Muslims in India need to get integrated 06-12-08(1)Microsoft Wor

SANJOG MAHESHWARI

                                                                                             

 

MINORITISM IS DANGEROUS

 

                                                                                                  -SANJOG MAHESHWARI.

 

 

More than six decades have passed by since Independence and   the Indian Muslim community is yet to get integrated into the mainstream India. Such   is the fate of India’s second largest majority community. (By what stretch   of imagination a community comprising about 15% of Indian population could   be termed as “minority’?)

While all other religious communities stand   fully integrated into the national life, all the while beautifully   preserving their distinct identities, majority of Indian Muslims allow   themselves to be used as a vote bank only as has again been amply proved by the results of the recently held general elections. For very obvious reasons, while the Congress party won’t ever admit that their Muslim-vote bank only has won the elections for them and once again the identity politics yielded rich dividends for the party, the stinking fact sticks out in all its ugliness. The related issues of minority,   minority institution and reservation, however, call for a serious rethink and definition in the larger national interests..

 

Nothing in our Constitution implies that   every religious community other than Hindu, irrespective of its size and population, should be termed “minority” In fact the “Secularism” as enshrined in the Preamble of our Constitution, slams down such a suggestion.             

 

The Constitution which enjoins “equality of status and of opportunity” within the framework of “Secular Democratic” polity in its Preamble itself totally rubbishes and out rightly rejects the concept of “religion-based minority”. Article 29 of it clearly, in the most unambiguous terms, and in sync with the secular ideals it propounds, excludes ‘religion’ as any determinant of minority status for any community. It says, “Any section of the citizens…….having a distinct language, script of culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same.” The word “religion” here is most justifiably conspicuous by its absence. By no means “Urdu” – the language and the script- is exclusively Muslim.  Born and cradled in India, it is as much an indigenous language as are the other languages: Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Marathi, Gujrati etc. And there is no room for exclusiveness in our colourful cosmopolitan culture.  Article 29 (2), ibid, prohibits all manner of discrimination in the State maintained or aided educational institutions least of all  on the grounds of religion, race, caste, language or any of them.

There seems to be persistent misunderstanding about Article 30 of the Constitution as well. It grants minorities- again not the religion-based- the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice without the State’s interference in their administration if only unaided by the State. In the event of State funding or aiding an educational institution, the State acquires the right to supervise the administration of the institution even if established by minority. Article 30 does not stonewall state laws that are enacted to achieve secular objectives, as they are sine-qua-non for the health of our democratic set up.

While any religion-based reservation in an educational institution aided by the State is ultra vires constitutional provisions, these Articles are misinterpreted by the pseudo-secularists to promote their own entrenched vested interests. The devious minority (read Muslim) vote-bank and identity politics inimical to the larger national interests are pursued relentlessly to gain political mileage and win elections.               Unfortunately, the vested interests, in an all out effort to appease the so called minority, are hell bent to make a mockery of the Constitution, its secular ideals and circumventing the successive judicial orders and decisions. Ours seem to be a deeply flawed democracy. While the challenge   before the nation is to combat and liquidate  “Minoritism” as it is an antithesis to our secular ideals and gives fillip to fissiparous  tendencies, politicians and political parties  use it to promote the vote bank politics. Polarization of communities into religion-based “majority” and “minority” serves only the political designs of the wily politicos, divides the nation on communal lines and is inimical to the harmonious relations between the communities.

 

Questioned about doing something for the Minority (read Muslims) in Gujarat, the C.M. Narendra Modi rightly observed, “In my Gujarat there is only one community, and it is called ‘Gujarati’. So where is the question of doing anything for something which does not exist at all?” That is the secularism manifested in its truest form and spirit. How many politicians can afford the luxury of losing their cherished vote-bank by expressing such nationalist sentiments?

 

In the recent general elections, the Congress Party’s way to winning post went via its “Muslims-having- first- right- to- National Resources” theory of the Party. In situations like these, where means justify the end, the ‘foul’ becomes ‘fair’ and the only thing that counts is the success who cares for the ‘principled approach and secularism in its truest form as enshrined in our Constitution? The long term and far bigger National Interests are sacrificed at the altar of pseudo-secularism?

  While many, if not the most, politicians keep engaged in dividing the country on caste, community and religion lines and that too in the name of secularism, Mr. Modi seems to beckon Indians to be more circumspect and consider themselves as Indians first and last. It is not for nothing that the people of India consider Mr.Modi made of the stuff the P.Ms are made-secular to the core and unambiguously assertive about it.

 

If the very concept of minority is completely obliterated from the psyche    of our polity and the society and in its place secularism is ingrained therein then as sure as the day follows the night we will achieve full national integration – perhaps, we can do without a full-fledged Ministry of Minority Affairs at the Centre and put the money so saved to some better use. By all means let us junk this identity politics and our minority-fixation. It is fraught with serious dangers to the political and economic health of the nation. But the demagogues, across the board, dread the change. For if concepts of minoritism and identity politics are abolished, those who can’t think of any other route to the winning post, will get marginalized and lose their lucrative jobs. This malady, however, will continue to play havoc with the long term national interests, till we replaced this deeply flawed Westminster type of Parliamentary democracy by the Presidential model of democratic governance. See, who will bell the cat?                                

 

                                                                                                   -SANJOG MAHESHWARI