And wish a bride for Meeran Haider

Shabul Hassan spends many a sleepless night thinking of his youngest son Meeran Haider He wishes Meeran had heeded his suggestion to take up a job instead of enrolling for PhD He could have augmented Shabulrsquos financial resources and a bride would have been found for Meeran the only one of his five children who is still single Shabul is pushing 70 his body ravaged by diabetes and the stones in his kidney make him tremble with pain at times As the nightly hours slip past he hopes Allah will provide him the opportunity to marry off Meeran the only paternal responsibility he thinks he has yet to fulfilIt is likely that you have forgotten the 31yearold youth The blame does not lie on you for the Indian State spawns a new victim every month It was Teesta Setalvad in June Mohammed Zubair in JulyIn December 2019 Meeran was at the forefront of the protest at Jamia Millia Islamia a central university against the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 With the February 2020 riots in Northeast Delhi and the pandemicinduced lockdown in March aborting the antiCAA movement Meeran took to providing relief to Bihari migrants desperate to return home The boy from Nasir Chhapra village in Biharrsquos Siwan district could not turn away from fellow Biharis reeling under the fear of death But the Delhi police under the Central governmentrsquos control arrested Meeran in April 2020 booked him under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act for fomenting the Delhi riots and sent him to Tihar JailMeeran embodies the political consciousness of an emerging Muslim middle class driven to work for the community And to think he is just the person who could have forged ahead in the rat race He did his BTech in Mechanical Engineering from Jamia Millia Islamia from where he also did an MBA in International Business He went on to do an MPhil in West Asian Studies and began to mull the idea of doing a PhD in management studiesIt was then that Shabul told Meeran ldquoTake up a job I do not have money to finance yourdquo Meeran said he would take tuition to finance his PhD and registered himself for it at JamiaPerhaps you are surprised at a father opposing his sonrsquos scholarly quest Shabul slogged for 20 years between 1991 and 2011 as a bluecollar worker in Saudi Arabia He spent a large slice of his earnings to educate his two sons and three daughtersmdashand on four weddings Getting on in age he hoped to live on his savings which began to dwindle as his wife had to undergo dialysis for a few yearsYou think Meeran should have taken up a job to financially bail out his fatherBut then idealism can dull a personrsquos instinct for pragmatism Meeran thought the bane of the Muslim community were its leaders most of them either toughies or dynasts Muslims required leaders emerging from the grassroots with a modern outlookmdashand yet anchored in Islamic culture Like Jamia students like himIt was only natural for Meeran to join the Aam Aadmi Party which had every middle class person dream of entering electoral politics Years later the AAPrsquos metamorphosis from an agent of change to obsessing about electoral victories dashed Meeranrsquos hope He joined the Rashtriya Janata Dal going on to become the youth president of its Delhi chapter It was the party of Biharis for Biharis fighting for social justiceBut Meeranrsquos turf was Jamia where he cofounded the Jamia Studentsrsquo Forum which brought student outfits of different political parties on one platform for demanding their university conduct union elections not held since 2005 He helped float the Jauhar Study Circle which discussed political ideas and sought to reclaim its traditional political culturemdashnationalist and centrist He wanted Jamia students to take the lead on issues agitating them not have outsiders show them the path to changeWhen Jamia burst out against the CAA he rushed back from Siwan where he had gone to attend the burial of his mother He was sublimating his sorrow by joining the raging battle for equal citizenship for all Indians regardless of their religionMeeran is in jail Meeran is forgotten now Meeran has a legal battle to wageldquoI have not heard from those who had promised us financial helprdquo Shabul said There are lawyers representing Meeran pro bono The Association for Protection of Civil Rights pitches in Yet sundry expenses related to Meeran compelled Shabul to sell a plot of land to raise moneyEarly in June Shabul came down from Siwan to meet Meeran in Tihar Overcoming the urge to melt into tears the father told the son he had not murdered or committed dacoitymdashhe had only fought for his communityrsquos rights That is not a crime not a sin Meeranrsquos face lit upldquoIn Allahrsquos durbar there can be delays but every person gets a hearingmdashand justice is donerdquo Shabul told me Once Meeran walks out free Shabul will find him a bride There will be band baaja baraat and the night will no longer seem immense for ShabulThe writer is a senior journalistSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper