Azadi's Daughter, A Memoir: Being a Secular Muslim in India

by Seema Mustafa

A fascinating account of an audacious woman's journey and a rapidly vanishing way of life, Azadi's Daughter is both a personal memoir and a political commentary. Journalist Seema Mustafa writes evocatively of the secular, pluralist India of the 1960s and '70s, chronicling her life as a Muslim woman born into the nationalist, progressive Kidwai family in Lucknow. As a child, her life was untouched by communalism, and even as she realizes that this was not the case for many, her book is a testament to the syncretic nature of secularism, in which a staunchly Muslim household was not limited to conservative interpretations of Islam.

Seema Mustafa incisively charts the events which have slowly begun to erode this tolerant, diverse ethos--the government's handling of the Shah Bano case in the 1980s, the demolition of the Babri Masjid in the 1990s, the mass arrests and torture of Indian Muslim youth in the aftermath of the 9/11 bombings, and the Gujarat riots of the 2000s. She also examines the current state of secularism where people face marginalization and the threat of violence merely for exercising their right to religion, to livelihood and even to what they eat.

This book should set to rest lazy assumptions about Indian Muslims, and women in particular. Even as it highlights the dominant concerns of Indian Muslims--security, employment, education, housing--it also underlines their abiding faith in Indian democracy and its pluralistic ethos. A memoir that defies old assumptions and prejudices, Azadi's Daughter is an important account of Indian Muslims in the modern world.

Genres: Nonfiction

187 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 10, 2017

About the author

Seema Mustafa is an Indian print and television journalist.
Seema Mustafa‏ was born in Delhi on to a muslim family with roots in Uttar Pradesh. Her father, Lt.Col. Syed Mustafa, was an Indian Army officer. Her mother was the daughter of Shafi Ahmed Kidwai, brother of Rafi Ahmed Kidwai, a noted freedom fighter and Congress politician. Shafi's wife Anis Kidwai (Seema's maternal grandmother) was sometime a Rajya Sabha MP belonging to the Congress party. Seema has two elder brothers, S.P. Mustafa (known as "Bobby"), group treasurer of Hindustan Unilever, and Kamal Mustafa, now retired but once the Head of Global M&A of Citibank.
Seema graduated with a BA in Political Science from Lucknow University in Uttar Pradesh. During her college days, she met and married a Hindu businessman and had two children, Agneya Singh and Gayeti Singh. She and her husband are now divorced.

Reviews

[Samikshan Sengupta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah, we understand if you are from a well-to-do family with a highly rich heritage of social work, political work & women empowerment, then your lack of religious practices doesn't matter that much.

And of course, it is refreshing & nice to see such broad-minded Muslim family existing in today's India.

But does it make a difference overall?? Can the slightly less affluent, leave alone the mediocre or the poor, follow your footsteps?

That's the big question !

[Pravin Ravi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok book. This book is more from an author's perspective only.

[Sanjay Banerjee · Rating 3 out of 5]

An autobiographical account of a well-known journalist and political/social activist.

[राजेन्द्र हिन्दुस्तानी · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sequential description of anomalies prevailing with the experience of a female journalist in the field of journalism, Excellent book.