Modi Government Turns Blind Eye to Karbala's Relevance

Dr. Mazhar Naqvi 

Dear viewers,

I am producing below the letter sent by me to  Hon’ble Minister of HRD, Government of India, on September 22,2017, requesting him to consider the inclusion of Karbala as a case study of management in the curricula of MBA and BBA programs.I had made the request in view of the relevance of Karbala about management principles.As I have not heard anything from the Hon'ble Minister , I am publishing the letter for viewers at large.If you feel that I have genuine logic for inclusion of Karbala in the curriculum of management programs and the step would create much awareness about sublime sacrifice of Imam Hussain and his mission for mankind,please share the article as much as you can.I am sure that Masoomeen(A.S.) will surely give Jaza for your noble act.I shall also be ever remain indebted to all of you for your contribution.

Copy of the Letter 

Shri Prakash  Javadekar,
Hon’ble  Minister of HRD,

Government of India, New Delhi-1

Dear Sir,

Greetings of the day!

I am a Kanpur-based academician and sending this email to your good self for inclusion of Karbala as a case study of management in the curriculum of MBA/BBA programs. I am making this request to you as Muharram -2017 most probably commence from September 22, 2017 and such a step will be a befitting tribute to Hazrat Imam Hussain who had laid down his life on the arid plain of Karbala for protecting human values and uprooting nepotism, corruption and misuse of power in 680 AD. Since then, his admirers have been mourning his death during Muharram every year across the globe. For centuries, religious speakers have been exhorting people to follow the teachings of Imam Hussain to overcome their psychological and socio- economic   problems. Yet Karbala is mostly perceived as a rhyme of anguish and pain on the lips of time and remains out of the gaze of modern management Gurus.

Sir, management is defined as a systematic way of carrying out activities in any field of human effort. It aims at making people capable of joint performance, to make their weaknesses irrelevant, to create harmony in working together i.e. equilibrium in thoughts and actions, goals and achievements, plans and performance, products and markets. It resolves situations of scarcity, be they in the physical, technical or human fields, through maximum utilization with the minimum available processes to achieve the goal.

Against the backdrop of these established principles of modern management, one finds Karbala leading us towards a harmonious and blissful state of affairs in place of the conflict, tensions and poor productivity. At Karbala, Imam Hussain had scarce resources. He was aware of dire consequences. Yet he did not give allegiance of loyalty to Yazid. Rather, he flatly rejected the offer, for he was quick to realize that giving allegiance would jeopardize the survival of mankind and Islam. Imam and his supporters suffered unparalleled hardships and persecution for preferring to safeguard the tenets of Islam.  The forces of tyranny and injustice cut off the basic necessities to Husain’s camp, including access to water. The camp consisted of Imam Husain, his family, friends, and companions, all of whom stood fast and firmly with him at the cost of their lives. But nothing could dampen his spirit. Not even the slaughtering of his 6-month-old infant Ali Asghar after the brutal killing of his brothers, sons and friends. Hussain remained focused and offered sacrifice in totality with the sole objective of improving the basic thinking of man. He was of the view that improvement in the basic thinking of man would automatically enhance the quality of his actions.

 His creative thinking foiled the plan of Yazid and exposed the ugly designs of those who wanted to promote falsehood, oppression and disbelief under the garb of Islam forever. His sacrifice had far reaching effects. In a short span of time, Karbala proved to be a volcano that stirred the consciousness of ignorant and learned alike. The martyrdom of Hussain uprooted powerful Bani Umaiya dynasty and turned the momentary victory of Yazid into the humiliating defeat. The quality of his actions established forever as to how exemplary leadership coupled with careful planning and strategic thinking generates the maximum desired output with minimum resources.

However one must remember that Karbala enlightens about the concepts of excellence in efforts, decision-making, leadership, and motivation with a difference. While the modern management principles deal with problems at material, external and peripheral levels, philosophy of Hussain tackles these issues from the grass roots level of human thinking. Thus, Karbala deserves to be discussed at B- schools as a case study on forming a vision, planning the strategy, art of leadership, institutional excellence, building an innovative organization, developing human resources, team building, teamwork, delegation, motivation, communication, ethics and social responsibility etc.

Sir, I am sure that in view of the facts stated above, you would be kind enough to direct the concerned authorities to explore the possibility of inclusion of Karbala revolution in the curriculum of management programs from the ensuing academic session.

With best regards,

Sincerely,

Dr.M.A.Naqvi

September 22,2017

I request all the viewers and persons with love and admiration for Imam Hussain to initiate a movement for inclusion of Karbala in the curriculum of management programs.You can launch a campaign for it with the help of social media.

Hussainiyat Zindabad,

Sincerely,

Dr.Mazhar Naqvi