Come push it INDEAR the world's largest demobigotry, and the world's oldest one

There is a lot of discussion in the West, about moderate Islam and Moderate Muslims. While one condemns violence and bigotry, one should understand that the primary focus of 1.3 billion Muslims on the planet is to   feed their families and taking care of the young ones.

Some want Muslims to behave like Jews or Christians, in thought, ideas, and even beliefs.

A moderate Muslims does not mean someone who is a “non-Muslim”. A moderate Muslim does not mean someone who is “Christian in thoughts and beliefs.” A moderate Muslim is not a WOG (Western Orientalized gentleman), one who looks like a native but thinks like a colonialist or a Neocon. A moderate Muslim is someone who respects Chrsitians, Christianity and other religions.

A moderate Christian is one who does NOT listen to the bigots on “Foxy” and elsewhere. A moderate Christian is not one who secretly or openly expects Muslims to become Christians. A moderate Christians is one who respects Islam and other religions.

My mother used to tell me “darmiyanah ravish”, the middle way. This is what a moderate Muslim is all about. Judiasm is a strict religion, Christianity is easy; Islam offers the middle way.

Finding moderate Muslims is easy, stop listening to the bigots of the world and find one in the nearest mosque or in your neighborhood.Seek out a Muslim and befriend him/her. It will be a rewarding experience. Friendship and hospitality will energize and improve everyone.

NEW DELHI: The idea of India — that is democracy — faces its most serious challenge from the Bharatiya Janata Party and it was intent not just on shredding the secular fabric of the nation, but also on destroying the democratic institutions, the Congress alleged here on Sunday.

Stung by the onslaught against it through the recently concluded winter session of Parliament, the Congress unleashed its fury on the BJP.

Both in a political resolution as well as in speeches by senior leaders and delegates alike, the message that went out from Burari on Sunday, the second day of the organisation's 83rd plenary — coinciding with its 125th anniversary — was that the Congress meant business and that it was going to be a bare knuckles battle from now on.

Indeed, the political resolution, passed after discussion, asked the government to tackle the communal menace in the strongest possible manner and investigate links between terrorists and the RSS and its sister organisations that were uncovered in some recent cases. “The role of religious fundamentalist organisations in challenging the security of the nation can no longer be ignored,” it said.

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who moved the political resolution, focussed on the “illogical” fashion the BJP stalled Parliament for 22 consecutive working days, demanding a joint parliamentary committee probe into the 2G spectrum scam while avoiding a debate on the floor.

Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh, however, was clearly the star of the day. He said the BJP's and the RSS' Hitlerian ideology of hatred, violence and divisiveness contrasted sharply with that of the Congress, which took its inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi's gospel of love and communal harmony.

Arjun Singh-like, he concentrated on the communal politics of the BJP and the sangh parivar, drawing applause and laughter from the delegates. He said those of a communal bent of mind, while agreeing that all Muslims were not terrorists, liked to ask: “Why are all terrorists Muslims?” To those people, he said, he would like to pose a counter-question: “All Hindus are not terrorists, but why are all Hindu terrorists connected to the RSS?”

The political resolution pointed out that the BJP had “a history of double standards and doublespeak on issues of serious corruption. While trying to target the Congress, which had sacked some of its Ministers accused of corruption, the BJP was busy defending its corrupt government in Karnataka, the resolution said.

BY PARVEZ AHMED, 

	Currying favor

JACKSONVILLE, FL

  On the heels of a bruising election, President Barack Obama is undertaking his longest foreign trip that will take him to several Asian countries, including India. Some media accounts of this trip, primarily Fox News and its affiliates, has focused on an un-sourced report that erroneously suggested the President's trip to cost $200 million per day. The fact is that the true costs of Presidential foreign trips are kept a secret for security reasons. The General Accounting Office, about a decade ago, had released one report on President Clinton's foreign trips. It showed that the cost of such trips total in the tens of millions, nowhere near the exaggerated figure of $200 million per day. The hullabaloo over such triviality is once again robbing Americans of an opportunity to engage in a civic dialogue about India and its strategic importance to America.

India is not just an exotic country thousands of miles away. The Indian diaspora in the US is 2.7 million strong. Over a dozen Indian Americans are part of the Obama administration and two Indian Americans have been elected Governors. India is neither the caricature on NBC's Outsourced nor the heartless gloom portrayed in Slumdog Millionaire. In his book The Argumentative Indian, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen presents a succinct description: "India is an immensely diverse country with many distinct pursuits, vastly disparate convictions, widely divergent customs and veritable feast of viewpoints."

India is the world's largest democracy. It is thus not coincidental that America, the world's oldest democracy, shares a bond with India, which transcends economics. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton alluded to this by assuring the people of India that they "should know they have no better friend and partner than the people of the United States." The Obama administration has stated that it wants to deepen its relationship with India on four strategic areas -- energy and climate change; economics, trade, and agriculture; education and development; and science, technology and innovation. And yet progress has been anemic.

Progress is complicated by a sluggish US economy, particularly in the area of job creation. Politically it helps the President to rail against U.S. companies that outsource jobs to India but strategically such outbursts are not helpful. Outsourcing is not the reason why US businesses, despite posting healthy profits, are not hiring. The fault lines remain in the banking and financial sector. Obsessing on the ills of outsourcing belies a pertinent fact that America is now the preferred destination for outsourcing. India is third. In 2007, 20% ofInformationWeek 500 companies reported that they've taken back outsourced work. The recent rise of prosperity in India has dampened the lure cheap labor.

Beating up on outsourcing will only make Indians reluctant to open up their markets to American exports. President Obama has correctly identified exports as one of the major sources of new jobs in the US. The rising upper and middle class in India offers new opportunities to sell American products. This explains why the President has a large contingent of business leaders in tow. Companies such as Boeing, GE, Caterpillar and Harley-Davidson are all looking forward to seal large deals with their Indian counterparts. Hopefully, the President will be able to impress upon these businesses that such deals should ultimately generate employment in the US. The President's legacy and reelection depends on such successes.

During this trip to India, President Obama is expected to visit the tomb of Mughal emperor Humayun, which was commissioned by his wife Hamida Banu in 1562. The tomb is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is precursor to the architecture and vision that inspired the Taj Mahal. By visiting this site, President Obama is giving a nod to India's pluralistic history, a history shaped by a rich inter-religious and cultural interaction between Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Christianity. This is not to suggest that the interactions between the faith communities have always been egalitarian. But the somewhat natural tensions between the faithful did not prevent them from cooperating to create great art, music, literature and philosophy. Prior to the British colonial rule, India was the world's economic superpower. Interestingly, Humayun's tomb also connects India to Pakistan. For it is here that many Muslims took refugee during their arduous migration to Pakistan. The symbolism is powerful as America's Af-Pak policy will partly hinge on the role India plays or does not play.

Disappointingly, President Obama will skip visiting the Golden Temple, the holiest site for Sikhs. To enter the temple, all male visitors are required to cover their heads. He fears that his head covering will be mistakenly linked to the persistent rumors that Obama is a Muslim. Caving into fear-mongers only emboldens them. Sikhs have paid an unfair price for their mistaken identity. They have been targets of anti-Muslim discrimination. And a few days after 9-11, a Sikh was killed in Arizona by a man who mistook him for a Muslim.

There is a lot riding on Mr. Obama's visit to India. Americans can and should hope that President Obama's visit opens up new opportunities for badly needed exports. Indians are hoping that President Obama will support India's bid to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council, a step that will help solidify India's ascendency on the world stage.

Professor Parvez Ahmed, a frequent contributor to altmuslim.com, is a Fulbright Scholar and Associate Professor of Finance at the University of North Florida. This piece originally appeared in the Huffington Post.