BJP is an exceptional case compared to, say, Bihar where the BJP was accepted only on the condition of excluding Hindutva (and Narendra Modi), or even other parts of northern India where Sikhs voted for their perceived oppressors, the Congress, only after a public apology the party made to the community. The reasons for the transformation behind the new ‘all-inclusive' BJP have also been discussed widely.
Yet, what is far more exceptional is the kind of Muslims supporting the BJP in Gujarat.
Take Ahmedabad city, for example. The campaign trail of the BJP in the 2010 civic polls here included a patchwork of busybody Muslim clerics and traders: two groups that we would assume to have different voting preferences. The traders have an understandable, rational logic of voting for a party that has emphasised its economic development policies as never before. The voting preference of two significant trader-Muslim communities of Gujarat, the Dawoodi Bohras and the Khojas — both Shias — has always tended to be biased towards the party in power, be it the British in pre-independent India, the Congress in the 1980s to early-1990s, or the BJP later. “The Syedna or the head priest will always seek a cordial relationship with those in power. It is in his interests, and as he sees it, in the interests of the community,” says scholar-activist J.S. Bandukwala.
However, if one looks at the situation five years ago, it is fascinating and almost implausible why religious Sunni Muslims, including clerics, would come out to support the BJP.
In 2006, this writer spoke with Asma Saiyed, a student at St. Xavier's College in Ahmedabad. Enraged by the events of 2002, she had taken a significant decision: to add the burqa to her wardrobe of western wear. For this eloquent young woman, wearing her religion on her sleeve was a “slap in the face” of the BJP, which she viewed as the architect of violence against Muslims in 2002. “All of us friends felt cowed down by a constant anti-Muslim rhetoric since 2002. And we thought whether it made any sense to be scared. We said, okay so you want to hate us? Here are our burqas so we know that you know we are Muslims. Now come, get us.”
Ms Saiyed belonged to that section of Muslims who developed a collective identity in opposition to the majority, most of whom, they believed, endorsed the BJP's Hindutva rhetoric. This was similar to what John Ogbu's work on ‘oppositional culture' among Black American students in the U.S. tells us — that their identities as minorities were developed as a response to White racism, which then led them to oppose conformism in education and all that which would be “good” (White or majority) behaviour.
Religious symbolism became a shield for these Muslims to protect their identities against the threat of rising, rabid Hindutva. Compromise seemed impossible even in the exchange of economic development. So when Congress workers told this writer recently that Muslims were paid by the BJP to support it in the civic elections, it was paradoxical, even if the claim were true. People generally refuse to involve themselves in cost-benefit calculations and reach a self-serving decision on issues of a sacred nature when given material incentives in exchange. Assuming some Muslims did accept money from the BJP in exchange of support, does it mean they are no longer looking at the 2002 post-Godhra violence as an attack on their religious identity? If the Congress is not a favourable alternative and the BJP a lurking ethnic threat, why vote at all?
The answer perhaps lies in the fact that India's is a patronage democracy wherein resource distribution depends on the discretion of elected officials as a form of market good rather than an entitlement. Staying close to the power centres in government is the key to survival. For the traders, survival is synonymous with their occupation. For the cleric, it could mean assimilation to avoid being labelled anything from anti-social to anti-national — no surprise that most Muslim BJP supporters, including religious Muslims, have patriotic songs as their phone caller tune.
“This terrorism taint is too much for the community. As long as the BJP is in power, we have to be part of the mainstream to shun this tag,” says Imranbhai, a fruit vendor in Ahmedabad. He fits the stereotype of the Congress supporter: white kurta-pyjama, skull cap, untrimmed beard and moustache. Only that he swears by the BJP. “There is no shame for a Muslim today to admit he supports the BJP,” he says. Indeed, the indifference of religious Muslims to saffron flags fluttering in the dense Muslim ghettos of Juhapura and Saudagar ni Pol in Ahmedabad — areas that are alien to the local Hindu except in scary stories — was unthinkable earlier.
Moin Khan, once a CPI(M) worker, soon to sign up with the BJP, explains that the power centre for a religious Muslim is the local cleric; for the cleric, it is the people in governance. “The maulvis can mobilise masses because people listen to them. For the maulvis to establish credibility among the people, they have no choice but to get their hands dirtied in their network of influential politicians.” He recalls how a Sunni Muslim cleric who was close to the BJP helped trace a local slum-dweller's daughter who had disappeared. “Some clerics help the Congress, many now [help] the BJP because there is no alternative.”
Moving back again five years ago, as one section of Muslims in Ahmedabad battled issues of identity using religion as a shield, another section had begun to develop a different kind of collective solutions to the discrimination. They were of the view that survival was possible only for the fittest Muslim — one who conforms to the mainstream majority. Prepping up for an existence war of sorts, they began to set up schools and focus on mainstream education for their children. Almost 70 per cent of Muslim-managed educational institutions, for example, were established in Ahmedabad between 1993 and 2005 — after the two waves of Hindu-Muslim violence.
Qutbuddin Ansari, who became the “face of the Gujarat riots,” his pleading picture making news in national and international media in 2002, refused an interview with this writer in 2007. His request: privacy. “I've moved on. Please let me be.”
The movement to “move on” had already started. The recent civic elections took it to a higher level.
Remember that this remains a discussion about a very small section of Muslims — most of whom relatively (that is, not directly) affected by the violence. Moreover, political attitudes in a civic election are based on ground issues. Slum-dwellers in the old city of Ahmedabad are ready to switch left, right and centre (the CPI (M) to the RSS to the BJP) as long as they get their local corporator to provide their daily quota of drinking water. Whether the BJP will continue to embrace Muslims at the cost of upsetting its majority target voters in Gujarat in the Assembly elections, will be seen in the future.
“The BJP will always be anti-Muslim, that is its identity. But the benefits it has given to Hindus, say in the Sarkhej ward, have indirectly reached Muslims,” says Shahid Ali, a Muslim entrepreneur. A Congress supporter, he is open to the BJP if it continues to welcome Muslim candidates. Speaking of former top cop Al Saiyed, who contested on the BJP ticket, he says, “I would not mind having a Muslim candidate like Saiyed. At least I have someone of my own to hold accountable for any sloppy work.” Mr. Saiyed, who managed to get over 13,000 votes in Sarkhej, himself believes that the recent change in political behaviour is driven by educated Muslims and those who have realised the need to be in the mainstream. “If we do not assimilate with other communities, it's the end of us!” he says.
(Raheel Dhattiwala is a doctoral researcher in the Department of Sociology, University of Oxford, who is doing field work in Ahmedabad.)
Keywords: Gujarat voters, Narendra Modi government, Muslim votebank
The politician - media - corporate nexus is the bane of Indian society today . If only the Indian media plays true to its national responsibility without snuggling cozily with the corrupt politician and corporates; without accepting deals for paid news; without lobbying for power brokers but reporting the truth instead, we can have an India where all religions flourish together. I wish publications like The Hindu , Outlook , Open and the other remnants of 'clean ', ethical media can make this happen. These publications can set the agenda, make sure that the public understands the debate simply by focusing on this issue like a laser beam and repeating the process over and over again.
Compromising with the political and economic situation and moving on is OK. But the long term solution lies in both the communities completely forgetting the past and building cordial relationship and live together, giving no scope for the politicians and religious leaders of either communities to exploit the situation to their advantage. As long as people do not nurse hatred towards each others' community, stray incidents and rumors will never turn into mass frenzy in spite of efforts by vested interests.
The problem is not the muslim community. But the media which keep saying that Narendra Modi is a Murderer and anti-muslim. But think about the religious violence and killings were aplenty before Modi's time. But after 2002 where is all the violence? Even when there was bomb blasts in Gujarat recently it did not turn into violence against Muslims.
The article is not showing the full face of the BJP government. If the BJP government has also moved on along with the Educated muslims and others then why they always opposing all the policies which are benefiting the Muslims. Take for example there is Scholarship for all the minority students who are studying in schools as well as in the higher studies for which the Scholarship given by the central govt is 75% and from the state is 25%. Though BJP govt refused to give benefit to Muslims by saying that they will not support the 'religiously biased scholarship'. This is not the only example but after 2002 there are lots of mosques which need to be repaired. In this context high court of Gujarat asked government to state its stand and the govt said it will not give any financial support to this kind of cause. On the moral ground if someone's property is damaged during your ruling time the govt should give help. And the last but not the least have you ever heard Mr. Narendra Modi to say "Sorry" to Muslims on the moral ground as he was the C.M. of state and during his ruling time Muslims had to endure this massacre, whether he was involved in it or not. I' m not biased and am very happy to see the development of Gujarat and collectively of Muslims also. I like Mr.Narendra Modi as a C.M. personally but there are still lots of questions which arise in my mind.
Please writers do not justify what is happening now in Gujarat. It can nowhere compensate what happened during 2002 Godhra riots. A government cannot hide its corruption by giving free schemes to the people. Corruption is a corruption. Similarly nothing can be brought back the lives of so many innocent people who were killed during the riots. If you say we never mind corruption all we want is free schemes then support the corrupt government. Since in my view in both the cases there is no difference.
Not withstanding his Oxford credential, Raheel succumbed to the most basic of narratives. It is almost as if he would prefer to see Muslims remain angry forever about 2002 - if someone is willing to move on, it is obviously at the expense of his self-respect. He could not see that contrary to the hype in newspapers such as the Hindu, not all Gujarati Hidus supported what happened in 2002 and would very much prefer that Muslims join the mainstream. If some Muslims are willing to do that, people like Raheel find it abominable. I lost a bit of respect I had for Oxford.
In the article you say the Muslim are supporting the BJP because its in power and so Muslims are not left with any other option. May be you are right in saying that.But what if you see the other side of coin . There is Hindi saying "taali kabhi ek haath se nahi bajti".(you cannot clap with one hand) So if you think BJP is anti-Muslim and hindutva preaching party then why BJP will take the support of Muslim and try to do something good for them, the only reason I see is because they think Muslim are very much part of India and they should contribute to development of the country/state.
If one has to talk of atrocities one can go back as far back as the Mogul times and Tippu Sultan's when Muslims were the dominant force, although minority, and describe various actions against the Hindus. No atrocity by any community, anywhere, can be justified. Although in Gujarat the Muslims are religiously separate, in all other matters of culture they are same and similar to others. There is much in common for Muslims of Gujarat with the Hindus of Gujarat than with the Muslims of Kerala or any other part of India. The theme of existence need to be, 'live and let live' and find harmony in diversity ! No point in going back like a 'dog to the vomitus'!
However begrudgingly you come to acknowledge that the BJP rulers in Gujarat have been able to get some modicum of acceptance by "the kind of Muslims who support the BJP" (in the writers own words). No harm I guess, as long as economic development and local needs ensure a cohesive society in Gujarat. Oh, it is not wrong to forgive, I presume !!
I don't understand why there is an extended thread on this article suggesting that Raheel is an anti-BJP, anti-Modi scholar. This is a seemingly neutral, if not positive, article about attitudes of different Muslim sects of Guajarat towards BJP government. His statement that 'Nine years later, the victims of the violence are embracing their perceived perpetrators." does not suggest that he thinks they are wrong in doing so as one of the commentator here has pointed out. There is no point accusing Raheel of maligning BJP and its supporters, he is not doing so.
Our(Indian) democracy is largest serving democracy in the world . It is based on communal harmony, secularism and integrity of the people. Our main concern needs to improve these genuine efforts. Articles need to expose how better we can exploit the given resources to commons instead of critising it, which never give any results or gorwth of any kind.
Sir, while the article is good in parts, it is disappointing in its political views. When muslims used to vote for Congress as a block, it is reasoned that that was because of the party's secularism. But if they now vote for BJP that is attributed to fear and partly to development. It is quite plausible that the ruling party made use of the Godra to engineer killings of hapless Muslims. This is am issue that is being decided by the Supreme Court. But can we ourselves conclude thus and blame Modi, like our media has been doing all these years? The truth seems to be that the phenomenal economic development in Gujarat achieved by the policies and practices of Modi have won over the people of the state, including the muslims. That Modi is personally clean has hugely helped. Lastly, it should not be forgotten that we are taking about a state that have birth to Gandhiji and Jinnah, both secularists. Why shouldn't the current generation be the same at heart even now?
I am glad that at least one author acknowledges that Muslim are looking for peaceful solutions to their problems. It is imperative that Modi acknowledge his role and apologizes to Muslims who were wronged by the state. Historically Muslims and Hindus never felt like two communities until Gandhi and Jinnah came into the picture, incidently two Gujaratis. It is important for Muslims everywhere to vote for people who would bring the most benefit for all citizen. In this case BJP and Modi has proven that they are good for business and Muslims' stance is commendable and note worthy. There is no point in recalling the bitter past. However, it is imperative that Modi and BJP provide the sense of the security to Muslims in Gujarat which they are still in want of.
This article just tries to enforce the popular Hindu ideology to the advantage of BJP. The author seems to be giving a license to the BJP to do atrocities on the Muslims and give them the fruits of development as a compensation. Hindus also enjoy the fruits of development,can they be subjected to same violence? Being a minority never legitimises that let evreything happen and integrate with majority to remain in developmental mainsttream,it is against the very foundation of democracy.
I find contradictory statistics given about the Muslims embracing BJP and those who have suffered the consequence of Post godhra. I believe the author tries to say that the Muslims embracing BJP right now haven't gone through any post pogrom incidents and/or are ignorant about their pain and support Modi because of no other choice. HOwever, considering the sampling size of those who have gone through the riots maybe not be enough to come to the conclusion that BJP is adamant about Hindutva policy and/or Modi is against Muslims and Muslims support BJP because of no other options. I think people are finding reasons to eclipse Modi's effort to raise Gujarat.
The fundamental hypothesis in this article is flawed. It does not look like it's based on any scientific analysis of voting data or survey of Muslims, but an ad-hoc analysis that may not have anything to do with ground reality. The fact is, Muslims are a majority community in several constituencies. If the state government has indeed been involved in communal riots, they could have voted the government out. They had several opportunities to do so - state, central, municipal / panchayat elections, etc. However, in all of these Muslims have overwhelmingly voted for Narendra Modi. The fact is, the 'secular' intellectuals have no clue as to why this is happening. I'll give them a piece of advice: wherever there's effective governance, people don't care about propaganda of the kind that these pseudo-intellectuals indulge in to keep the communal fire burning. It's not 'resource access' that makes a Muslim vote for BJP, it's plain and simple governance. Just be humble, accept that you don't know, stop inventing complicated reasons.
Social development follows economic development. All Indians living in Gujarat have reason to celebrate and support Modi for the excellent work. Better we stop the extra importance to religion be it Hindu, Muslim, Christian or Sikhs. Muslims living in India are Indians. Riots in 2002 were unfortunate and the officers involved with the riots have been convicted. BJP in its rule in the last decade has been transforming the lives of Gujarati Indians for better, while Congress ruling the Country nearly 50 years since Independence has created the deepest gap between rich and poor but still thriving on its communal agenda in the name secularism.
I always wonder how does it matter to common people if the person standing next to you is either Hindu or Muslim. My point is to make a community free India. though elder generation is still struck with Hindu - Muslim concept, but we the younger generation have to bring it forth.I know its hard to forget 2002 and earlier instances but if we dream of a developed India , we have to move on.And yes regarding politics in religion , its all on us how we perceive it.
The example that the Muslim woman is using burqa to counter the discrimination was really depressing. The differences based on religion are superficial and are rooted in our tribal instincts which are decreasing in more egalitarian societies like western Europe. The BJP/RSS is doing its best to keep alive these differences and they have found their natural allies in muslim clerics. The only thing that gives hope in this article is that some are using modern education to fight this discrimination.
Doctoral researcher's theory need not be true and accepted 100%. Are you sure that government is doing nothing to minorities and they stand with BJP only on fear?. Interpretation of Bihar election results is also wrong. Gain by BJP is more than that of Nitish. Please educate people in such a way that good governance would give peace to all. Dont mislead people for our own mindset.
Article explores the issue in its all dimensions. The increasing support by Muslim communities to BJP in Gujrat is sometimes because of the scarcity of too many options. Congress is fading and throughout the Gujarat, a Hindutva agenda is taking its intensity and has been widely accepted by masses of Gujarat unlike any other state which is causing the Muslims to believe that Congress is not going to come into power and if they continue with the same hostility towards the ruling class then they will also get the same cold shoulders from the ruling class. The reasons enumrated above are definitely correct but the directionless conditions of Muslims and incessant decline of Congress are the root causes.
The powers that be will have their say even if it means smashing the aspirations of a community to pieces. Eventually people tone down their expectations, make compromises, and learn to live with it. They become inured because as has been rightly pointed out, when it comes to survival this attitudinal change is a little price to pay.
This is very disturbing article. Every time any Muslim supports BJP the so-called writers/intellectuals attribute that to some other issue than acknowledging change of the heart among muslim community. This type of article divides the society and serves the purpose to defeat social harmony. In this article there is an instance which says that muslims are availing development works because of presence of majority people in the area, this type of comment is detrimental to the nation building process. This type of typecasting the BJP and the Muslim community is not good for the society in general. This type of article and the Darul Uloom chief's case hinder the other muslims to come out and express their opinion and take stock of the real situations.
One detects a undercurrent of regret and disappointment in Dhattiwala that Gujarati Muslims have decided to move on; indeed support the BJP to enjoy the fruits of rapid economic development that has propelled this State to the very top in India. Narendra Modi has ensured total communal peace since 2002. He has provided the most honest, visionary administration among all Chief Ministers. He has grown agriculture at 9% per year for 10 continuous years, enriching farmers and making them immune to the messages of both Naxalites and terrorists. He has focussed on education and ensured that 92% of children attend schools and drop out rate is just 7%. With an investor friendly environment, Gujarat has attracted the maximum investment among all Indian States. How can Muslims not partake in this growth story? No wonder, they have slowly realized that the promises repeated by the Congress for 40 years that it alone can safeguard their interests and make them prosperous, are totally false. The Congress merely wanted to first stoke and then exploit their insecurities for its own vested interests. Thanks to Modi's spectacular performance, Gujarati Muslims have realized that listening to the Congress will only keep them poor and in constant conflict with Hindus.
It gives me a feeling that author finds solace by identifying some political reason for the Gujarati Muslims supporting a political party. The article seems like an attempt to keep the communal clashes in the mind of the people intact forever.
It's a normal course of evolution.Every race on the earth has to be accommodating towards the rule for survival though the rule may be a tyranny.In Indian history we have many examples when local communities with different traditions and customs assimilated with the invaders.
The question here is not so much as whether there will be a paradigm shift in Muslim voting pattern for want of assimilation but whether there will be a shift in the stand of saffron party. As rightly pointed out that India is a patronage democracy and so Muslims will be ready to patronize the BJP provided that they change their fundamental belief/attitude towards Muslims. Otherwise BJP will become another Congress who will come to Muslims only when they need to garner votes.
As a recent 'migrant' Muslim living in Juhapura 'ghetto' of Ahmedabad one thing I had noticed was the increased religious symbolism. This seemed to be in contrast to modern western educational institutions being set up and more and more Muslim women working and moving out of their homes. After reading this article I understand the reasons. I hope this oppositional culture does not lead to adverse socio-educational conditions.
Even the Muslims of Gujarat, who are alleged to have suffered the most in the post-Godhra riots of 2002, are ready to forget the past and start a new life with the help of the state government. But still our English media are attacking Narendra Modi by publishing biased reports. Our English media pretend to be ignorant about the fact that several Hindus were also killed in the Gujarat riots and what's more, over 1000 people were killed in police firing , resorted to supress the riots. While paid news is bad, publishing biased and one-sided selective news is the worst thing in journalism.
Raheel, you are assuming that in Gujarat embracing Muslims mean upsetting majority. I am just curious to know how you arrived at this conclusion. You know just like Muslims feel victimized due to stereotyping them as terrorists, some of us majority Gujaratis have started feeling the same way when we are being projected as being anti-minority. We may be voting for Modi because we have left it on Indian judiciary to decide if he is guilty of any crime or not. But it is highly inappropriate of you and others to continously project us as Muslim haters. The fact is I and everyone I know in my circle votes for Modi due to development we see with our own eyes, growth we experience by living in Gujarat day in and out. Please spare some thought for us when you so passionately put forward thought of victimization of Muslims in Gujarat.
Raheel has to a great extent rightly analysed the limitations of Muslims, living in Gujarat. Even after the lapse of over nine years of massacres of minority community in different parts of Gujarat under the evil design of chief minister Narendra Modi, Muslims of the state still live, fear gripping in their minds because of growing Hindutva under Modi regime. However, even after being displaced from their homes and property, Muslims have feelings of being abandoned - as in the old song from famous film Mera Nam Joker, "Jeena yahan, marna yahan, iske siva jaana kahan; swarg bhi yahin, narak bhi yahin, iske siva jana kahan." The fear psycosis has compelled them to support the BJP and Narendra Modi. The writer has rightly commented that people want security and for this want to toe the line of even a devil like Modi- this is general psychology, prevailing in Gujarat!If we look at the prevailing atmosphere in Gujarat, Muslims are there living in miserable condition and fear of atrocity by autocrat government of Modi have burdened them to toe his line and support HINDU BJP. They are not supporting BJP of their sweet will. Discrimination of Muslims in Gujarat are is the order of the day. Under such cicumstances, Muslims have compromised and supported MOdi and BJP reluctantly. Another thing that there is general tendency evrybody wants to align himself with power-that-be for benefit and also mainly for security. The writer has rightly pointed out that support to BJP and Modi in Gujarat by Muslims is realy an exceptional case, if we look the general scenario of Muslim voting pattern in the country, particularly recent assembly elections in Bihar where they have supported the National Democratic Front, partnered by BJP and other secular parties where Hindutva has been sidelined- these things were evident in Bihar Assembly elections (where Modi was not allowed to campaign for BJP in Bihar by Nitish Kumar) and also semi-secular stance of Atal Behari Vajpayee before he headed NDA government- with less than 35 Muslim support in the Lok Sabha elections. Muslims are still seething in anger and lament because of mass murders of minority community by Modi supporters during Gujarat riots- secularism is nothing in Gujarat even as India is a secular country! Let us hope for the best sense among BJP and Modi to declare that state Gujarat within India as secular entity of India!
Haven't we all assimilated to varying extents with our neighbourhood communities?
An good narration of perspectives, which opens into a spectrum of view points.It challenges the assumptions which arise out of thinking, speculation and perceived good.
Not anything surprising! This is a question of bread, butter and sheer survival. Such instances of supporting the ruling government in power can be seen in history too. King Man Singh, a kachhwaha king, was the the first of the Hindu Rajput kings of Rajasthan who formed matrimonial relations with Akbar for diplomatic reasons. Kavindracharya of Varanasi dedicated a booklet containing hundred of slokas written by hundred and one pundits to show their gratitude towards Aurangazeb. In modern times Japan accepted the security umbrella of USA after the Hirosima and Nagasaki bombings. It's human instinct that an individual first secure his life and means of livelihood than think about other broader issues concerning his life.
I am surprised by an enlightened Muslim arguing in favor of Muslims living in emotional enclaves, shunning other communities in the name of identity. Such articles reinforce the belief that religion comes first to Muslims. Such articles are an attempt to keep the communal fires eternally burning. Just a year after the Gujarat riots, Aneesa Begum became the Mayor of Ahmedabad, impossible if the majority of the corporators had regarded her as a Muslim. Take any area: sports, music, films, literature. The Muslims are there in good numbers because they chose to join the mainstream which the secularists portray as an enemy community. Their effort has been to keep the Hindus and Muslims separate. A kind of emotional partition.
Only towards the end of the article is there a mention of 'benefits' and development that the Muslim community has seen in BJP rule. Of course, nobody can forget the atrocities that happened in Gujarat in 2002. But is that a reason to shun a government that has clearly taken cognizance of that and is trying to improve its image? The author writes 'Nine years later, the victims of the violence are embracing their perceived perpetrators', as if it is wrong! The article is a tad too biased and has conveniently overlooked the progress seen by the community post 2002.
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