The parallels are easily seen between Khilafat Movement of 1920 and Anti CAA protests of 2020!
Khilafat was consequent to the Caliph of Islam, Sultan of Turkey being reduced to mere figurehead in the aftermath of WW-I, the various treaties of war greatly reduced both geographical and cultural supremacy of the Sultan of Turkey. Interestingly, his subjects were more than happy to be rid of the despotic Turkish yoke. But, surprisingly the pain of loss of Caliphate was more acute in the Indian Sub continent than elsewhere. The fact that Maulana Azad was among the protagonists of the Khilafat Movement is testimony to the truth that it was always about Islamic identity and supremacy. Muslims in sub continent who fought for the British were now rallying against their masters in show of solidarity with the Islamic Caliphate. Maulana Azad assiduously recruited Gandhi who was then a fledgling politician but saw tremendous potential into the world of Khilafat as the glue which could bind the disparate communities, Hindus and Muslims.
It must remembered that while Turks had abandoned their Sultan in support of democracy and secularism, the Indian Muslims were leading protests against British for the same Sultan, nothing can be more ironical than this factual inconsistency. Treaty of Sevres took away the territories of Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon from Turkey, the People of these territories formed their national homelands asserting their rights as a nation not merely being part of an Islamic Caliphate. While, Turkey was dismembering itself, the Muslims in India were forming a grand alliance with the Congress under the leadership of Gandhi to save the Caliphate. Gandhi was devoured by the Idea that this movement will bring unity between the two major communities, ie., Hindus and Muslims in India which will help in establishing, remember, both Khilafat and Swaraj. It is inconceivable that Gandhi could be so naive to believe this fundamental incongruity was an achievable goal!
What happened is a historical nightmare. The Khilafat achieved only one thing, the hardening of Muslims into victimised people who saw a threat to Islam where none existed. The idea of Muslim nation was always festering ever since Syed Ahmed came up with his Hindi-Urdu divide.
Incidentally, Congress and Gandhi played the most important role of facilitators in fostering this feeling of otherness among the Muslims in India. The period of Khilafat 1919-24 played out the fears of Hindus being the target as Muslim fury in their inability to take on the British, Hindus became the lambs to slaughter. Moplah riots in Malabar were direct consequence of Khilafat Movement, it took a bloody turn and even bloodier toll on the Hindus of Malabar. Unofficial accounts speak of hundreds of Hindus being killed by Moplahs or Muslims of Arab descent, unreadable atrocities committed upon Hindu women, thousands forcibly converted, the carnage is vividly documented by both British and vernacular accounts.
This lesson in history is reminder of things to come. Khilafat was an out and out Islamic Movement to save the despotic Caliphate, Muslims recruited the gullible Hindus led by Gandhi to fight its battles against the British.
CAA is out and out Islamic Protest to oppose citizenship to Hindus from Islamic Countries and to bring in Muslims from these countries to change the demographics of India. The NRC when it is implemented identifies the illegal immigrants who do not belong to the category enunciated in the CAA, 2019. In 1920s Maulana Azad, Ali Brothers and others fooled the Hindus led by Gandhi to believe that Khilafat was against the British, where as it was the majority Hindus who felt the wrath of Muslim anger. Similarly, every anti CAA protest has targeted the Hindus by opposing their status as citizens, by targeting their properties. The protests are singularly Islamic in nature, with Allah hu Akbar and La ilaha lil la being the War cries.
The protests are supposedly against the law brought in by BJP which according to the protesters is against the Idea of India. It has galvanised many of the Left Liberals into hyperactivism, it has the support of all those in opposition who feel sidelined by the electorate. Interestingly, none of the opponents have been able to articulate a coherent opposition to the CAA which is logical and sees reason. The protesters and the protests are fundamentally Islamic both physically and culturally, the language, the motifs, the slogans reek of Islamic Supremacy and contempt for Hindus. Abuse of Hindu icons, gods and goddesses, burning of pictures of gods is the favourite method of protests around the country.
Onlookers with no idea of the protests can safely guess that the protests are led by Muslims for the Muslims specifically against the Hindus such is the visible evidence of the entire orchestrations since 12 December 2020. There are voices calling for an Islamic State, calling for annihilation of Hindus, calling for Balkanisation of India. Moplah Killings took place in Muslim majority areas of Kerala then, it is sought to being replicated in many parts of the country today by Muslims. The fears being expressed that Khilafat Movement led to formation of Pakistan are very real even today and the realisation that these protests are nothing but an exercise in making anti CAA protests into yet another Khilafat Movement.
