Seven decades after the people of India gave to themselves a constitution guaranteeing certain additional fundamental rights to religious and linguistic minorities, the nation is struggling to know what constitutes a “minority”. Articles 29 and 30 of the Constitution talk about protection of interests of minorities and their fundamental right to establish and administer educational institutions. But surprisingly, the term “minority” has not been defined under the Constitution, leading to confusion as to who all are entitled to reap the benefits meant for minorities under the Constitution and various schemes, policies and programs of central and state governments. Following enactment of National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992, Centre issued a notification on October 23, 1993, declaring Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis and Buddhists as minorities. Jains were added to the list in 2014. As per the Census Report of 2011, the percentage of minorities in the country is about 19.3% of the total population of the country and Hindus constitute 79.7%. The population of Muslims is 14.2%, Christians 2.3%, Sikhs 1.7%, Buddhists 0.7%, Jain 0.4% and Parsis 0.006% of the total population of India. As per projected estimates for the year 2050, by the office of Census Commissioner of India, Hindus shall constitute 77% while Muslims shall grow to 18% of total population.

The need for a proper definition of what should constitute a ‘minority’ in India assumes importance as in next couple of decades, India is likely to have a unique demography – it shall be home to the largest Hindu, Muslim, Jain and Sikh populations in the world. Another twist to the definition saga is that a religious denomination or community can be a Minority in an All-India context but can be a majority in a particular state. Cases in the point (2011 Census based) are Muslims in J&K constituting 68%, Sikhs in Punjab constituting 58% of population, Christians in Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya, constituting over 75% of total population.

Why are religious identities important?

In 1947, India was divided on religious lines after Muslim League insisted that: “Hindus and Muslims cannot live together as one nation; to safeguard interests of Muslims, they need to have a country of their own”. Partition resulted in massive transfer of populations (16 million?) and large-scale communal killings (two million?) mostly in Punjab and Bengal. Hindus and Sikhs migrated from areas given to the newly formed Pakistan while a segment of Muslims left India for the new country. Violent nature of the partition created an atmosphere of hostility and suspicion between the communities involved as well as between India and Pakistan that affects their relationship to this day. The wounds of partition are yet to heal, on both sides of the divide. Since 1947, India and Pakistan have fought 4 official wars (1947-48, 1965, 1971 and 1999). The atmosphere of distrust caused by the politics that led to partition continues to simmer in the society, causing periodic outbreak of riots in various parts of India.

History of Communal Strife in India:

While history of religion-based strife in India can be traced to the 1832 Bombay Dog Riots, post-Independence India has seen several major ugly incidents in various states of India*. Barring the 1984 Anti-Sikh riots (aftermath of the killing of the then PM, Mrs Indira Gandhi), almost all communal riots in India have been between Hindus and Muslims. This necessitates an analysis as to why people of a particular religion find it difficult to live in harmony with other groups/ faiths. Hindus & Sikhs are aggrieved that even after dividing India on communal lines, Muslims in India refuse to live in peace with other communities. The ruling elite, post-independence, used the community as a vote bank, keeping alive the alleged bogey of their being overwhelmed by the Hindu community.

The irritant – Selective Application of Civil and Personal Laws:

There is a growing perception that Muslim community is against any social reform. Muslims, led by their orthodox clergy have always resisted reforms. Due to pressure from the Muslim elite, the Shariat Law of 1937 was passed which stipulated that all Indian Muslims would be governed by Islamic laws on marriage, divorce, maintenance, adoption, succession and inheritance. It is interesting to note that Muslims do not want Sharia Laws to be applicable for civil matters. If a Muslim is found guilty of theft, the punishment prescribed under Sharia Law is amputation of hand but here they want secular laws of the land to prevail. This dichotomy is serving as the major irritant. While Personal Laws of every other community have undergone reforms since British times, only Muslim Laws are considered sacrosanct.

The1986 Shah Bano Case decision by the Supreme Court of India offered an opportunity to Central Govt to initiate much needed reforms in Muslim Personal Law. However, PM Rajiv Gandhi succumbed to pressure of Orthodox Muslim Clergy and amended the Constitution to overturn the decision. This flies in the face of Article 44 of the Constitution that advises a Uniform Civil Code for ALL Indians. The Supreme Court too, in its various judgements has supported the introduction of Uniform Civil Code in India in various cases - Shah Bano (1986), Sarla Mudgal (1995), Lily Thomas (2000), John Vallamattom(2003), PILs in 2015 and 2019 etc. Parliament passed the law banning Triple Talaq in 2019 and Muslim organizations immediately challenged this Law in the Supreme Court. The social friction and hardening of stands by common people are a result of perceived injustice by the majority community.

Another factor that leads to friction are the controversies surrounding destruction/ conversion of Hindu/ Jain/ Buddhist sacred temples by Muslim rulers between 7th and 18th centuries across India. Judicial restoration of Sri Ram Janmabhoomi at Ayodhya, has not been accepted by Muslims in general. Gyanvapi Complex Varanasi survey (2022) and its resultant controversies have brought the sharp divisions to the fore yet again. Barbaric killings at Udaipur and Amravati have further vitiated the atmosphere. Spiteful pronouncements by hate filled, radicalized adherents of the youngest of three Abrahamic faiths, calling for beheading of people for alleged blasphemy have sent a chill down the spine of civil society. People are aghast that without bothering to let the courts identify the culprits, people are willing to take law into their own hands because of the strong influence of the pulpits. This rigid, puritanical and narrow interpretation of Islam is reflected in a recent Tweet by a young Muslim lady and give an insight into the radicalized mindsets:

These are tell-tale indicators of hate filled mindsets that have been indoctrinated to take a narrow view of the teachings of Islam. Original concepts have been turned on their heads and new meaning given to words, resulting in creation of wrong images or justification of wrongs done in the name of religion.

Politics of Convenience: Global and Historical

Several amongst Indian Muslims and their secular supporters often point out to the demolition of disputed structure at Ayodhya in 1992 as the turning point in Indian polity, forgetting that Islam worldwide is known for destroying religious structures or converting those into Mosques. It has happened in Spain, Cyprus, Turkey, Egypt, Afghanistan, South-East Asia – wherever Islam rode in, carrying a flaming sword. The 6th Century statutes of Buddha in Bamiyan, Afghanistan were blown away by the Taliban in 2001. Hagia Sophia, the Christian Cathedral built in 537 CE at Constantinople (now Istanbul) was converted into a Mosque in 1453. It was declared a National Museum by the revolutionary and reformist statesman Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in 1935 as a symbol of ‘secular’ Turkey. The decision was reversed in July 2020 and the Museum again got converted to a Mosque, in step with the Islamist policy of current regime. I was in Egypt a couple of years ago and saw for myself the fear in which Coptic Christians are living in an Islamic society. They have fortified their Churches against marauding hordes of a jihadist Islam by erecting barricades! The decimation of non-Muslim minorities in Pakistan, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Bangladesh etc should be an eye opener for all sensible people. In Bangladesh, minorities declined from 23% (1971) to 9% (2021). In Pakistan, religious minorities have dropped from 23% in 1947 to 3.5% in 2021. Expectedly, Afghanistan is almost free of minorities (Sikhs and Hindus) in 2022. In contrast, Muslims in India have thrived – from 9.8% (1951) to 14.2% (2011).

What is galling for the majority community is that the moment Islam becomes a majority religion, that country is declared an Islamic country (Pakistan, Afghanistan, Malaysia, Bangladesh); however, the moment Muslims are in a minority, they want Secular laws and freedom to practise their religion as per their own laws – a courtesy they do not extend to other religions. We are seeing the same drama being played in France, in Britain, in the USA and several countries across the globe; Britain had 85 functional Sharia courts in 2020. In India, we have people clamouring for imposition of Sharia Law in J&K since 1953; both Farooq Abdulah and Mehbooba Mufti, post fall of Ashraf Ghani (August 2020), expressed the hope that Taliban shall make Sharia Law a viable model in Afghanistan so that other countries can follow! We, in Kashmir, have already seen the de-facto imposition of Islamic Law with widespread desecration of temples since 1986 and forced migration of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990!

By the same logic, India ought to have Hinduism as its official religion. Since 2014, we are witnessing some political balancing in India – a reaction to decades of minority (Muslim) appeasement by the political class. For the first time, Hindus have started asserting their right to the resources of this country. We are seeing a revival of Hindu pride in our history, our hoary past and in our religious practices. For a change, a Hindu PM is not ashamed of his faith and creed, is not afraid to visit temples to perform pooja, does not indulge in ‘Iftar Optics”. That PM Modi performed the foundation laying ceremony of Shree Ram Janmabhoomi Temple at Ayodhya in August 2020 might have shocked a few apologists and ‘secular’ mindset people who often want that Hindus to bury the past – but the majority of people were happy that a historical wrong had been corrected!

The majority community is feeling that a 15% religious minority is trying to dictate terms by violently opposing laws passed by the Parliament (CAA) and by trying to place their religious laws above the secular laws (Uniform Civil Code). Not just that, some hotheads are brazenly threatening to teach the majority a lesson if only police are removed for 15 minutes! Delhi Police chargesheet in the Jahangirpuri violence case, filed on July 14, exposes how violence was planned by people involved in anti-CAA protests. Likewise, Bihar Police on July 14 busted a suspected terrorist module in Patna, arresting two terrorists including an ex-policeman; the two were part of what is now known as Phulwari Sharif module, planning to make India an Islamic nation by 2047.

These developments are most unfortunate and put a question mark on the ability of a particular community to live in peace with other communities, worldwide, in a secular social milieu. This also raises a question as to why a cut off mark of 5-10% should not be applied on the term ‘minority’. People are questioning how a community with almost 15-20 crore numbers can be called a minority. By including such a big populace in the minority list, are we being fair to the genuine minorities like the Parsis (0.006%), Jains (0.4%), Buddhists (0.7%), Sikhs (1.7%) and Christians (2.3%)?

Minorityism should not mean that the tail should be wagging the dog! People forget that internecine conflicts shall do no good to Indian society at large or to any minority section! Indian state has demonstrated that it is strong enough to fight secessionist movements, indigenous or sponsored; dreams of partitioning India again are just that – dreams. We only pray that better sense prevails over all concerned and Indian people can focus on more pressing tasks like fighting poverty, ignorance and inequality.