Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07KOLKATA126
2007-04-18 06:30:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Consulate Kolkata
Cable title:  

KOLKATA PUBLIC AFFAIRS REACHES OUT TO EASTERN INDIA'S MUSLIM

Tags:  KPAO KIRF KISL PHUM SOCI SA IN 
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RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 1857
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 KOLKATA 000126 

SIPDIS

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DEPT FOR SCA/PPD AND SCA/INS
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DEPT FOR DRL/IRF
PACOM FOR POL/AD

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KPAO KIRF KISL PHUM SOCI SA IN
SUBJECT: KOLKATA PUBLIC AFFAIRS REACHES OUT TO EASTERN INDIA'S MUSLIM
COMMUNITY

KOLKATA 00000126 001.2 OF 004


UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 KOLKATA 000126

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/PPD AND SCA/INS
DEPT FOR R
DEPT FOR DRL/IRF
PACOM FOR POL/AD

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KPAO KIRF KISL PHUM SOCI SA IN
SUBJECT: KOLKATA PUBLIC AFFAIRS REACHES OUT TO EASTERN INDIA'S MUSLIM
COMMUNITY

KOLKATA 00000126 001.2 OF 004



1. (SBU) Summary. Students and faculty at Muslim schools
(madrassas) in West Bengal are enthusiastic to interact with
U.S. government officials generally and have been appreciative
in particular with the outreach by the Kolkata American Center
through participation in MicroAccess English-language and book
donation programs, as well as cultural events. While the local
Muslim community is open to engagement, there are others,
however, who may not look upon this interaction favorably.
Reacting to pressure from Saudi donors, a local madrassa was
forced to cancel a performance featuring female acrobats that
had been arranged by the Consulate Kolkata Public Affairs
Section, and a ground-breaking speaking tour by a prominent
American Muslim scholar was ignored by the local
English-language media, although it received extensive,
favorable coverage in the Urdu-language press. End Summary.



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Madrassas Reach Out to Kolkata PAS

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2. (SBU) Consulate Kolkata's Public Affairs Section (PAS) is
actively engaged in reaching out to the Muslim community of
eastern India in many ways, including speaker programs,
MicroAccess English language learning, book donations,
establishing contacts with NGOs active in Muslim-majority areas,
as well as cultural and entertainment events. The audiences,
particularly for English language learning and book donations at
madrassas, are enthusiastic about interacting with Kolkata PAS
and invariably request extensions for language teaching
programs. American speakers who address Islamic themes attract
large audiences among area Muslims, responding to many questions
from audiences about the place of Islam in American society.
Interestingly, the few occasions when we have encountered
difficulties meeting program expectations were due to either
outside pressure on area Muslims, or non-Muslim influence in
local media.




3. (U) Since November 2006, Consulate Kolkata's Public Affairs
Officer (PAO) has interacted with students and faculty at five
Muslim schools (madrassas) in West Bengal and one in Patna,
Bihar. These madrassas typically have between 500 to 1,000
students, many of them boarders living in on-campus student
hostels. Only two of the six schools are co-educational, while
three are for male students and one only accepts females.
Although some start with kindergarten, most area madrassas offer
classes to students between the ages of eight and eighteen, or
the equivalent of third grade through high school. The medium
of instruction in madrassas in West Bengal is the local language
(Bengali),although both Urdu- and Arabic-language classes are
usually mandatory.




4. (U) Many if not most of the students at all of the madrassas
with which we interact are unable to pay tuition and/or boarding
fees; in such cases the students are accepted free of charge and
are supported by "zaqat," or donations. Some 29 percent of West
Bengal's total population of 80 million is Muslim, with the vast
majority of Muslim students in state schools. In fact, many

KOLKATA 00000126 002.2 OF 004


poorer Muslims select madrassas for their children because of
the prospect of receiving "zaqat" assistance to defray room and
board expenses. Designing programs for madrassa audiences is
thus a way to not only reach Muslim youth, but also to make an
impact on the poorer segment of the Muslim community. None of
the madrassas we have visited receive financial assistance from
the government. Of an estimated 7,000 madrassas in West Bengal,
only several hundred receive some form of monetary assistance
from official sources. Most resist offers of government
assistance because they believe that will inevitably lead to
pressure to conform to the state's views on curriculum content.




5. (SBU) After addressing students and faculty at madrassas,
Kolkata PAO always opens the floor to any and all questions,
with the most common tending to be about social customs in
America, as well as the situation for Muslims living in the U.S.
Girls often ask if it is legal to dress in traditional Muslim
clothing for women, such as the hejab, in the United States, and
about dating customs. Both boys and girls are very curious to
know if Islam is growing in numbers and influence and whether
non-Muslims discriminate against Muslims. Questions about
politics usually center on American policy in Iraq (the manner
in which Saddam Hussein was executed elicits quite a bit of
anger),Afghanistan, and the Kashmir issue, with little interest
in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. After these rather
freewheeling question-and-answer sessions, the students, even
those asking challenging questions, often approach the PAO to
shake his hand and invite him back for more discussion.



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Enthusiasm For English Programs and Book Donations

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6. (U) All of these madrassas are keen that PAS either initiate
or extend MicroAccess English language programs. During one
recent visit to the al-Medina Madrassa in Memari, Burdwan
district, two-hours' drive northwest of Kolkata, PAO distributed
certificates to 75 students upon their completion of a one-year
MicroAccess program. Students at al-Medina were so enthusiastic
that more than 200 have signed a petition requesting that post
renew the program for a second year. At lunch, during which the
newly-certified students serenaded PAO from the hallway with a
slightly off-key rendition of "We Shall Overcome," the faculty
pressed for assurances that funding for instructors and
textbooks for the English program be renewed for another year.




7. (U) Book donations to madrassa libraries are extremely
popular. Not only do these donations reinforce the students'
nascent English-language skills; they are also a valuable window
on an outside world that the students, many of them villagers,
have never had the opportunity to experience. PAS New Delhi
provides several types of book sets for donation, including a
"madrassa set" which usually includes titles on diversity in the
U.S. and comparative religion. In our experience, however, the
most appreciated and even cherished donations are encyclopedia

KOLKATA 00000126 003.2 OF 004


sets; one set entitled "General Book of Knowledge" is
appropriate for the students' level of English. Upon donating
this set, we have seen students avidly pulling the books off the
shelves even before we leave the premises.




8. (U) It is difficult to exaggerate the value students and
faculty place on these book donations, given the meager
resources available in most madrassa libraries. During one
recent visit to the library of a madrassa outside Kolkata, PAO
asked the director if the library had an English-language
encyclopedia. The director pointed with pride to a dusty set of
the Encyclopedia Britannica high on a shelf. PAO reached for
one volume and, opening the book, noted that it was the ninth
edition, dated 1883. Within one month of this visit Kolkata PAS
returned and donated a current set of the General Book of
Knowledge, much to the students' delight.



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Still, Roadblocks Remain

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9. (SBU) Although the local Muslim community in eastern India
is generally open to our outreach efforts, we do sometimes
encounter difficulties from other quarters. For example,
Kolkata PAS programmed a troupe of American acrobats to perform
for the students at a madrassa where a MicroAccess English
program has been particularly successful. The faculty at the
school arranged for the venue, in the process inviting hundreds
of local townspeople to join the students for the show. When
one of the school's prominent donors, the Jeddah-based Islamic
Development Bank, came to know on the night before the show was
to take place that female performers were part of the act, they
demanded that either the females not perform or the show be
cancelled. As the male acrobats refused to perform without
their female partners, the show was cancelled, which was a huge
embarrassment for the madrassa's administration. As the
president of the madrassa explained to Kolkata PAO, "We are
deeply embarrassed, please accept our apologies, but they are an
important donor and must be made happy." (Note: At another
madrassa without Saudi or other outside financial donors the
same show went on as planned without incident.)




10. (SBU) On another occasion, Kolkata PAS programmed a
prominent American Muslim scholar, Imam Yahya Hendi of
Georgetown University, for three days of speaking engagements at
area Muslim and secular institutions, including Calcutta
University and the Sola Ana Mosque, one of the largest in
Kolkata. Imam Hendi is well-known among Muslim scholars in
eastern India and he drew large and appreciative audiences, who
were not hesitant to ask him probing questions about his views
on politics and American society. The high point was his visit
to the Sola Ana Mosque, where he led Friday prayers and
attracted a crowd of over 15,000 very enthusiastic worshippers.
He also addressed the congregation on the theme of harmony and
cooperation between cultures and religions. The response was
overwhelmingly positive, with thousands jostling to touch him.


KOLKATA 00000126 004.2 OF 004





11. (SBU) The event at the Sola Ana Mosque was well-attended by
local press and media. However, although the Urdu-language
press gave Imam Hendi's speaking engagements prominent and
favorable coverage, the English-language dailies (the sole
exception being the Indian Express) completely ignored his
visit. Given the presence of journalists from the English and
vernacular media at all the Imam's events, the prominence of the
venues, and the interest that his visit generated among area
Muslims, we asked the reporters why their newspapers had not
printed stories. Reporters present at Imam Hendi's speaking
engagements and the Friday prayers at the mosque (from the Times
of India, Hindustan Times, Statesman, Telegraph, Asian Age) all
told us they filed stories but that none of their reports were
printed. The reporters, all of whom are Muslim, told us they
believe their stories were not printed because the subject was
"about Muslim issues" and that their editors were displaying a,
perhaps unconscious, anti-Muslim bias. And while it is true
that a segment of the Muslim population was reached through the
many favorable articles published about the Imam's visit in the
Urdu press, a significant part of the Muslim community depends
on English or vernacular language sources for its news; the
result was that we did not reach this significant group. The
only English-language newspaper to cover the story, the Indian
Express, has a very small circulation in Kolkata (5,000) and,
perhaps significantly, a news editor who is a former
International Visitor and who continues to maintain close
personal contact with the American Center.



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Comment

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12. (SBU) India is the world's third-largest Muslim country,
but nevertheless Muslims are in a minority and must accommodate
majority attitudes which may not encourage their interaction
with outsiders. Although Kolkata PAS' experience engaging with
local Muslim audiences has generally been positive, there are
other factors which serve to limit interaction. In eastern
India, relatively poor Muslim institutions are sometimes
financially dependent on outside donors who may be more socially
conservative than local Muslims. Unrestricted interaction with
the non-Muslim community, much less the United States, can be a
casualty of the influence these donors inevitably wield. And as
Imam Hendi's visit illustrates, when inter-religious prejudices
exist, the local power structure (whether it be political
parties or media) can limit the scope of outreach programs.




13. (SBU) As the experience of Consulate Kolkata PAS' Muslim
outreach program illustrates, local Muslims may be welcoming,
but face outside pressures or antipathy of others, both local
and distant, who see no value in promoting dialogue between
Islam and the United States. Given the receptivity of the local
Muslim community for more interaction with the United States,
greater engagement through increased public affairs programs
would help to overcome the obstacles of anti-American sentiment.JARDINE